Moses Lake, Winchester Wasteway

[jbball50]

Anyone know of a spot from shore to fish from Moses Lake by the I-90 Bridge? Also which one would be better now for fishing for perch, Moses Lake or Winchester Wasteway? Might try fishing one of the two places Thursday morning before I come back to western washington after a job interview. If anyone has any info on how it's been going on either of these places it would be greatly appreciated.

[panfisher]

the first bridge going east has a park where you can park some-what close to it.fish either side of the bridge. you may get a walleye there to, or get on the side road on the left side where the wasteway goes under I-90, close by the rest area. plenty of parking on the N. side. i.ve caught perch there by the culverts. this has been a sleeper spot for bass and other panfish. was great years ago for them. last year i check'd it out and found plenty of bluegill/bass big enough to check out better this year.

[saltyseadog]

i would like to know more about the Winchester wasteway fished there as a kid with gramps. lots of carp what else. real shallow if i remember right?

[lonnie197272]

Well when you talk about the wasteway can you be a little more specific in what area because unfortunatley winchester wasteway is pretty large. The section that is part of O'sullivan Dam has some very deep areas. The section that runs out and crosses I-90 has a pretty consistant depth and holds several different species. There are a couple different places where the wasteway crosses County Roads as well. As for place to fish along Moses Lake heading west from Moses take the exit that says Moses Lake Park, Westshore. You can access thru the park to get to the bridge. If you take the next exit and cross over I-90 and head east you will see signs that say ORV park, follow that road til you reach the outflow dams from Moses to Potholes. The walleye, trout and perch start moving up this time of year. Just check the regs because there are some special regs for these outflows. Enjoy and good luck.

[panfisher]

i would like to know more about the Winchester wasteway fished there as a kid with gramps. lots of carp what else. real shallow if i remember right?

it had great fishing in the mid 80's for 5lb+ lrgmth bass/ nice crappie/bluegill and perch. left the area for several years and tried fishing it (upper) area in the early 90's and found that there was some drastic change to the fishery as i could not find much of anything (except carp) so i stopped fishing it untill a few years ago when the bluegills seemed to have made a comeback. I think there was to much run off from the farm fields for it looked like there was to much nitrates because of the fungee like conditions at the time when there was not many panfish. the frenchmen hills wasteway also is a good bet for bass and panfish.

[jbball50]

Thanks for the responses, I might try it tomorrow afternoon too because my friend I'm staying with doesn't get home until 5:30 from work. I actually meant the Winchester Wasteway Reservoir too, the northern part of the area when I was referring to the Winchester Wasteway. Probably going to try the park area and maybe try to find the outflow dam at Moses Lake. Hopefully I catch something to cure my boredom over there.

[Bruce Nelson]

JB

I fished Winchester Wasteway where Road 5 NW crosses it today for perch after getting a quick limit of rainbows at Martha Lake. It was dead! When the perch are there there will be a crowd of locals.

[jbball50]

Hm Crazy, I wonder if maybe they had already moved in there earlier because of the weather. I remember reading in a mag a few years ago that the perch go up there in Feb so that's why I was wondering about it.

[saltyseadog]

i if i remember right it was around ephreta (spelling sorry) area? off a county road i think?

[Bruce Nelson]

Hm Crazy, I wonder if maybe they had already moved in there earlier because of the weather. I remember reading in a mag a few years ago that the perch go up there in Feb so that's why I was wondering about it.

In normal years I have done well in February at Winchester and the freeway bridge at Moses Lake for perch. This year doesn't seem to be normal!

[Deadeye]

Is the ice off Moses Lake and Winchester Wasteway? Might take my boat out to Moses this weekend, since the weather is looking nice.

Thanks

[lonnie197272]

Oh ya there isnt any ice anywhere out there. Reports from Mardon is a few walleye starting to be caught along the face of the Dunes on O'sullivan Dam. They were caught trolling spinners. Thats a good way to cover the area fairly quickly, but once you hit a fish look for the humps in that area and pound it with some blade baits. We have had pretty good success doing so. Alot times we will pick up a dozen or so from the underwater humps then move on trolling til the next fish and so forth. Good luck to ya

[Dustin07]

what kind of 'blade' baits are you referring too? I've never fished for walleye before but I'm thinking about spending a few days at Mardon in a couple weeks chasing bass and thought I'd poke the walleys too.

[jbball50]

He's probably talking about worm harnesses, they have them at Mardon, Whenever using the worm harness on the bottom bouncers I go with the firetiger blades fishing at Potholes. Are you going to be fishing from a boat or just at the dock?

[gpc]

No its not a worm harnes its a type of jig. They are kind of hard to explain, but if you go to Cabelas or Bass Pro and type in blade bait in the search bar a few will pop up. They resemble a fish and have 2 treble hooks. At Mar Don they sell them for $4 or $5 if you want the ones with Gamakatsu hooks. I always come up with the extra $1.

[Dustin07]

awesome thanks guys. I'll be fishing from a boat.

[jbball50]

Hah oh gpc yeah I have some of those laying around the garage from my grandpa's old store in Vermont except without the lead heads, never have tried fishing those before.

[Kfisherman]

When the weathers nice, you'll see a bunch of people on the I-90 bridge in Moses Lake. Like others have said, get off on exit 174 (I think) and park at Blue Heron Park, which will be your first right turn off of Westshore Dr. I've never fished it but a lot of locals do.

As for ice Lonnie's right, the lakes around here have been ice free for some time. I've seen several bass boats on the lake. Several of my friends have gone out Bassin already. They said they've been catching fish, but not a lot.

[rl206]

awesome thanks guys. I'll be fishing from a boat.

with boat access, head out to goose island, not sure what the water level is at (or will be at when your there) but that island has tons of walleye near it, the water is higher this time of year though but
Ive never been let down by a deep diver crank, (20 ft) or so
but just spend time looking at the depth when your there, knowing what to do should come to you when you see it ('[thumbup]

[jbball50]

Best bet would probably be in the Lind Coulee this time of the year until summertime. There's a flat in there that you'll see people trolling over and over again as a group. I've never went fishing for walleye this time of the year around Goose Island though, just there during summer when the waters are lower, might be some fish holding off there though.