FINALLY GOT SOME TIME TO GO OUT TO MY "SECRET SPOT"

[BIGINNER]

THIS WAS THIS WEEKEND.  (I RELEASED THEM  )   EXCEPT FOR THE LARGMOUTH.  IT WAS BLEADING TOO HARD.

[saylean]

Nice fish man! Looks like a good spot.

[couesbitten]

I recognize those lakes. Should have gone there on Sunday, the Yakima was a bust. Every single fisherman we talked to (about 12) had caught nothing.

[couesbitten]

See any rattlesnakes why you were out there? We were walking back to the truck one time, and must have seen a dozen snakes, definately had to keep your eyes open, and pay attention to where you were putting your feet.

[BIGINNER]

See any rattlesnakes why you were out there? We were walking back to the truck one time, and must have seen a dozen snakes, definately had to keep your eyes open, and pay attention to where you were putting your feet.

LOL  I KNEW I WOULD FIND SOMEONE ON THIS SITE WHO KNEW THOSE PONDS.  LOL.

DIDN'T REALLY LOOK AROUND FOR SNAKES.  SAW A MORMOT.  TRIED TO SHOOT IT BUT MISSED.  I TOOK THE EASY ROUTE THERE,  DIDN'T FEEL LIKE GOIND ON THE TRAILS,  DO YOU GUYS GO THE EASY WAY OR TAKE THE TRAILS?
HAVE YOU EVER CAUGHT ANYTHING OTHER THAN BASS HERE?

[couesbitten]

Used to be a small pond that we caught a lot of decent bluegill out of. Have caught a few crappie also, but mostly largemouth and smallies. Have caught a couple of big smallies out there. Probably haven't fished out there in 5 years. When you say the easy way, I'm not sure which way you mean, since I can think of about 3 different ways to get out there.

[BIGINNER]

easy way is down the railroad...  but riding the cliff on montainbikes is a really fun way to get there.

[couesbitten]

Railroad is where we always see the rattlers. They love hangin in the rocks. Never ridden the Mt. Bikes in, I'm thinking about taking the canoe down the river. Now that would be easy!

[Ripper]

Nice fish. I fish for bass a lot, don't think I've ever caught one on a spoon. In fact, I don't think I've ever used a spoon when targeting them. I'll have to try it sometime.

[Dustin07]

cool pics!

I've never seen a bass bleed like that, they are usually tough suckers. I'd probably have kept him too, although the only LMB I've eaten tasted like crap.

[boonerboy]

cool pics!

I've never seen a bass bleed like that, they are usually tough suckers. I'd probably have kept him too, although the only LMB I've eaten tasted like crap.

are you kidding, lmb tasting like crap? guess it depends on where you catch them but usually taste great.

[Dustin07]

the LMB i had was the probably the grossest thing I've eaten (and I eat snails, frogs, sea ducks, etc). He could have been old and it could have been the water though. he was big.

SMB's however are tastey, but 9 times out of 10 I C&R. depends on the circumstance.

[bone head]

i say they make it a law catch and release only on smallie and largemouth??? that should open a can of worms in here? lol they should though. im a tournament fisherman and it realy upsets me to see someone keeping a bass this time of the year thats full of eggs come on let them spawn and then theres tons more to catch or hey even catching that toad again is alot of fun. just a thought.

[BIGINNER]

i say they make it a law catch and release only on smallie and largemouth??? that should open a can of worms in here? lol they should though. im a tournament fisherman and it realy upsets me to see someone keeping a bass this time of the year thats full of eggs come on let them spawn and then theres tons more to catch or hey even catching that toad again is alot of fun. just a thought.

i say keep all you want,   (out of the snake and columbia)  (and yakima if you're brave enough to eat it)

keeping bass won't even dent the population a bit. 

[BigGoonTuna]

i get a kick out of guys who get pissed off at someone keeping a non-native invasive species like bass for the table...

pulling a bass off its bed and tossing it in a livewell, and releasing it a couple miles from where it was caught is just as "damaging" as killing it, but of course i'm biased, i hate tournament fishing.

[87samurai]

Nice fish! I haven't had any time to go for bass this year hopefully soon. You should let me in on your secret!! 

[bowtech721]

i get a kick out of guys who get pissed off at someone keeping a non-native invasive species like bass for the table...

pulling a bass off its bed and tossing it in a livewell, and releasing it a couple miles from where it was caught is just as "damaging" as killing it, but of course i'm biased, i hate tournament fishing.

I dont know that i really like tournament fishing either but whats your reasoning for hating it? just wondering

[bone head]

ya smallies do more of a number on smolt than them squawfish do if they ever put a bounty on the smallies i'll quit my day job. being a tournament fisherman and with most tournament fisherman can and do rule the waters when it comes to fishing for what they fish for and they don't even have to try to hard for it 

[Dustin07]

well, I think the state has the priorities mixed up a little bit. Bass are more fun to catch, and are tougher, than trout. we spend a lot of money replenishing trout lakes every year and how many thousands of those trout are wasted by swallowing a hook with power bait and being tossed back, only to become a floater 4ft away from the boat? you see them on the shoreline all the time, you can see them sitting at the bottom of the lake in clear water. They gill themselves so easy and you always find them dead or dying. They dont' even taste as good as bass.

in terms of keeping bass, I try to be respectful to the lake, the fishermen, and the fishery. I wouldn't keep an egged up female during the heat of the spawn, but even if I did.. oh well, it happens. Salmon are incredible fish that cost a fortune to maintain and we keep females and nobody bitches.

Personaly, the bass I have kept have been in 2 scenarios.

a. on a lake where the resort owners ask you too because they are thinkign about killing the lake off to get rid of the bass and restock with only trout (doh! that would suck! so I do what I can to cull the bass a bit. Better to keep some now than to not have any later to fish at all).

b. other as needed.

[WDFW Hates ME!!!]

Kill all non native species in the columbia, snake and columbia. Wat people forget is that squawfish are native to the northwest, it was the dams that really increased there numbers.

[Dustin07]

Kill all non native species in the columbia, snake and columbia.

why?

[WDFW Hates ME!!!]

Because they eat the crap out of the smolt... I would like them to get rid of the caspian turn nesting island in the estuary also but i have pipe dreams about these things.

[Dustin07]

well that makes sense. the columbia river smolt are more worth protecting than stocked lake trout. Many of the lakes I was referring too, resort owners and whatnot are trying to kill off the bass to preserve the sickly rainbows that they buy to stock their lakes with.

protecting salmon or steelhead in the columbia from bass makes more sense to me, if indeed Bass are a stastically impacting predator. My understanding is that nets and hatchery imbreeding are the worst right now.

[teal101]

i get a kick out of guys who get pissed off at someone keeping a non-native invasive species like bass for the table...

pulling a bass off its bed and tossing it in a livewell, and releasing it a couple miles from where it was caught is just as "damaging" as killing it, but of course i'm biased, i hate tournament fishing.

Studies have shown that even when released a ways away from their bed the bass find their way back to it within a few days.  They're starting to discover bass tend to use the same general area year after year to spawn and are quite predictable.

[bone head]

then what about all the netting on the columbia the natives eat the crap out of the salmon which is stopping them from getting to their spawning grounds? and not just natives but everyone eats them.