Top Ten Lakes in Washington State

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Permalink Reply by Mark Byrne on February 20, 2014 at 5:46pm

Lake Washington, 6 pound Smallmouth Bass, in the city limits of a major city (Seattle) nuff said!

The Potholes, big and fun, someplace for every kind of BASS angler, lots of big bass both LM & SM!

Columbia River (Wallula Pool), a new Smallmouth Bass world record is swimming in here!

Columbia River (below The Dalles), Lots of wind and lots of bass, rain gear on a sunny day, worth it? OH YEAH!

American Lake, great fishing, both LM & SM, Washington’s first Bass hatchery!

Lake Sammamish, Great location, good fishing!

Long Lake (Thurston,) Lots of docks, big LM bass

Hicks Lake (Thurston,) Good fishing

Lake Chelan, Gin clear water, excellent Smallmouth fishing!

Banks Lake, Fun Desert Lake, this lake has everything and lots of access!

 

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Permalink Reply by Sparkles on February 20, 2014 at 7:06pm

What's up with the weed kill like 5 times a year? Long Lake? What's your input on this? Long is also turning into super clear water because of this. And on the rest of my choices I'll keep them to myself!

Permalink Reply by Pete Fisher on February 20, 2014 at 7:51pm

Great list Jordan!  I would rank them as follows, based on my experience.

Potholes

Moses

Columbia River (Tri Cities)

Whatcom

Washington

Chelan

Terrell

Banks

Riffe

Sammamish

This is based only on my experience - fishing some way more than others - and I suck at Sammamish!

Permalink Reply by Chad Simon on February 21, 2014 at 7:03am

Can't believe Lake Washington is on all the lists. That lake has been on the down swing for quality for 5 years now. Every fish we used to catch in the winter used to be over 3.5lbs, now I catch mostly 1.5-2lbers. Tournament results back my logic up!

Whatcom

Terrell

Brewster

Wallula

Boardman

Banks

Roosevelt

Potholes

Moses

Riffe

Permalink Reply by Tag Watson on February 21, 2014 at 8:35am

The quality at Whatcom has declined as well. I don't even bother fishing it anymore but maybe twice a year. Far better smallmouth fisheries in Washington State. I definitely wouldn't put it in the Top 10 personally.

Chad Simon said:

Can't believe Lake Washington is on all the lists. That lake has been on the down swing for quality for 5 years now. Every fish we used to catch in the winter used to be over 3.5lbs, now I catch mostly 1.5-2lbers. Tournament results back my logic up!

Whatcom

Terrell

Brewster

Wallula

Boardman

Banks

Roosevelt

Potholes

Moses

Riffe

Permalink Reply by Jordan Doucet on February 21, 2014 at 9:12am

There's alot of good points made so far. I suppose the term "best" could mean best quality or chance at a whopper, or it could mean best as in you can go out and smack a bunch of 2-3lbers. Another thing I haven't taken into consideration (and probably won't) is the size of the lake. My mind goes more towards tournament waters than the car-topper only lakes, although I can think of a handful of smaller lakes that I would put on the list no questions asked if that was the case. For now, I will leave those smaller lakes under my hat as they probably aren't the type of fishery that would support alot of pressure. 

That being said, I think Roosevelt needs to go on the list and I'll drop one of the smaller lakes off. Anyone who has fished Roosevelt in the last few years knows that it's not just a numbers game anymore, but the quality has gone up significantly. 

Permalink Reply by Nick Berto on February 21, 2014 at 11:00am

Lake Washington
Lake Sammamish
Lake Chelan
Potholes Reservoir
Moses Lake
Banks Lake
Lake Roosevelt
Lake Samish
Columbia River- Tri-Cities
Columbia River- Brewster

Permalink Reply by Joel Alinen on February 21, 2014 at 11:50am

So these are my Top Ten Lakes...the ones that are my favorite to fish...not necessarily the best lakes in the State!
1-Potholes (Olmsted’s Place is the Bomb)
2-Washington (Best views with great fishing)
3-Terrell (Slawnches)
4-Chelan / Wapato (Summer time Big Huntin)
5-Roosevelt (Summer Cabin)
6-Whatcom (Reminds me of College)
7-Long Lake Spokane (most underrated lake in the state)
8-Samish (Just flat out catch fish here)
9-Rossinger (Favorite place to throw the SB)
10-Serene (Lake I grew up Fishing)
11-Tri Cities...(I’ve never fished it but I know its awesome)
100000-Sammamish (This is the fiery lake from hell)

Permalink Reply by David Parnicky on February 21, 2014 at 12:16pm

Agree completely! Quality has gone WAY down on Whatcom in the last 5 years!



Tag Watson said:

The quality at Whatcom has declined as well. I don't even bother fishing it anymore but maybe twice a year. Far better smallmouth fisheries in Washington State. I definitely wouldn't put it in the Top 10 personally.

Chad Simon said:

Can't believe Lake Washington is on all the lists. That lake has been on the down swing for quality for 5 years now. Every fish we used to catch in the winter used to be over 3.5lbs, now I catch mostly 1.5-2lbers. Tournament results back my logic up!

Whatcom

Terrell

Brewster

Wallula

Boardman

Banks

Roosevelt

Potholes

Moses

Riffe

Permalink Reply by Jake Anderson on February 21, 2014 at 1:27pm

It seems like every lake is down. Whatcom, samm, chelan, wallula, moses lmb, erc.

About the only one that people suggest up is banks.

Permalink Reply by Joel Grafe on February 21, 2014 at 3:13pm

just the ones I like to fish the most.

Pateros pool.

moses

wapato

tri cities

palmer

pot holes

stevens

roosevelt

banks

washington

Permalink Reply by Zach Chandler on February 21, 2014 at 5:20pm

I don't think I can even rate 10 but these are my top lakes
1. Moses - Great place for big fish. Great place to learn about smallmouth habits and get confident fishing diff baits.
2. Sammamish - I used to hate dropshotting, this lake has shown me the versatility of the technique. I consider it my home lake and seem to understand it more each year.
3. Columbia (tri-cities) - Fun to fish and you know big ones are around.
4. Columbia (Boardman) - A fun area that can offer non stop action
5. Grande Ronde - Scenic
6. Washington - I only started fishing this lake 2 years ago and wasn't impressed in the beginning, starting to see its potential

Now lakes I really want to fish but haven't
1. Roosevelt
2. Potholes
3. Whatcom
4. Riffe
5. Hanford
6. Long - Spokane

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