Great day of bassin'

[SpokaneSlayer]

My neighbor and I hit Badger Lake yesterday after work.  Day started off a bit rough.  While launching the boat, he realizes he didn't put the plug in.  No big deal since the boat wasn't off the trailer yet.  We get it all drained and plugged.  I troll around while he parks the truck.  After he jumps in and we're ready to make our run, he forgot the key.     We troll on back and get the key.  After making a short run, we get to our starting spot.  3rd cast and he has first fish.  It took me a little longer to get my first, but after that there was no stopping us.  At one point, I hooked up on 3 consecutive casts with a small firetiger crankbait.  By the end of the day, we lost count of how many fish we caught.  A conservative guess would be 30 landed and half that lost in 3 hours.  They were hitting everything we threw.  Big producer for me was the Sammy, and for my buddy it was a Spro crankbait and a texas rigged Chigger Craw.  This lake is full of bass.  Mostly small ones, but we did get into bigger fish after sunset.  If you want to take a kid and teach them to bass fish, this is the lake to go to.

[Crunchy]

Sounds like an awesome day on the lake.  I havent done any decent bass fishing in years but hope to have a boat for next year and that will all change.

[SpokaneSlayer]

It was a lot of fun.  Probaly the best day I've had on shear number of fish.  Sorry no pics.  Too busy catching fish. 

[Dipsnort]

Thanks for the report.  I stay at a cabin just down the road at Williams Lake once each Summer and fish Williams and Amber Lake.  I might decide to try Badger next year so I can try my luck for bass.  Is there a free public launch?

[SpokaneSlayer]

Thanks for the report.  I stay at a cabin just down the road at Williams Lake once each Summer and fish Williams and Amber Lake.  I might decide to try Badger next year so I can try my luck for bass.  Is there a free public launch?

Yes there is a public launch.  I think it's on the WDFW water access page.  Make sure you have your vehicle use pass.

[Emptyhanded]

I was there last week trolling for rainbows and cutts but did not get one hit all day. i think the trout are pretty much fished out for the year. We moved over to williams and caught 5 in an hour so it was fairly succesful.

[Dustin07]

What's your idea of a good sized bass? We caught a ton of .5lb dinks in coconully a few weeks ago, but the 2-3lb and better are the ones I like to sink my hook in to! might have to make a badger trip...

[SpokaneSlayer]

2-3 lbs is a decent largemouth.  We didn't get into those until dusk.

[Dustin07]

2-3 lbs is a decent largemouth.  We didn't get into those until dusk.

oh sorry, these are smallies  that i was catching at conconully, not LMB's. my wife did catch one small LMB, but everything else we caught was small mouth. On lake geneva I picked up a 2lb LMB and a 1lb but haven't been back in 6 weeks or so.

[SpokaneSlayer]

Oh yeah, a 3 lb smallie is a good catch.  On a previous trip to another lake, my buddy landed a 5 lb smallie.  Talk about a fight!  My biggest bass this year so far is a 6 lb largemouth out of Long Lake.

[Dustin07]

Oh yeah, a 3 lb smallie is a good catch.  On a previous trip to another lake, my buddy landed a 5 lb smallie.  Talk about a fight!  My biggest bass this year so far is a 6 lb largemouth out of Long Lake.

a 6lb bass is a good bass! I told myself if I can sink into a 6lb smallie, i will get a mount made. I may even for something slightly smaller... we'll see

get this... I was catching dinks all day long, biggest one about .75-1lb on rapala lures... so I shifted the boat out away from the shore a little further and switched to a drop shot method on my ultra-light tackle, 4'6" rod! I dragged it back from the shoreline to the boat and BAM the 3lb smallie took it. He ran my line out 3 or 4 times, and ran under the boat bending my little 4'6" rod over 180degrees, it was awesome!

[SpokaneSlayer]

I bet that was a blast!  We may have tried that at Badger, but it drops off very fast in places.  At a few spots we were only 20 yds from shore and the depth finder was reading 60 feet.

[Dustin07]

wow that is a heck of a drop off.

one thing i've experienced this year is that the 'culture' of fish seems to change by lake too. What works on one lake, wont' on another. 

[BLKBEARKLR]

sounds like you are having way to much fun bass fishing over there, we still good for the spring time?

