New Waters this Year?

I've been whipping Lake Wa and Union crappie into submission these past few years so this year I'm going to check out a few new lakes and a few I have not fished in years.

Shadow Lake: I spent many a season fishing for bass and crappie in this little lake but have not fished it hard in a few years. We only made on trip there last year but caught over 30 largemouths from 1-2lbs. Nothing big but a lot of fun. It fishes like a farm pond most days so plastics and cranks work great. It's also a great place to learn how to fish topwaters for beginners. The bass start to move up into the canal as early as late March.

Lake Meridian: My favorite bass lake and for good reason. Not only does she hold plenty of trophy large and smallmouth......not many people fish it lol. Can't really ask for much more than that. I used to fish this lake 6 days a week when I lived two blocks from it for a couple years. All of the bass guys would head to Sawyer and drive right past a lake that's 3 times better lol.

Lake Ohop and Tanwax: Both of these lakes are where I learned how to catch crappie. If you have ever fished these two lakes you know it takes time, luck and skill to pull more than 20 keeper size crappie a day from either of them. If you can catch a stringer of nice fish here...you can catch a nice stringer anywhere. I loved fishing Ohop during the spawn and Fall when they school outside of the creek. I'll be fishing it plenty this year.

Coal Creek Slough/Columbia River: Two words: Monster Crappie. I have not fished the lower Big C sloughs in a long time but I will never forget the size and numbers of slab crappie down there. It was also fun to figure out what tide was best to catch them at. It can be a real challenge to catch these fish but that's what makes it worth the effort.

Cedar River: Smallmouth, smallmouth, smallmouth. The big boys will slide into the lower Cedar during the summer and a few are resident fish. Only opens for a few months so you better try to nail these brusiers whenever you can get down there. Plastics fished at the top of the holes is the key. Whenever I don't feel like dragging the boat out I'll be walking the banks of the Cedar this summer. Can't use bait like back in the day so forget about the perch and crappie in the lower river for now.

Sammamish Slough: Nice catfish, crappie, and Largemouth. I think I've already said too much:D.



What "new" places are you guys planning to fish this year?

you stole one of mine!:D just kiddin, i have been wanting to hit sammammish slough for some time now. but you can't use bait so i don't know how i would get the cats out of there. i want to get to know union and washington better as well. snake river sounds like fun and the potholes moses seep lakes area as well.

Hey Urban, it's only selective rules from the 68th bridge to Lake Sammy lol ;) . Anything goes from the mouth on Lake Wa up to the bridge.

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Originally Posted by urban_fisher1

you stole one of mine!:D just kiddin, i have been wanting to hit sammammish slough for some time now. but you can't use bait so i don't know how i would get the cats out of there. i want to get to know union and washington better as well. snake river sounds like fun and the potholes moses seep lakes area as well.

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That sounds very similar to my list. Ill probably spend a lot of time in washington/union just because they are so close, and would like to fish Sammamish. I want to try some other places too, lake meridian sounds nice. I also cant wait to go catch limits of kokanee at Alder, and of course I wanna head over to potholes/moses area too.

for new places to try for crappie i would like to catch some out of washington and union. never have giving these lakes much of a shot. the perch arn't much of a problem. i will also try sawyer and kapowsin. i would also like to try moses more for crappie. when i go over to that area i dont go to moses i go strait for the potholes.

i missed that in the regulations, you really need to know how to read pretty well to understand those stinkin things. i would like to try and cover that whole canal gradually over the summer

I talkef to a guy a few days ago, and he said that he used to snorkle the upper part by lake samamish and fet bags of crawfish, and he would see quite a few smallies in there as well, he said a few times he has heard of people floating it in a canoe? slab you might as well add Duck to your list if you go down you will get some! My list is too long to type out...

I don't know how I forgot about Duck Lake Koke lol. That's gonna be at the top of the list really. Lake Sawyer is really good crappie lake as well. They don't get all that big though but there's always the chance you can nail a 5-6lb bass.

Wassup ? Slabking I Fish Ohop Alot From The Shore Until I Can Get Me A Boat. I Been Trying To Find Me A Bass Boat Real Cheap Like A Skeeter, Ranger ,tracker, Etc. I Used To Fish Tanwax From The Dock Until They Went Under New Management And Raised Their Prices, But I Would Always Do Good Around Baseball Playoffs.

When did they sale the resort on Tanwax? It's been about 5 years or so since I fished off the little dock down there. Used to be a pretty good place for bluegill and crappie off the left side the dock. Man, we'll have to meet at the boat launch on Ohop sometime this year and go catch a few. I always have an open seat on the boat.

You said way to much about the sammamish slogh when you mentioned it. The upper part by lake sammy Is a awesome flipping area, and it puts out some hawg largemouth and small mouth.

bassinman, didn't you have a tournament a little while ago down at silver? how was the fishing?

I dont want to talk about it, only 12 teams brought in fish. My team was not one of them, we we tied for 13th like 22 other teams. the winner brought in 2 fish which was not much to say the least. The fishing was awesome, the catching was horrid. I lost a fish in the 5 to 7lb range which reall seemed to make the fishing even better if you know what I mean. Then my buddy loses another good fish which, if we had got those two fish would have put us in 1st place no problem.

that sucks :(

The early season has been pretty tuff down on Silver from what I've heard. There was another tourney where first place went to a team that had a total weight of 3.6lbs. Most years it's hard to win on Silver without a 7lb kicker. Let's hope it gets better soon.

