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anybody out there ever fish the area around the arboretum,i took a walk out on the pathway that extends out onto lake washington and it looks like real good habitat for crappie,perch or bass.i would like to go out in my float tube so for safety would like to stay close to shore. thanx
well that whole area is filled with all the fish that you have mentioned. and they are really in there in the spring. go over to the lily pads on the other side and fish spawning bass, crappie, and other panfish.
The Perch and Pumkinseeds start to move into that area in late March and the bass and crappies should be in there around mid-April. The areas around the walk way are were you can find smallmouth bass, trout, and perch. Most of the larger crappies that I've caught from around there seem to only move in to spawn the quickly move back out into the main channel of the cut. The smaller crappies will stay there until late fall and can bite best very early in the morning. The trick to finding the larger fish is to find areas with a harder bottom since most of the arboretum has a very muddy bottom.
The catfish move in around the first week of March and can be caught all day and night. When ever there is a good rain shower in the early spring you can sometimes see them feeding on bugs on top.
The largemouth are found closer to the main lake, under 520, and along the rocks and wood stick ups on the outer edged of the arboretum. They are VERY lure shy because they get a lot of pressure during tournments. The best why I've found to catch them is to use weightless plastics and slowly drag them through cover. Grassfrogs work well in the late evenings if you fish them right on top of the larger pad fields. You may fish all day and only hook one or two fish but I've never caught one under 3lbs and you'll often see larger fish up 6lbs but they are very shy and hard to not scare off, even during spawn.
Have you caught trout from the walkway? Are they rainbows or cutts? I have fished from their before but assumed that all the trout would be out deeper.
The first dock (starting from the UW side of the walkway) is pretty shallow, no more than 7 feet or so. Casting out into the main lake from that dock you can catch cutts. Toward the end of the chain of docks you'll be in water than can get as deep as 35 maybe 40 feet if you cast out into the main lake. You can catch nice rainbows (the state calls them steelhead if they're over 20", better check the regs first :D) if you use a slip bobber with a worm. They don't eat power bait or nothing like that, they are all wild fish as far as I know. They'll hit crankbaits in the summer (use green, silver, brown w/orange belly, or perch colored cranks) while you're fishing for smallmouth bass too.Quote:
Originally Posted by urban_fisher1
Thanks for the great info!
Go ahead tell me about your bass.Jerk.
I didn't catch it at the arboretum, or in lake washington.
and i caught it boucing a chartreuse, single colorado blade spinner bait
and the fish was most likely between three and four pounds, and i caught it on a lite action spinning rod
ok where
come on tell tell
what more could you possibly want to know?
were?
head over to the chat room.
lake Union
you are soch a jerk, i will get it out of you eventually.
ok, it was the ship canal. I caught the largemouth in the ship canal but i'm pretty sure it was just some sort of crazy fluke.
There is never a fluke. go back do it agian, just as you did before; speed depth, structure. and you will catch another fish.Quote:
Originally Posted by urban_fisher1
yea well i did for about an hour. same time of day same lure same presentaion everything and nothing, not even a bite
Wait a second...You caught a largemouth this time of year in the ship canal?
yea, crazy isn't it!? I was just down there practicing casting and scoping out the place, it was on last wednesday or thursday
Id expect a smallmouth but not a largemouth at this time of year.Did you try throwing a carolina rig and dragging it?
nope, at first i was bouncing a pumpkin colored 3.5 " tube with a jighead and the water was clear enoguh that i saw the fish following but he didn't look like he was going to take it, so i switched to a single colorado blade chartreuse spinnerblade with a stop and go retrieve along the bottom and thats when it hit. It fought alright for the light actin rod i was using but still seemed a bit sluggish
Wow. It makes sence though. A Bass feeds every 8 to 10 days when the water is below 50 degrees. But there is some lakes where the water has warmed enough that the bass should be in a early prespawn phase.Quote:
Originally Posted by urban_fisher1
that is what i am hoping for down at Duck lake next weekend going to be piching jigs and slow rolling spinner baits. I just hope that it will work. And some crappie too. if it goes weel then all of you will be hearing it.
Water temps are everywhere from 45 to 50 something degrees right now so dead sticking a suspending jerkbait will work too.
when fishing a spinnerbait deep i really like to to let it sink all the way to the bottom
then pick it up, reel the slack then let it sink again and repeat untill its all the way in
yo-yo. LOL
what?
up and dow up and down> spinerbait/yo yo
oh, ok i get it
so what are the best places for catfish down there at the arboretum?
There's two places I can think of that are better than others. At the entrance to the walkway area you can walk to the right and you'll find a cleared area right underneath Hwy 520. That's a very spot to fish at night.Quote:
Originally Posted by urban_fisher1
Another good area to try is near the golf course/country club in the very back of the arboretum. Cast a bobber/worm combo along the edge of the pads that line the small island. You can use a two hook bottom setup here at night and really lay into them. You'll have to catch a lot of little ones to get a few decent sized ones but it's fun none the less. There's a canal that runs into this area. Just follow the foot path over the small bridge. Once you cross the bridge go to the right and follow the channel as far back as you can go. Theres only one hole in the channel but the fish will stack up in that hole. It can be fast pased fishing here on a rainy spring day.
Early in the morning (before sun up) during late spring and through the summer you can catch some nice crappies in that whole area. They will be right ON the bank (I'm talking less than 1 foot off the bank and no further). It seems that they school up and push little baitfish up against the bank. Use a long rod, drop your jig in the water and walk slowly along the bank.
If youre willing to drive to sammamish. At night in front of the state park swimming beachestwards the lily pads in 18 feet of water there is alot of catfish there you'll get at least a couple good ones per trip.
thanks for the info guys!