Northwest Fishing Reports

Looking for a lake that has good carp fishing. I live in Pierce County.

It's not pierce county, but Greenlake in Seattle has mass carp, and mass public shoreline, docks, access.

Try out Lake Tapps. You can launch at either the county park or Allen Yorke park in Bonney Lake. (that is, if you have a boat..otherwise you can fish at either of those parks) After finding a quiet cove (hard to do on a weekend) try using nightcrawlers off the bottom, or wad up a piece of white wonderbread around a 1/0 mustad hook, again, off the bottom. (some people will shoot W-D 40 on the wad of bread, but I'm not a fan of putting lubricant into the water.) Instead, use a scent like crawdad or anise. Let them eat it, don't set the hook until your line is moving away from you. They are spawning right now, so they are schooled up in shallow coves around grass and bullrushes. Not hard to spot. Some are close to 20#. One cove I would recommend, is at the west end of Snag Is. Go behind the little island and spot fish. There is a little bridge that they hang out around, but don't get out of the boat onto the land or the new owner of the property will come out and harass you. He also baracaded off the passage under the bridge, which is illegal, and I doubt he knows that. You can fish there anyway, just stay in the boat...he doesn't own the water. Good luck PF18 and stay safe out there.
Denman

Denman wrote:Try out Lake Tapps. You can launch at either the county park or Allen Yorke park in Bonney Lake. (that is, if you have a boat..otherwise you can fish at either of those parks) After finding a quiet cove (hard to do on a weekend) try using nightcrawlers off the bottom, or wad up a piece of white wonderbread around a 1/0 mustad hook, again, off the bottom. (some people will shoot W-D 40 on the wad of bread, but I'm not a fan of putting lubricant into the water.) Instead, use a scent like crawdad or anise. Let them eat it, don't set the hook until your line is moving away from you. They are spawning right now, so they are schooled up in shallow coves around grass and bullrushes. Not hard to spot. Some are close to 20#. One cove I would recommend, is at the west end of Snag Is. Go behind the little island and spot fish. There is a little bridge that they hang out around, but don't get out of the boat onto the land or the new owner of the property will come out and harass you. He also baracaded off the passage under the bridge, which is illegal, and I doubt he knows that. You can fish there anyway, just stay in the boat...he doesn't own the water. Good luck PF18 and stay safe out there.
Denman

Sweet lil cove, we found that a few weeks ago and there were a ton of large carp in there.

Dont eat the carp from Green Lake if you catch any. I saw a sign that stated that they were not safe to eat or contaminated. The sign is around the bushes at the right side of the L shape pier. The pier is at the SE corner of the lake around the aqua theater.

I'm not claiming to be a scientist. I saw a posted sign and I am reporting about it. Go see it for yourself. Eat the carp if you want to.

returnofthefish wrote:Dont eat the carp from Green Lake if you catch any. I saw a sign that stated that they were not safe to eat or contaminated. The sign is around the bushes at the right side of the L shape pier. The pier is at the SE corner of the lake around the aqua theater.

I'm not claiming to be a scientist. I saw a posted sign and I am reporting about it. Go see it for yourself. Eat the carp if you want to.

but who would want to? they're bottom dwellers and they are extremely boney and probably taste like the lake bottom...but awfully fun to catch:cheers:

Great info Denman, I am with you, I love catching them too. Man they can tug a line on some light tackle.
Do you use a treble hook when you bait up the bread?

Asian people eat carp. I have seen them at asian supermarkets. Carp was also served at my house when I was a kid. I probably wouldnt want to eat one now as an adult. they are one ugly fish.

If you want to take a little drive Silver lake has a ton of carp too. I don't know about eating them because, as everyone has already said they are not the most appealing fish and personally I wouldn't want to touch one if I even caught it.

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but who would want to? they're bottom dwellers and they are extremely boney and probably taste like the lake bottom...but awfully fun to catch:cheers: [/quote]
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I commercial fished carp in AZ on Roosevelt res. (yes there is one down there to) I was under those miss guided beliefs myself............. Here are a few facts.........They have less bones then a SALMON we are talking no's. Salmon have the "extra" floating bones. In Europe and Russia carp is the most available fish. ALL of the Cordon Bleu fish recipe's are supposed to be done using.............yep CARP. Algae bloom does seem to give carp a mossy flavor..............but.......if it ain't blooming................Here is the bottom line in 1998 a carp WHOLE FISH TAIL SCALES AND ALL was going for between $1.75 and $2.25 a pound to me. With that said if fish buyers where willing to pay me almost twice the price of an Albacore or Yellowtail or even Dorado I thought maybe I need to at least cook one. I'll eat almost anything that comes out of the water so.............may not mean much but they ain't all that bad. Like any other fish you plan to eat bleed it and ice it until cleaning time. I'm sure that this will cause a lot of hoopla but.............for 1 year until AZ f&w felt we had dented the no's enough. I had 2 boats taking about 5 tons a week, each. All of these where sold to fish buyers NONE of it went to rendering plants. There has been a lot of Russian and European immigration in the last decade or two. Odds are people in your neighborhood or church or your kids school would probably love to have a well taken care of fresh carp. I'll bet you can even get an invite to eat(try) some. Maybe you might even make a new from.............all from a "trash" fish...................NOT!!! Good luck hope you catch and enjoy a bunch!!!

Wow, great info guys! Is there a special way of rigging the line? I'd like to try and catch and release. I would'nt want to eat it... I just heard they are really fun to catch!

Danie