It could have been worst Bassman. Check out this story lol:

To win first and second prizes in an ice-fishing contest in Norway, a fisherman made an almost unbelievable catch.
The stickleback that Jan Petter Johansen snagged weighed only 0.12 ounces - total.
And that was good enough for more than $900 in prize money.
How come?
He’s the only contestant who caught anything. And he caught his two tiny fish only because they were tangled in some seaweed and from the weight on the line he thought he had a big haul.
That was fisherman’s luck.
Fisherman’s smarts was his decision not to throw them back.
The 0.07-ounce trophy fish was worth $770. The 0.05-ounce second-place fish pulled in another $154

i heard that story to slabking. it is like at the mardon dock tournament with the perch. the last couple years the winning weight was between 0.09oz-0.3oz. i thought for sure i would get a perch while crappie fishing. or drop-shoting some leeches.

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Originally Posted by SlabKing

When did they sale the resort on Tanwax? It's been about 5 years or so since I fished off the little dock down there. Used to be a pretty good place for bluegill and crappie off the left side the dock. Man, we'll have to meet at the boat launch on Ohop sometime this year and go catch a few. I always have an open seat on the boat.

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MAN I WANT TO SAY IT'S BEEN ABOUT5 OR MORE YEARS BECAUSE IF YOU REMEMBER THEIR WAS A COUPLE THAT OWNED IT AND THEY SOLD IT FOR A HALF A MILLION AND SOME DUDE BOUGHT IT AND SCREWED THE PRICES ON EVERYTHING.IT WAS ALSO A GOOD LAKE FOR CATS. I WOULD DO MOST DAMAGE FISHING JIGS AND A SHOT WITH NO BOBBER STRAIGHT OFF THE DOCK USING THE TICK METHOD. WHEN YOU FISH OHOP FROM THE BOAT LANDING LOOK 4 THE WHITE LIGHTNING AND WE COULD DO THE DAMN THING!!!! PEACE:)

Also On The Perch At Tanwax If You Were By The Boat Landing In A Boat The More The Boats Were On The Water The Faster The Perch Would Bite Because Everytime Boats Would Pass Everybody Would Throw Out Quickly Because You Knew They Were About To Throw-down On Crawlers

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Originally Posted by CRAPPIE BADBOY

I WOULD DO MOST DAMAGE FISHING JIGS AND A SHOT WITH NO BOBBER STRAIGHT OFF THE DOCK USING THE TICK METHOD.

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what is the tick method? i have been to tanwax a couple times off the dock and could only get perch and bluegill. what is the best time of year for the crappie off the dock? thanks for the good info :D

Crappieking you fish the dock tournament? I might have seen you fishing it because I have fished both of them that mardon put on.

Wait do you fish it with your dad?

ya i fish the dock tournament with my dad. he was the one drop-shoting and pulling up all those big largies :D . i saw you pull up some nice bass to. i fished for crappie most of the time and bassed a little. i am glad they started that tournament for us people that dont have a big boat. i have made some good money to :D $$$

Yeah you caught the big crappie the first year. 10 minutes after the tournament last year I got a 5.25 largemouth on a dropshot(if that fish would have been 10 minutes earlier$$$). I caught a lot of 2.5 to 4lb fish off the far end of the dock in that tournament.

i got the big walleye last year on a crappie jig on the first day. i can't believe that no one got one bigger. it was only 3.27lbs.

That was you? I slayed the largies all 3 days and could not get one over 4.88 until 10mins after the tournament

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Originally Posted by crappieking14

what is the tick method? i have been to tanwax a couple times off the dock and could only get perch and bluegill. what is the best time of year for the crappie off the dock? thanks for the good info :D

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TICK METHOD IS WHEN TOU CAST OUT AND LET YOUR JIG SINK COUNTING BY 1/1000 AND REELING IN SLOW BECAUSE AROUND BASEBALL PLAYOFFS THEY ARE IN DECENT SCHOOLS IN FRONT OF THE DOCK TOWARDS THE EVENING. I USUALLY TEAR THEM UP IN THE NIGHT OFF OF THE DOCK, BUT DUE TO NEW MANAGEMENT HAVEN'T BEEN THERE IN AWHILE, BUT PLEASE BELIEVE ME I HAVE SEEN MONSTER SLABS IN THERE REACHING AT LEAST 3LBS. OH FORGOT YOU DO THE METHOD WITHOUT A BOBBER- PEACE;)

thanks for clearing that up badboy. i have used that a lot at the potholes fishing those beaver huts when the slabs are hitting like crazy. i have always heard it called the count-down method, but whatever :D

bassinman: that was me :D. i wasted a lot of good bass fishing time going for the crappie that were almost non-existant :( . the crappie were hitting all right on the first evening but shut down the rest of the tournament. i think what keeped me fishing for them was the crappie on the leader board was so small. are you going to be there next year, i know i am. have to protect my titles :D lol.

Yeah I will be there. If you ever want to go fishing I always have an open seat too.

The thing about the open seat is true for everybody too.

where are you planning on fishing this weekend bassman?

Banks Lake saturday and then either Sammamish or Lake Alice sunday.

anyone planning on fishing pothles/ moses/ seep lakes this sunday through wednesday or somethin like that. i think that mastafisher and i might be headed over that way