Northwest Fishing Reports

I have caught a couple catfish before and love how well they fight. I would love to know the closest place to Lake Stevens that is halfway decent for catfish. What to use for bait and anything else I need to know. Thanks.

This may sound strange, but your best bet for big cats, is probably in the bigger lakes that you have not heard of being "cat-fisheries".

the biggest cats I have seen on the westside have been from lakes that I have never heard catfish coming from.

I could give you more info, but I only know the western 1/4 of wa.

Most of what you see are bullhead family on the west side, there are a lot in lake Washington. Acording to fish & game
they planted some channel cats in gisberg ponds. Several years back. Never heard of any one catching any of those. Those ponds are small,
just get some stinky bait and I'm sure some might show up. There is a deep hole, where the two lakes meet, but its the one
where kids are only suppose to fish at. So bring a kid. And let me know if it worked, I planed on trying this several times, but
no kids available, when I wanted to go.
fishinwithg

So are there any Channel Catfish in Lake Washington or West side lakes?

Yeah there are channel cats in westside lakes but i don't know about in your area, only around the kitsap area

Lake Terrell, North of Ferndale has channel catfish to 20lbs.+ Best fished from a boat, but there are two docks.

Lake Fazon and Wiser Lake in Whatcom County hold channel catfish, also.

I have caught a 14 pound catfish at Round lake and it put up an awsome fight. It fought as well as a salmon so if you want a good fight from a lake fish either go for Catfish or bass. Acually trout can fight sometimes to.

Catfish in Lake Terell? I have been up there for bass but never seen a catfish. How are they catching them at Terrel?

jdimonda wrote:Catfish in Lake Terell? I have been up there for bass but never seen a catfish. How are they catching them at Terrel?

I lived in Ferndale for 7 years. Orange PowerBait seemed to work well for both the catfish and the trout.

Tom Reed, the Lake Terrell Wildlife Area Manager can give you further info. A 20lb.+ channel catfish was recently caught off one of the docks. Other large channel cats were caught in the past and I saw pictures of several of them.

Catfish were also stocked in the pond behind the house at Lake Terrell, too.

Wow, that sucks no other lakes close by King county with channel cats. Channel Cats are the best one's to catch. Are there any lakes in King county or close by with Yellow Belly catfish?

Check out the WDFW 2007 Fishing Prospects compendium.

You can pick it up at some locations, or just download it from their website - you can also download their warmwater fisheries of 2007 pamphlet too.

Both combined give a wealth of information on the possibilities of most waters. Not 100% all encompasing, but very good reading none-the-less.

tahjb wrote:Are there any lakes in King county or close by with Yellow Belly catfish?

Yes there is...

The old Mill Pond up in Snoqualmie has them.

I find they are most plentiful in Oct, Nov and Dec.

We go up 24 hours in advance and drop a few cans of cat food into a hole.

Then we start fishing right after it gets dark.

I've gotten 19 of them off worms in one night...

and my cousin has gotten 22 in one night.

One word of warning about fishing the old Mill Pond at night....

there is a Cougar in the area that has chased people there in the past.

take care!~


-Road

Roadkill wrote:

tahjb wrote:Are there any lakes in King county or close by with Yellow Belly catfish?

Yes there is...

The old Mill Pond up in Snoqualmie has them.

I find they are most plentiful in Oct, Nov and Dec.

We go up 24 hours in advance and drop a few cans of cat food into a hole.

Then we start fishing right after it gets dark.

I've gotten 19 of them off worms in one night...

and my cousin has gotten 22 in one night.

One word of warning about fishing the old Mill Pond at night....

there is a Cougar in the area that has chased people there in the past.

take care!~


-Road

You know that those cans of cat food would be considered chumming which is prohibited unless authorized in the special rules. Do you retrieve the tin can when your done? If not that is littering. Please think about it.

Hands down, catfish are by far my favorite. Fun to catch and even better eating. Call me crazy but I love hearing them talk...

In the midwest we used primarily chicken livers for cats- the stinkier and bloodier the better! I'm not used to having to hunt for a good cat lake, everywhere in the midwest is fully stocked with 'em. Looks like I need to head over to Kitsap.

As far as Lake Washington goes; where is the best place to find them?

from what i have been told from fews guys is that stewart park / lake union is good place to target cats .. as to the best baits not sure , but in the past i have done well with liver, sunfish heads , and cat fish nuggets ...

Any catfish lakes in Pierce County?

You know that those cans of cat food would be considered chumming which is prohibited unless authorized in the special rules. Do you retrieve the tin can when your done? If not that is littering. Please think about it.

Chumming is allowed there.

We tie a heavy duty string to the cans to be able to retrieve them after a few days of fishing.
No litter bugs here!~

: )


tc,
Road

You know, I havent done much catfishing here but being from Kentucky we would go around the lakes and find deep spots in the middle or just where ever they are in the lake. You take your line and tie a heavy bullet weight to the end of your line, about a 8 to 12 inches up you would tie a 10 inch leader and a hook, 12inches higher up the line you would tie another 10 inch leader and a hook. We would put large minnows on the hooks and let the line all the way down into the holes, using about 20 lb test for the line on your reel and about 15 lb on your leaders. Just set there and jig the weight up and down off of the bottom making sure it hits the bottom. Lots of times the cats will be huddled up in these holes at diffrent depths, It is fun to get one 5 to 10 lb cat but if you hook two going after those minnows with each other you got your hands full.

Hope this works for ya!
Jason
Happy Fishing

There are alot of cats at Seward Park on lake washington. Im not sure if there Channels though, but they can get pretty big for bullhead. Dont actually fish off the pininsula though, fish of the side with the street. There are many clearings in the lillie pads and in the bushes. Thats where i catch my catch when im visiting grandperants.

fisherhall wrote:Any catfish lakes in Pierce County?

I know that Bay Lake around Peninsula has some. I believe they have actual channel cats in there and the bullhead. They just fish it from the shore.