Burbot near cle elm

[haftard]

Me and the wife (mainly me) want to go burbot/walleye fishing this winter. Can anyone recommend a hotel / cabin near the area we could stay at for a weekend? Any tips lakes in that area? Best lake to spend my time on? Or should I head to other waters?

[Angry Perch]

Me and the wife (mainly me) want to go burbot/walleye fishing this winter. Can anyone recommend a hotel / cabin near the area we could stay at for a weekend? Any tips lakes in that area? Best lake to spend my time on? Or should I head to other waters?

Closest walleyes are in the Columbia and east of there.
There are burbot in Lake Cle Elum.

[KP-Skagit]

I have found dead burbot washed up on Kachess. I don't know the first thing about fishing them, or it.

[rasbo]

I catch them in roosevelt, little far from cle elum. Jig or sloooow bottom bounce. January is a great time

[Jake Dogfish]

Used to catch them on set lines when it was still legal.
I caught more in Keechelus, bigger in Kachess.
I’ve always wanted to try in winter but never have.

[haftard]

do you guys know if there are walleye in Keechelus or Kachess? i might have to try lake roosavelt then. i konw when your fishign for burbot walleye are a big by catch. i know me and my wife would  be plenty happy with a limit of walleye and not burbot. well at least my wife would be happy

[Jake Dogfish]

No walleye in keechelus or kachess.

[pickardjw]

Banks is probably your best bet for walleye.

[ShadowHunter]

Keechelus, Kachees and Cle Elum lakes all have Burbot but no Walleye.  Your biggest issue for fishing them in the winter would be access.  Roads close in December for snowmobiles and you wouldn't even be able to get close to first two.  "If" someone was rather naive and the snow wasn't too deep and Cle Elum lake wasn't froze over yet, I suppose you could launch a boat at Speelyi Beach and give us locals something to laugh about for years to come!    In the winter, the Columbia is your only real option for "open" water.

[haftard]

Ok I see. There isn't really access to those 3 lakes. But hey I'm dumb enough to try and launch my boat off the beach in the snow. I feel like getting the boat in the water wouldn't be an issue lol. It's looking like I'm going to try banks lake near steam boat island.

[pickardjw]

That's where I caught my first ever walleye this summer. We bottom bounced just passed the weed line and as slow as possible. Picked up a few smallies, a perch, and oddly enough a channel cat as well.

[GWP]

Wife and I were winter dry camped in EWa for duck/goose and it went BRUTAL cold. This was during the ‘heyday’ of the ‘Combat/Gonzo’ fishing and hunting shows.
Three kids showed up with a boat plus gear and I went and informed them there was NO open water anywhere in the area, but they seemed to know better.
Got a few chuckles the next day following the boat drag marks all over in the snow. Got to hand it to them, they covered a fair amount of ground with it.