Campbell Lake - Skagit County

[Salmon King]

I live in Oak Harbor and I sometimes would like to fish for something other than Salmon...yeah go figure.

Anyway...I've searched on here for lakes within 50 mi. of me for lakes containing Bass, Crappie, and Bluegill. Even Channel Cats.
Campbell Lake near Anacortes kedps coming up.
Now I've fished that lake on and off for nearly 30 yrs. and I have yet to see a Crappie come out of that lake. Trout, bass, and bullheads, even Perch yes...never a Crappie.

I'd like to find a year round lake where I have a chance to catch a variety of fish to bring home for dinner.
Keeping that 50mi. range in mind (or close to it) I'm looking for suggestions.
I'll be fishing primarily in the Winter months and have both an 8' pontoon boat with an elec. motor or a 12' HiLaker to use.

Thanks all...tight lines!

[gfakkema]

...

[jonb]

if you want crappie go to bryant lake. that pond is full of slab crappie. no minimum size on them either. fish the outside edges of the pads with eitjer a very small jig, or simply twitch a piece of nightcrawler.

[Salmon King]

Thanks for the tips!!

[Salmon King]

Jonb,

I can't find anything in the regs for Bryant Lake.
Is that a year round lake?
Also...
In looking at google maps it does not appear to have any public access.

With nothing in the regs and no apparent access is this a private lake?

Applogies for all of the questions but fishing freshwater is a new thing for me.

I'd be open to finding a fishing partner......

[The Quadfather]

Heads up Jon, remember that the regs only show lakes with "Special rules" i.e. if a lake has no other rules other than it is a lowland-short season, April-Oct fishery.... then that in itself is a "Special rule" What I'm saying is that if a lake is not listed at all then it is considered a year round season.

[jonb]

Bryant falls under statewide general rules.

[The Quadfather]

Salmon King/Jonb,

Sorry, I thought it was Jon who was asking about Bryant.
(I'll crawl back under my rock now)

[jonb]

No worries bro!

[jonb]

Its statewide general its not private. It has a carry in launch for kayaks or inflatables. Bryant is best known for its spiny ray fishing. Crappies, bass, and pumpkinseeds. It has cutthroat trout in it aswell. Good luck. Year round, statewide general rules.

[Salmon King]

Thanks jonb...I'll probably give it a try during the holidays....and beyond.

[countryboy87]

cassidy lake in lk stevens has great crappie,trout,bass and perch fishing.. kinda far but if your already gonna try bryant its only about 15 mins further.. if your looking for a quick trip cranberry lk at deception pass has some monster brown trout as well as rainbows and perch..

[Salmon King]

Gotta try for those browns someday.
Just not sure what to use though...

[JoshH]

Browns I catch on Cranberry trolling gold lures like needlefish. My brother got an 8lb brown out of there with a frog pattern flatfish.

[jonb]

Gold plugs have always been my best producers for browns. First choice when trolling for browns is a cd5 gold rapala. If casting from shore ill use a 1/4oz gold castmaster. If plunking inject a worm with air a couple ft off the bottom.

[countryboy87]

plunking works good. inflated crawlers eggs marshmallows or combination thereof.. also done decent fly fishing there

[Salmon King]

At THIS time of year???
I'd have thought it would be better in late Spring...but then...
I've never fish there either.

[JoshH]

This time of year Cranberry is difficult, specially if you try bait fishing, it's so shallow and the fish are pretty sluggish. I can still get strikes though slow trolling spoons, just don't expect to get your socks knocked off. I usually just start with a split shot and add more if I am not getting any takes. Usually takes a few weight adjustments to stay just above the lake salad. It's pretty much 13-15 feet deep the entire lake except for one small spot NW part of the lake, so it's pretty much the same temp top to bottom. It does warm up pretty quick though so late march early april the bite can pick up.

[Salmon King]

Thanks Josh...

I'll probably wait for about a month before I start hitting it hard...
unless we get a couple of weeks of 60 degree days...

[Bobber_Dogging_Gal]

Bryant Lake's definitely is a good one. It's off Hwy 9 up by one of our favorite rainbow lakes. We live close to the confluence of the Stilly. Cavanaugh's close by as well and had a productive year for kokanee