Fishing Mayfield Lake?

[PolarBear]

Howdy
At the end of this month we are going camping at Ike Kinswa park on Mayfield Lake with my Sister and Bro in-law.  I have never fished it but always wanted to.  I would like to go for tiger muskies but i won't be able to bring my bass boat, only my 10' Livingston.  Can anyone give me some tips or advise on how to fish it for mainly trout and bass from the bank and a little boat?
Thanks!

[rasbo]

never fished it,let me know how ya do..I'm thinking just the basic trout fishing methods will do it.A friend of mine on lake tapps gets those muskies with a 10 foot livingston trolling points with big spinner's

[Little John]

Slow troll a 2-blade Hildibrant with a 14" leader and a worm topped with a green Jenson egg.
The Tilten arm and the Cowlitz arm are both good. I prefer the Cowlitz arm, should be a 1 hour limit or less,
pm me for more info.

[BLKBEARKLR]

Love the tigers at Mayfield

[rasbo]

man thats cool.my dad told me about catching them as a kid in wisconsin,they made lures out of broom handles,says they looked like a zara spook

[coonhound]

I was out there chasing the Tigers a couple years ago, I saw a huge fish cruising the shoreline, I just assumed it was a Tiger.  I chucked a huge spinner bait a few feet in front of it and it nailed it.  To my surprise it was a 15lb steelhead the game department had dumped, I would have never thought a steelhead would've hit a 1/2 oz spinner bait.

As far as the trout, I would troll up the Tilton finger on the SW side of the park, it can produce some nice trout.  The bass fishing is just OK, but you'll find them in all the typical cover you'd find them in in other lakes.  The Squaw fish can be a real nuisance at times, that's why they put the Tigers in.

Coon

[PolarBear]

Thanks folks!  It looks like the kids and I will be bank maggots for the weekend, no trolling.  We are probably going to leave the boat at home.  I will definitely get up there this August for some tiger muskies!

[Alchase]

Polarbear, if you are fishing from shore go to the mouth of the Cowlitz arm. There is a ton of beach fishing there and all the trout from the pens come right through there. Anywhere between the Bridge by the state park and the cowlitz mouth has good bank fishing. Closer to the bridge is around 85 feet deep. As you get towards the mouth where the cowlitz comes in it shallows up a bit. You can see it here in the link (shaded green area pointing to the south)
http://www.washingtonlakes.com/LakeInfo.aspx?id=141&t=1

I was there two weekends ago and the lake still had a lot of color, so you would probably do better from shore for trout.

[PolarBear]

Thanks for the info!  I'll give er' a try.

[ppodpearson]

Ran out last Saturday morning (about 8:30) to try a new electric trolling motor and catch a limit of trout for dinner. Took about 3 hours. Only a few boats on the lake until close to noon, then toys started coming out. Didn't try for tigers but bet it would be fun to play with one.

[bennybooboo]

How does a fella pull out at tiger?  I live in Puyallup and have caught bass, trout, and whatnot in local lakes and rivers; but now I think I wanna get a muskie.

Having never fished for them specifically, how do you catch them?  What rod, reel, line, leader combo should get things done?  Where should I look/fish for them in the lakes (what cover do they like)?  How about baits and lures?

Thanks, guys for all the help in advance.  If I pull one out there will definitely be plenty of pics.

Eben

[Dmanmastertracker]

 Wire leader with a large 8" Rapala will work, run 25# mono at a minimum. They call these the fish of 15,000 cast's, don't expect to catch more than 1-2 of them a season, even if you go out two dozen times.

[BLKBEARKLR]

most of the time when you go out you will have some good follow ups. These are a lot different than a trus muskellenge. They are called the fish of a 1000 cast because in the spring time when they spawn they get soft jaw and you cannot get them to go after anything. The tigers are a lot easier since they are a crossbred they never spawn.

Like said 25 pound mono. A good 8 inch leader, and then just some big old baits, lots of big spinners, rapalas, zara spooks, I have a lot of large plastic's also that work great...

[Alchase]

Or you can just troll a double whammy with a nitecrawler chaser for trout, and hook the Muskies on "accident". This has happened to me three times at Mayfield, scares the crap out of you everytime, lol.

[Dmanmastertracker]

most of the time when you go out you will have some good follow ups. These are a lot different than a trus muskellenge. They are called the fish of a 1000 cast because in the spring time when they spawn they get soft jaw and you cannot get them to go after anything. The tigers are a lot easier since they are a crossbred they never spawn.

Like said 25 pound mono. A good 8 inch leader, and then just some big old baits, lots of big spinners, rapalas, zara spooks, I have a lot of large plastic's also that work great...

 Must be a little different here, when I lived back east they called them fish of 15k cast's, but those were as you said, true Muskie's.