Current fishing oppurtunities?

[Parasite]

What's happening fishing wise right now? New to the PNW and have not been out since May back in Michigan for brown trout and need to get my fix. Not sure where to go, or what to do. I'm open to pretty much anything. I would have liked to gone out for steelhead, but not I have not gotten much help in that regards.

[Skyvalhunter]

Roosevelt

[Ridgeratt]

This was in Sportsmans in Spokane yesterday

[WSU]

Pm sent

[Parasite]

Perch sounds fun. Tournament not so much. That other thread on burbot sounds interesting. Been meaning to check that species off the list.

What's at Roosevelt? Total newb here.

[Stein]

Tons of information out there.

https://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/washington/213/

[Ridgeratt]

There are a ton of lakes with perch around omak.

Curlew is a good lake right now. Roosevelt if the impoundment above Grand Coulee Dam. Holds Good trout, Kokanee, Wally's, Sturgeon, Ellpout's, Bass & Northern pike.

I might have missed some. 

The water above Chief Joesph dam is Rufus Woods.

[Dhoey07]

Are you based out of Olympia?

[Curly]

Closer to home, you could give Offut Lake, or Lake St Clair a try for rainbow trout. They are both not far from Olympia.  Or there is Black lake too. (I think Offut and St Clair are better than Black, but I could be wrong)

Then up in Lakewood,  American Lk is probably worth a try for kokanee.

[JimmyHoffa]

Surf perch and steelhead are around.  Still a few hatchery steelies, but turning into more of a wild fish show now.  Dec and Jan  didn't seem to have a whole lot of good flow days, but now the rain is spaced out and getting a little colder, it might be more fishable.

[Switchback]

People look down on 'trash fish', but man, if you go to any pier you can catch dogfish sharks, and also some pile perch. The dogfish sharks are a blast on light tackle. They can taste good if you batter and fry them. People think dogfish are stupid because they frequently catch them while trying to catch salmon. But really they're just upset because they can't catch salmon  . Dogfish are tons of fun if you just want to catch fish. I'd rather catch dogfish than trout, honestly. Pile perch aren't bad either, but they're a thin fish and don't have too much meat. You can also fish for squid off the piers, although we are getting toward the end of the season down here.
Should you have a boat (in south Puget Sound it's calm, so even a 10' boat will work most days), you can catch unlimited dogfish and the little sanddabs, which are essentially a tiny flounder. Not that hard to catch 50 or more fish in a day, if you're not picky about the fish you're catching.

If you head to the coast, surf perch are a blast. Would recommend waders and a life jacket for them. And March 9 is the opener for rockfish and (I think) lingcod on the coast, you can fish the jetties for them.

[2MANY]

Pretty good advice except for the part about eating them.

[duckmen1]

Anybody currently fishing whitefish in western Washington rivers? Just a thought for a fish that doesn't get much publicity.

[Brushcrawler]

Check the regs if you go - there is a bag limit on dogfish and sand dabs.

[Switchback]

Check the regs if you go - there is a bag limit on dogfish and sand dabs.

Yeah, I should have worded my post better – by 'unlimited' dogfish and sanddabs I meant they are very plentiful and easy to catch, not that you can bring home as many as you want! I wouldn't recommend keeping a limit of dogfish anyway, maybe bring one home to try if you want. If you bleed them and gut them right away, they are decent in like a fish and chips format. But lots of people don't like them, and the meat doesn't store too well. Sanddabs are very tasty when fried up, there's just not a lot of meat on them.

Also, if you're fishing in saltwater in the sound/strait, you're required to use barbless hooks. You can either buy barbless hooks, or pinch/file the barb off (just make sure it's completely off).

[lokidog]

With Dogfish, I've found that it is hardly worth the effort to keep them under about 27". I like deep fried Dogfish.

