Washington State vs. Other States

[Fish-or-man?]

I just read Mike Carey's Humpy Hollow reports and watched the video with his brother visiting from Wisconsin, and it got me wondering: How does Washington stack up to other states fishing-wise for those not born in the state, or those who have spent a great deal of time fishing in other states. Being born and raised in Washington, and having done 99% of my fishing in-state I have little reference to compare to other states. It seems like Washington has the majority of popular fish (and a lot of overlooked ones) if you're willing to travel and go after them like a fanatic. But if you came from, say, the south our bass scene has to seem kind of weak, eh? Or if you're from the Great Lakes area our crappie, pike, perch, and walleye fisheries must seem like kind of a let down... But surely the coast and sound make up for some of that, right?

Anyway, just looking to see what worldly travelers think of Washington fishing-wise (out of morbid curiosity).

[Derrick-k]

Alaska has the best salmon and steelheading along with trophy trout and char.

[Mike Carey]

My brother lives in Chicago - that trip definately got him thinking about moving out here. :-)

Seriously, this state is right up there for variety and year-round opportunities.

[Bigbass Dez]

I must say that Washinton is best known for producing Salmon and Trout .. However when it comes to BASS ..Forget about it !! the current state record proves my point and how long ago was that ? ..BBD

[fishnislife]

Washington is a great fishing state. But the regulations are insane if you compare them to the midwest states. It ranks up there with some states for excellent fishing for some species but I agree with the previous posts, Alaska has way better salmon, steelhead and trout fishing and the bass scene in Washington pails in comparision to say Florida, Texas and California.
I love the fishing here but when you break down the different species you can find a better state for each. Washington is a good all around fishing state. Good salt, fresh, lake, stream, river, fly, troll, lure and bait fishing can be found all over the state.


fishnislife

[danielt]

we have got some of the highest priced licenses too.

[T Dot]

im new here

:king:

comparing to places ive fished before, seattle and its surrounding cities have alot of places to fish for bass. if you have a vehicle and a car topper, you have a multitude of lakes and rivers to fish. most of these lakes have a 5+ bass in them.

in certain locations you have 5+ lakes within a 5 mile radius.

they say this state has the best untapped smallmouth fishery.

[A9]

The whole west coast is very diverse in terms of fishing. You can be fishing lowland trout lakes, and a few miles away you can be on a great bass fishing lake, and right near that you can be fishing for salmon in the saltwater or steelhead on the rivers. And just on the other side of the mountains you have a great opportunity for warmwater fishing at lakes like Potholes and what not. And we even have tuna in the summer off our waters...

[raffensg64]

Washington is the most diverse state I've ever fished. While southern states may be tops for bass fishing, most of those folks will never catch a large rainbow, brown, steelhead or salmon, but we've got the bass to match! Eastern states trout, while plentiful, are usually a lot smaller. And we've got ample coastline. Even Colorado, with it's spectacular scenery, does not put out the numbers/size of trout I've encountered in Washington. Large rivers with runs of fish, mountains to both the east and west of us, fishing opportunities for nearly every fish that inhabits North America, what more can you ask for? Plus, I enjoy fishing where I don't have to worry about cottonmouths in the tree branches and copperheads around nearly every bush and rock!!!

[Marc Martyn]

Although it is pretty tame around here, I did encounter a rattler swimming across Amber last year.:shaking:
Much more relaxing fishing in this area than say down south.

[littleriver]

I think it's tough to say that any one state is better overall. What one thinks of as "better" will depend on what species is preferred and the kind of fishing environments one feels comfortable in.

Washington ranks very high in regard to the different kinds of fish that can be caught and the wide variety of environments one can catch them in.


Our big negatives are mostly "self inflicted".


1. High license fees and cumbersome regulations (ie. punchcards, widely varying seasons and limits in waters that adjoin each other, etc., etc.). This insanity is driven to a great extent by the disproportionate control commercial fishing interests have over our fishery management bureaucracies.

2. A "run mentality" among sport fishers that results in huge crowds in small places during popular run fisheries. This is what we all know and love as "combat fishing".

3. And, despite the large crowds that show up for specific runs and events, we have abysmally low "participation". Last I saw reliable numbers our sport fishing participation was in the 6% range. In Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Alaska participation tends to run about 3 times higher. Not sure what the numbers are in the gulf and atlantic states but saltwater fishing has improved greatly along their shorelines since they all banned commercial fishing within their 3 miles limits in the 1990s. Low participation means anemic political power. Greater participation will result in more political power and better fishing. Take a kid fishing.

[iPodrodder]

No way you're ever going to catch a world or even US record in Washington. Alaska has the salmon and trout, the south has bass, the Great Lakes area has the crappie, pike, perch and walleye, Arkansas has huge brown trout, and offshore besides salmon is nothing incredible. But Washington is a great all around fishing state. I'd rather have the all around attributes than a specialty.

[Bpayne]

Great topic!


When I started reading it, I just had to register to drop my $.02 on the table.


Everyone, so far, who has said that Washington is a great "all-around" fishing state is absolutely on target as far as I'm concerned. You need to be careful to define "all-around" as variety of species as opposed to quality of the individual fisheries themselves.

