Northwest Fishing Reports

anyone know where to find the 2008 lake plant schedule? I found the 2007 on the WDFW site but not an '08.

They'll release it shortly....Usually late February to early March. Keep checking and it'll be there eventually...

The WDFW has a weekly trout plant schedule. Go to http://wdfw.wa.gov/fish/plants/weekly/ for the January and February 2008 plants.

wow Battleground Lake has received a lot of love this year already. nothing close to me, but Battleground may be worth the drive. I got skunked last time I was there, might be good juju to make things right.

Dave wrote:The WDFW has a weekly trout plant schedule. Go to http://wdfw.wa.gov/fish/plants/weekly/ for the January and February 2008 plants.

You can also get to it directly via "Links" at the top of this page.

At http://wdfw.wa.gov/fish/plants/weekly/ I see that on March 4, Gissburg Ponds, Snohomish County, got planted with 2000 rainbows. Anybody know if that would be the north or the south pond. North Gissburg is regulated as a “juveniles only” fishery: it’s open to fishing for youths age 15 and younger.

urbanangler wrote:At http://wdfw.wa.gov/fish/plants/weekly/ I see that on March 4, Gissburg Ponds, Snohomish County, got planted with 2000 rainbows. Anybody know if that would be the north or the south pond. North Gissburg is regulated as a “juveniles only” fishery: it’s open to fishing for youths age 15 and younger.

I would think it was the regular lake that got the fish. Be careful with gissburg ponds though. I only fished it 1 time 2 springs ago. But, once a month they have (had?) a mini hydroplane race on the lake. Thats the only time I fished it was durring one of these events, we didnt even get a bite. It was on a saturday.

urbanangler wrote:At http://wdfw.wa.gov/fish/plants/weekly/ I see that on March 4, Gissburg Ponds, Snohomish County, got planted with 2000 rainbows. Anybody know if that would be the north or the south pond. North Gissburg is regulated as a “juveniles only” fishery: it’s open to fishing for youths age 15 and younger.

2,000 at 4.00 are little fish... 7 inches. I wouldn't fish these ponds...tiny little minnow trout.

kutthroatkilla wrote:

urbanangler wrote:At http://wdfw.wa.gov/fish/plants/weekly/ I see that on March 4, Gissburg Ponds, Snohomish County, got planted with 2000 rainbows. Anybody know if that would be the north or the south pond. North Gissburg is regulated as a “juveniles only” fishery: it’s open to fishing for youths age 15 and younger.

2,000 at 4.00 are little fish... 7 inches. I wouldn't fish these ponds...tiny little minnow trout.

Stocking lakes never gets me too exited...WDFW dumps in small trout, usually always under 10-11 inches except for a few lakes and of course triploids. None of these fish are good eating and usually don't put up much of a fight for the first few weeks..

My deal is that I focus more on lakes that aren't the put and take lakes. I'd rather fish where I can land a few bigger trout (13-14 inches) then 5 little 10 inchers. Just my opinion, and it's also why I upsize my lures and go with natural bait to try and ward off the stockers....

Sam Kafelafish wrote:
My deal is that I focus more on lakes that aren't the put and take lakes. I'd rather fish where I can land a few bigger trout (13-14 inches) then 5 little 10 inchers. Just my opinion, and it's also why I upsize my lures and go with natural bait to try and ward off the stockers....

Good point. Have you/do you enjoy fishing Rattlesnake when it opens? I've never fished that body of water and think it would be a blast with a fly rod, given its special regs. I have a little hole at Lake Margaret where I consistently pull out 14" trout with just worms on the bottom. That's my lake, second to Lake Washington, and then I love Pine. Probably, Washington, Margaret, then Pine. That's where I'll be this year...between Pine and Margaret, much like last year. Save for the few trips I make to "secret" lakes and ponds. I'd like to get out on the salt, but Area 9 is slow right now...

kutthroatkilla wrote:

Sam Kafelafish wrote:
My deal is that I focus more on lakes that aren't the put and take lakes. I'd rather fish where I can land a few bigger trout (13-14 inches) then 5 little 10 inchers. Just my opinion, and it's also why I upsize my lures and go with natural bait to try and ward off the stockers....

Good point. Have you/do you enjoy fishing Rattlesnake when it opens? I've never fished that body of water and think it would be a blast with a fly rod, given its special regs. I have a little hole at Lake Margaret where I consistently pull out 14" trout with just worms on the bottom. That's my lake, second to Lake Washington, and then I love Pine. Probably, Washington, Margaret, then Pine. That's where I'll be this year...between Pine and Margaret, much like last year. Save for the few trips I make to "secret" lakes and ponds. I'd like to get out on the salt, but Area 9 is slow right now...

