Hi Everyone,
I have been in touch with some people at the WDFW who were approached by BASSmaster magazine for a list of the top ten bass fishing lakes/rivers in Washington state. I am interested to hear everyone's thoughts on their top lakes, a list will suffice, but if you want to put together a quick reasoning on why the lake is in the top ten I'm sure they would be interested to hear that as well.
I'm going to ponder my list for a bit, but in no particular order the following come to mind:
Tags:
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!
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!
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
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
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.
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
just the ones I like to fish the most.
Pateros pool.
moses
wapato
tri cities
palmer
pot holes
stevens
roosevelt
banks
washington
Posted by Tom Melowitz on September 7, 2019 at 2:45pm
Posted by Eric Urstad on April 3, 2019 at 7:38pm
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