Snake River (Bluegill, White & Black Crappie, Perch, Large & Smallmouth bass, Shad, Sturgeon, Salmon, Steelhead, Blue/Flathead/White/Yellow/Bullhead and Channel Catfish)
There are not many places in WA were you can catch big catfish let alone four species of large catfish. The Snake River can put out cats pushing 30lbs on any given day of the year with May-Sept taking top honors for the most fish caught per rod. Use a chunk of crappie, worms, livers, or crawdad tails on the bottom and you'll nail a cat....or 30. The crappie will begin spawning by early May. Look for them up creek channels, along bluffs, under any docks, and in any side bays or channels along the river. Your catch will be a mixture of White and Black crappies. Both species can grow to well over 2lbs here. The Spring and Fall schools can be very large with most them containing at least 200 fish and a few topping 1000. Stringers of 100 fish from 10-16" is not hard to come by here. (watch for a complete Snake River article here in June including pics and lure selections ~ SlabKing)
Lake Ohop (Pierce County ~ 235 acres) Species: Bass, Trout, Crappie, Bluegill, Perch, Pumpkinseed, and Catfish.
Fish the many brushpiles that were planted in this lake in the early 80’s, many of which can not be seen from the surface. Concentrate your efforts on the outside edges of the lilly fields, private docks, and deep-water brushpiles on the NW side of lake. Fish will school in front of the outlet creek in late summer to early fall. There are some very nice cats in this lake as well.
Lake Kapowsin (Pierce County ~ 512 acres) Species: Salmon, Trout, Crappie, Large and Smallmouth Bass, Rock Bass, Perch, Bluegill, and Catfish.
This lake is LOADED with crappie structure. This lake was used to transport logs to the railways so the entire surface and bottom of the lake is covered in large logjams and brushpiles. Many a fine crappie and bass to 8lbs have been taken from this lake. The crappie will begin to spawn in early April and finish in mid May. Try the many inlet creek areas and the insane amount of logjams and toppled trees around the entire lake. Look for crappie feeding on the surface during summer.
Lake Tanwax (Pierce County ~ 172 acres) Species: Bass, Crappie, Perch, Bluegill, Trout, and Catfish.
This is a great late fall crappie lake. The fish will move in large schools and can be easily caught. During the spring and summer look for the fish on drop offs just outside the Lilly fields and in the lilies.
Rapjohn Lake (Pierce County ~ 56 acres) Species: Bass, Crappie, Bluegill, Perch, Trout, and huge Bullhead Catfish.
This seems to be a tuff lake for a lot of guys. It took me a long time to figure out how to catch good numbers of crappie from this lake but it can be done. Some of the crappie in here are absolutely huge so it is worth the time taken to figure it out. This lake also holds some the largest bullhead cats I’ve seen in this state and they will bite just as well in the daytime as they will at night. Find the large hole in the NE corner of the lake and soak some worms or sand-shrimp to fill a stringer with cats.
Lake Washington (King County ~ 22,138 acres!) Species: Trout, Salmon, Large and Smallmouth Bass, Perch, Crappie, Pumpkinseed, Carp, Chubb, Rock Bass, Warmouth, and Bullhead Catfish. Sturgeon and Walleye are also known to be caught at times as well. The state record 4.50lb Black Crappie was caught here as well.
Lake Washington is a huge lake the offers every type of structure known to the fisherman. Rockpiles, drop-offs, sunken forest, docks, points, humps, and miles of weedlines can be found all over the lake. For this reason most guys just don’t know were to start which is understandable. Concentrate on fishing the many shallow bays around the lake. Look for bays that contain submerged wood, wooden docks, or an inlet. You can eliminate a lot of areas by only fishing areas such as these. In the summer the crappies will scatter out along the edge of the weedlines outside of the bays and you will need to drift these edges with a jig in order to locate feeding pockets of fish. There are also areas of the lake that contain enough deep and shallow water wood cover to hold the crappie for most of the year. Get a good map and study it to find these two areas. Crappie can also be caught in the Arboretum area.
Lake Sawyer (King County ~ 279 acres) Species: Crappie, Large and Smallmouth Bass, Pumpkinseed, Trout, Kokanne, Catfish, Perch, and Northern Squawfish.
Lake Sawyer is a pretty nice crappie lake. Crappie will be found in the typical areas: the back of wood covered bays and along the weedlines outside of these bays. During the summer crappie can be caught from the bank at the small park near the boat launch. There are some very large crappies to be found in this lake if you concentrate on fishing the deep-water structures found around the lake.
