Northwest Fishing Reports

I was fishing today and I a guy told me that Striped Bass (Stripper) are present in Lake Union? Has anyone ever caught one or heard of this to be a true statement?

This is new news to me. Im not calling him a liar but I dont think so. I didnt think they were even in WA stste

I always thought stripers were an east coast thing?

they have stipers in CA, AZ, UT and so on ...but yea ive never heard of them in WA.

I've heard of the rare striper caught off Westport but nothng in our lakes. Wish I'd catch one so I could check off that box on my "Fish I Need to Catch Before I Die" list.

They put Tiger Muskies in lakes to help clean out the trash fish...would Stripers do the same thing?

Striped bass range from Nova Scotia to Georgia. In the 1880's some where planted in San Francisco Bay and they now range from LA to the mouth of the Columbia. The mouth of the San Joaquin River gets a spring run of spawners so I guess it's possible that they could get throw the locks and into Lake Union this time of year as they spawn in rivers April-June but I doubt it. I think we would hear if there was a run of them headed for the Cedar River?

GJorgy wrote:I've heard of the rare striper caught off Westport but nothng in our lakes. Wish I'd catch one so I could check off that box on my "Fish I Need to Catch Before I Die" list.

They put Tiger Muskies in lakes to help clean out the trash fish...would Stripers do the same thing?

YES!
I definitely have not heard of any stripers being caught around here. I sure hope they aren't in any of our lakes because they can dececrate the whole fishery. Down in Cali we would catch them all the time. Great fighters, but they eat constantly and are a top predator. One lake in particular had to be bluestoned to kill off the entire population and has taken 5 years just to get back to decent fishing status again. If you have a large enough body of water it would be o.k. for them to share the habitat, but I can guarantee they will be the biggest fish in the lake.




fishnislife

sample pic, 20lbs. Greg Mahoney

Well truthfully i haven't heard of any striped bass being in washington but dont be fooled if you check the oregon fishing and wildlife page they have a segment on fishing stripers. so oregon and washington are right next to each other so the likelihood of it happen is pretty possible. the only reason as to why we wouldnt see them more frequently is because either a. we all suck and just havent caught one yet or b. they come up this way rarely cuz of getting turned around during a storm or something. but if there were some in the area and they made a run for it into freshwater it could very much happen that they would come in via locks of seattle into lake union and possible even lake washington. because considering that lake washington has been reported as to havin sturgeon anything is possible.

oh and to the guy talkin about fishin a striper before you die you really should the fight is intense. my dad used to take us all the time wen we were young. but than i used to live in sacramento, california where the sacramento river would feed into the pacific. but really tho take a trip to california sometime during striper season. its the craziest thing ever.