But when you break it down by species, there are so many states that surpass Washington it starts to get a little excessive. For instance: Oregon- Oregon probably beats Washington across every single species except a couple. More on that later.

Trout? Not even close. I would say out of the 50 states, Washington ranks in the bottom third. If the metric is quality blue-ribbon fisheries Washington (unfortunately) only has a couple dozen. Compare that to Colorado. I can count a dozen blue-ribbon trout fisheries within a 15 minute drive from downtown Denver!

Bass. Sorry. Hell, go across the river to Oregon and they have two world-class Smallmouth bass fisheries in the John Day and Umpqua. True Story- I went down to Kentucky for a business trip last year and went into a local fly shop that specializes in warm water species. I struck up a conversation with the guys inside about how popular smallmouth bass are in the Northwest. They asked me where I was from and I told them Portland, OR [no one knows where Vancouver, WA is- everyone hears the Vancouver part but seems to forget about the Washington part which automatically makes me Canadian. SHeesh] and they immediately start blabbing about how their dream fishing trip is to hit the John Day river in a early summer. Here they were in the middle of bass heaven and they're gushing about Oregon waters- but I digress.

Anadromous/Salmon/Steelhead- Everyone has mentioned Alaska but Oregon also trumps Washington in that regard (unfortunately). One major thing Washington has over everyone else is Pinks (WA has the IGFA Pink Salmon record on the Skykomish, I believe), Sea-Run Cutts and all the fisheries on the Olympic Peninsula.

Lastly, I'll leave you with this- evidently, Washington is famous for its walleye fishing- no joke. I had an aquaintance from Minnesota tell me that the Columbia River near Hanford is well-known for its walleye fishing around the country (to those that walleye fish of course).

So I asked him if it was so respected in the walleye community why wasn't there as much buzz surrounding it locally as the Sturgeon fisheries on the Columbia. He thought for a moment and I figured he would come back with "It's too hot [near Hanford] during walleye season..." or some other complaint about fishing for walleye in such a dry, arid environment that exists in the Hanford Reach.

He deadpanned: "who wants to fish for walleye in the rain?"

[fishnislife]

Well said Bpayne.
Glad your here and welcome to the WL.com family.


fishnislife

[littleriver]

Ipodrodder brings up some good points about world records but I would disagree in regard to at least the "walleye" species.

If weights had always been measured honestly and every fish caught properly accounted for Washington/Oregon would have probably already been where all the most recent world record walleye were registered.

Lake Umatilla is probably talked about more in Minnesota and Wisconsin than it is here and it's kicked out some huge walleye.

Unfortunately this lake is also hammered pretty hard by the tribal "not so sport" fishermen. During the seasonal salmon and steelhead runs you can often count half a dozen or more gill nets per mile along the lake shoreline and these nets have caught endless walleye over 20 pounds.

If you stop by the roadside markets and talk to the tribal fishermen selling their catch you will often hear them brag about how they netted a walleye at some point in their careers that would have been a world record.


But this issue just highlights a point I made in my original post. One of the real barriers to our state (and oregon too) becoming a world class fishing area is the enormous political influence the commodity meat interests have over the fishery management bureaucracy. Until we put an end to this insanity we can only say that this is a place with some good opportunity and lots and lots and lots of unrealized potential.

[jmay]

I have fished Wa, Or, Ca, Id, Mt, Wy, Co, Ak, and Maine. No other State has the number of choices we have. Dolly Varden to Burrot, Salt water, every species of trout. Rivers, Creeks, ponds, tailwaters, spring creeks, impoundments, low land and high mountain lakes, true Ocean fishing, inland sounds. We beat everyone else in regards to types of wate. I liked the size of the Ak fish and number of Idaho trout, but all and all we have a great fishing state.

The sum up my view. Washington is a great fishing State, that is poorly managed

[jmay]

I have fished Wa, Or, Ca, Id, Mt, Wy, Co, Ak, and Maine. No other State has the number of choices we have.

Dolly Varden to Walleye. Rivers, Creeks, ponds, tailwaters, spring creeks, impoundments, low land and high mountain lakes, true Ocean fishing, inland sounds. We beat everyone else in regards to types of water.

I liked the size of the Ak fish and number of Idaho trout, hate the number of people is Mt and Id "blue ribbon waters"

The sum up my view. Washington is a great fishing State, that is poorly managed, with regulations the make life difficult

[A9]

yea our Fish and Wildlife department is among the worst around here. I'd probably venture to guess that a lot of the problems that are currently facing fishermen are inflicted by us, so while it's easy to point a finger at someone else, it's also the fishermens fault and the WDFW's fault for some of our current problems, like the ones littleriver mentioned..

[iPodrodder]

Anything I say about walleye from here on out, ignore it because it seems I don't know what the heck I'm talking about when it comes to them.

[Toni]

I have never fished in any other state but Washington except one vacation to Canada. I think WA is the best! It is where I can fish for whatever fish might be biting and since I haven't been elsewhere to compare regulations I don't feel deprived. The best and biggest fish is the next one I am going to catch.