As mentioned above, Lake St. Claire is a good one. You pretty much need a boat to access anything but the area next to the launch.  Soak a worm under a bobber along the shorelines and you never know what you will pull up. My first time there, I landed a 23" Rainbow that looked like a sockeye when I filleted it, the lake has freshwater shrimp so some of the older trout can actually taste good unlike most planters. You can tell whe you catch them as they will be vividly colored versus kind of washed out looking. Those got tossed back. I also caught a 14" Bluegill once, let her go back to her nest and there are Rock Bass which are very tasty fish as well as Perch and Largemouth. I mostly fished the south end of the lake. It is my favorite western WA lake, though I have not fished a huge number of them.

[Alchase]

Hit Alder Lake for Kokanee and Riffe Lake for Silvers!
Both open all year.

[Angus]

Sharks/dogfish turn urine into urea and pass it through their skin, thanks, but I think I'll pass.

[WSU]

Another pm sent

[Parasite]

Are you based out of Olympia?

Yes, I am based out of Olympia. Love the general area so far.

Closer to home, you could give Offut Lake, or Lake St Clair a try for rainbow trout. They are both not far from Olympia.  Or there is Black lake too. (I think Offut and St Clair are better than Black, but I could be wrong)

Then up in Lakewood,  American Lk is probably worth a try for kokanee.

Ha! I thought for a second you were talking about Lake St. Clair back in my home state of Michigan. Tad far for a fishing trip right now!
 However, American Lake for Kokanees is definitely on my list. I just need to get setup for doing so.

People look down on 'trash fish', but man, if you go to any pier you can catch dogfish sharks, and also some pile perch. The dogfish sharks are a blast on light tackle. They can taste good if you batter and fry them. People think dogfish are stupid because they frequently catch them while trying to catch salmon. But really they're just upset because they can't catch salmon  . Dogfish are tons of fun if you just want to catch fish. I'd rather catch dogfish than trout, honestly. Pile perch aren't bad either, but they're a thin fish and don't have too much meat. You can also fish for squid off the piers, although we are getting toward the end of the season down here.
Should you have a boat (in south Puget Sound it's calm, so even a 10' boat will work most days), you can catch unlimited dogfish and the little sanddabs, which are essentially a tiny flounder. Not that hard to catch 50 or more fish in a day, if you're not picky about the fish you're catching.

If you head to the coast, surf perch are a blast. Would recommend waders and a life jacket for them. And March 9 is the opener for rockfish and (I think) lingcod on the coast, you can fish the jetties for them.

All that sounds fun. Maybe try the squid next year. I think of all the things mentioned in this thread, I'll probably give dogfish a shot. Time to try my hand at saltwater fishing. Mind if I PM you? I don't know how to rig up. Also, the jetties have me worried a bit after having two knee surgeries for a torn meniscus.

Anybody currently fishing whitefish in western Washington rivers? Just a thought for a fish that doesn't get much publicity.

That's interesting. I thought that was an eastern Washington thing. I have not fished for whitefish in a few years back in Michigan.

Sharks/dogfish turn urine into urea and pass it through their skin, thanks, but I think I'll pass.

I've heard if you cut the tail and bleed them right away, than that problem goes away. Either way, I'll just be going catch and release most likely unless I have to keep a fish due to the bends, gill hook, whatever. I like eating fish, but I did get tired of eating too much of it for awhile. These days, I just want to eat fresh fish, nothing frozen, so I just keep enough for a meal. If I could flash freeze my fish, I'd probably keep more. But regular freezing just produces mushy fillets.

[konradcountry]

Surf perch is really relaxing. You can do it from a jetty but it can be tricky in stormy weather. Waders are really the way to go.

I'm not far from Oly if you have any questions about it.

[Switchback]

All that sounds fun. Maybe try the squid next year. I think of all the things mentioned in this thread, I'll probably give dogfish a shot. Time to try my hand at saltwater fishing. Mind if I PM you? I don't know how to rig up. Also, the jetties have me worried a bit after having two knee surgeries for a torn meniscus.

Sent you a PM on the dogfish rig – it's basically just a regular ol' dropper loop, with a sinker below it. Circle hooks and chunks of herring work well, but they'll eat anything from a 2" perch grub to a large salmon spoon. Something scented seems to work the best tho. Circle hooks are great, cause then you never hook one deep in the mouth. Easy to release em that way.