Have heard Rattlesnake is quite the lake, however, a boat is needed to fish it and this is why I've never had the chance to get out there. The majority of the time my boat is up at Whidbey Island at our cabin, because I do a lot of my fishing up there and a boat is needed and used more up there and there is place to keep it in the garage. Occasionally we will bring the Lund back and we used to bring our 19' Campion (before we sold it) occasionally home when the Sockeye season was open because we he have a place to keep the trailer and we could keep the boat in the water a buddies dock.

Area 9 isn't exactly "slow" per say, from what I've heard, but you just have to go further west and north to find these fish. I'm confident that I can scrap a few keepers out when I fish it for a few days in the coming weeks.

Sam Kafelafish wrote:I'm confident that I can scrap a few keepers out when I fish it for a few days in the coming weeks.

Yeah I bet you will. It's pretty much a downrigger fishery though, right? Plus, in a 10' boat I'd be nuts traversing those waters if a southerly gale blew up...

kutthroatkilla wrote:

Sam Kafelafish wrote:I'm confident that I can scrap a few keepers out when I fish it for a few days in the coming weeks.

Yeah I bet you will. It's pretty much a downrigger fishery though, right? Plus, in a 10' boat I'd be nuts traversing those waters if a southerly gale blew up...

Yea blackmouth are often times found right near the bottom feeding up on baitfish. Definitely almost impossible to troll without DR's at 100 feet. I also do well about 30 feet up from the bottom (70' of line in 100 feet of water or so) and I took a few in 40 feet of water this year as well. It's all about finding where the blackmouth are feeding, basically you need to find bait. Blackmouth are voracious eaters, so if you find where they are actively feeding, you are likely to get a lot of hits if you can get your lure in front of them.
There are a ton of well known spots for blackmouth that are popular because they usually kick out fish. However, places like PnP, Jeff Head, Possession Bar and other well known spots don't always kick out fish and when they don't, you needa have another spot to target them. I have a few good spots and usually never have to deal with fishing around other boats because these places fish better for me then PnP or Possession do for me. It's all about knowing a certain stretch of water... How the tide runs through, what the bottom is like, where the dropoffs are, where the fish will be when they are feeding and what lures best mimic the local baitfish in those areas...

A 10' boat would be a little bit risky out there....You could do it, but then again, you have no DR's and I wouldn't suggest running far from your launch point...

sam i shot u a pm reply when u get it

Sam Kafelafish wrote:

kutthroatkilla wrote:

Sam Kafelafish wrote:I'm confident that I can scrap a few keepers out when I fish it for a few days in the coming weeks.

Yeah I bet you will. It's pretty much a downrigger fishery though, right? Plus, in a 10' boat I'd be nuts traversing those waters if a southerly gale blew up...

Yea blackmouth are often times found right near the bottom feeding up on baitfish. I also do well about 30 feet up from the bottom (70' of line in 100 feet of water or so) and I took a few in 40 feet of water this year as well. A 10' boat would be a little bit risky out there....You could do it, but then again, you have no DR's and I wouldn't suggest running far from your launch point...

Yeah, that's what I imagined. I caught a few coho off the Edmonds Fuel Dock last August when the coho were running, and went out I believe in November to fish with my Dad on Possession. We caught 3-4 21" fish that were released, and just threw in the towel. I've heard the same, the fish are further west and north, not right on Possession. I'll stick to the lakes, but I do wish you the best of luck out there! Not having downriggers does take its toll after awhile, but then again, who would have a downrigger on an inflatible boat...

fishingmachine,
PM replied.

kutthroatkilla: That can be the problem with possession. i catch a lot of sublegals...Maybe it's cause all the legal sized fish get kept cause of the fishing pressure? Perhaps. There are all sorts of productive areas right around Possession that kick out fish. I've grown up fishing the salt and know a lot of the spots on the south end of Whidbey Island...

There's a chance I can get you out in area 9 for a day when I have my 11 days off...Don't hold me to it, but it might work...

thanks i sent u a reply to your pm sam

battleground is an awsome lake but you almost have to have a boat this time of the year.


does anybody know were WDFW puts the trout in when they stock lacamas lake?

sam i shot u a pm

Sam Kafelafish wrote: There's a chance I can get you out in area 9 for a day when I have my 11 days off...Don't hold me to it, but it might work...

That would definately be fun, we'll see. It's an inbetween time right now for fishing, for me personally, so I'm looking at trolling Beaver Lake in Issaquah maybe for some active holdovers in the weeks to come. I feel with the sub-legals, it gets to a point where you don't want to hook anymore due to the potential for accidential fatalities to the fish. When all I catch are 21.5" fish, you know it's time to change to a large bait, change locations, or call it a day.