Joe

[SpokaneSlayer]

sounds like you are having way to much fun bass fishing over there, we still good for the spring time?

Joe

  I blame my neighbor for this.

Yeah we're still good for next spring.  I'll be TDY til mid-Feb but not going anywhere after that.  That I know of at least.

[BLKBEARKLR]

late march early April good time to start hitting the smaller lakes over there. Will have to wait until may to get you on some of the bigger lakes

[SpokaneSlayer]

Well Badger is a small lake.  We couldn't even go full throttle or we would overshoot our spot. 

[BLKBEARKLR]

oh don't worry about that my boat is slow, it only hits 72MPH

[Dustin07]

back to the bass! here's that 3lb one i got in Conconully a couple weeks ago. technically like 2lb 14oz or something.

[BLKBEARKLR]

Here are some of the ones we have caught on the West side

Big one was 6.1 pounds I got it in Lake Washington in Oct 55 feet of water

The other ones were 4 pounders

[SpokaneSlayer]

oh don't worry about that my boat is slow, it only hits 72MPH

You must have a 250 on it, huh?  My neighbors boat has a 150 and we hit 60.

Dustin - unfortunately I can't see your pic at work.  I'll check it out when I get home.  If you want to see my biggest one, I posted them under "Long Lake LMB" i think.

[SpokaneSlayer]

Here are some of the ones we have caught on the West side

Big one was 6.1 pounds I got it in Lake Washington in Oct 55 feet of water

The other ones were 4 pounders

Now that's what I'm talking about! 

[BLKBEARKLR]

no 250 a yamaha 200 hpdi

[Dustin07]

Here are some of the ones we have caught on the West side

Big one was 6.1 pounds I got it in Lake Washington in Oct 55 feet of water

The other ones were 4 pounders

now you're talking, those are nice fish!!! 

[SpokaneSlayer]

Looks like I could definitely learn a thing or two.  Can't wait to fish with you this spring.

[BLKBEARKLR]

thanks Dustin




Spokane - it will be learning for both of us, I never fished that one so will take a minnute or two to get dialed in.

Now if you came over here one of these days on TDY then can show you quite a bit...

Joe

[Dustin07]

LOL @ 'a minute or two'


i have to be honest with you,I hate lk Washington. mostly because I always feel like i'm chasing a need in a haystack. But to be fair to the lake, I have not been there during the spawn, so maybe next spring will be more productive.

[BLKBEARKLR]

Dustin, I don't really like the lake either, I never fish it during the spawn timeall those fish were caught late June into October. Washington lake is good if you pick a section and fish just that section for the day and then move to the next one. I have an underwater camera that helped me out a lot figuring that lake out.

Joe

[SpokaneSlayer]

thanks Dustin




Spokane - it will be learning for both of us, I never fished that one so will take a minnute or two to get dialed in.

Now if you came over here one of these days on TDY then can show you quite a bit...

Joe

I know some places that hold fish, or at least look like they should hold fish.  I'm going TDY to Colorado for the NCO Academy.  I need it to be able to put on MSgt when I make it.  Not looking forward to 6 weeks of school, but might as well get it out of the way.  PLus it's not interfering with any hunting season.

[Dustin07]

Dustin, I don't really like the lake either, I never fish it during the spawn timeall those fish were caught late June into October. Washington lake is good if you pick a section and fish just that section for the day and then move to the next one. I have an underwater camera that helped me out a lot figuring that lake out.

Joe

Hey Joe, i've been thinking about putting a camera on my dad's Lund. What do they run $$?? Maybe I'll go work the south point of Mercer Island this weekend. I might have some time Saturday afternoon or Sunday morning.  on walakes.com I remember watching a video of them catching decent sized bass during jan/feb just drop shotting in like 60' of water and drifting along.

at that depth and current... how heavy of a weight do you run for a dropshot, 1oz+?

[BLKBEARKLR]

Dustin, my camera was around 400.00

Yes I use 1oz drop shot weight in that depth, also when in that depth I always use a dark brown or black bait.

South side of mercer is a good area, come off of coleman point in the deepest part and start fishing the face up is another good area late in the year..

Good luck and post some pics if you get some. I will probably get back out the end of Sep after hunting season and try my luck before I put the boat up.

Joe