Federal Way Ponds and Lakes (King County ~ From 10 – 80 acres) Species: Almost all of these lakes contain Bass, Crappie, Trout, Catfish, Rock Bass, Pumpkinseed, and Perch.
There are a ton of little lakes in the Federal Way area that are full of happy crappie. Happy because they get to die from old age because nobody fishes for them! Every time I fish my favorite ponds and lakes in this area two things amaze me. One, I usually have the entire lake or pond to myself. Two, the size and number of fish that can be caught from these small bodies of water. The best ponds are small, shallow (less than 25’), and are covered with wood structure. One of my favorite small lakes even has brushpiles planted by Lake Residents that will give up crappie for 9 of the 12 months of the year. If you have some spare time on your hands give some of these small lakes a try. I’ve caught enough 11-14” crappie out of them to know it’s time well spent.
Shadow Lake (King County ~ 49 acres) Species: Trout, Cutthroat, Bullhead Catfish, Crappie, Pumpkinseed, Largemouth Bass, and Perch.
Shadow Lake is a very fun lake to fish if you prefer a challenge. The lake is very small and can easily be fished from a small pram but the launch is good enough to launch bass boats up to 18’ as well. The crappie will begin to spawn in the main channel around the end of April and will continue to spawn throughout the rest of the lake until late May or early June depending on the weather during the spawn. Concentrate on fishing directly in the brush piles in the channel and in the thick lilies around the lake. When I say in the brush I mean IN the brush. You won’t catch very many fish here if you don’t loose some lures. You could spend half a day just fishing both sides of the channel but it will time will spent as there are some very large crappies to caught in this small lake. I’ve seen crappies up to 2lbs come out of this lake so there are true slabs to be had here. The bass fishing is nothing short of great. Cast topwaters and plastics all along the many fallen trees and the many docks located around the lake. The bass will begin to bite around the first of March.
Lake Cassidy (Snohomish County ~ 124 acres) Species ~ Trout, Bullhead Catfish, Crappie, Largemouth Bass, Perch, and Pumpkinseed.
Cassidy can be great lake to fish for crappie. There are tons of great areas all around the lake that will give up crappies. Most of the larger fish will be caught during spawn in mid-May and in the evenings during summer. Concentrate on fishing the many stick-ups and lily fields using a 1/16th jig under a small bobber. The area near the small creek in the south end is a good place to start your hunts. The large bullhead catfish in this lake are worth mentioning as they can reach up to 6lbs here.
Blueberry (Larsen) Lake (King County) Species ~ Largemouth Bass, Crappie, Warmouth, Pumpkinseed, Trout, and Bullhead Catfish.
Blueberry Lake is located in Bellevue just off of 148th. This small lake is often bypassed by many anglers in the area that choose to fish near by Lake Washington or Sammamish. That is a huge mistake indeed as the lake is simply stuffed to the gills with crappie! So much so that they are a bit of a nuisance to the anglers that come here to fish for bass or trout. I have found the crappie here to be very aggressive and second only to the white crappies found in the Snake River system here in Washington. They will crush anything that crosses their paths from trout spinners to bass crankbaits. You do not need to use any type of bait here; just a plain 1/16th jig will do the trick. Try this lake during early fall if you like to fly fish. At dusk the crappies will form into huge schools and invade the shallows looking for insects to eat. They are very easy to find at this time of year, just look for the large boils on the surface and the occasionally crappie jumping a foot out of the water to grab a flying insect.
Silver Lake (Cowlitz County ~ 3,000 acres) Species: Crappie, Largemouth Bass, Bluegill, Trout, Bullhead Catfish, Perch, and Grass Carp.
Silver Lake has a reputation as being one of the top 5 trophy bass lakes on the West Coast but few anglers seriously fish this lake for crappies which is a shame. The lake is full of prime crappie structures, many of the best are out in the main lake and most people just fly over them while chasing bass in this less than 10’ deep lake. There is a very large crappie population in this lake thanks in part to the Grass Carp eating most of the weed beds and exposing all of the wood structure. The amazing bluegill fishing of the early 90’s may be gone but the crappie have more than made up for it. Fish the many channels and submerged brush piles found on just about every square inch of this huge lake. In the fall the crappie will school up at mouths of the channels and 60-100 crappie days are not unheard of. During the summer you will need to fish the channels that contain moving water or find one of the many mid-lake structures to find the slabs. I would urge you to use a heavier line then you usually would here and a reel with a good drag system. The bass will be in the same structures as the crappie and there is no worst feeling than hooking a 4-8lb bass only to see him break your 4lb test line right next to the boat.
