by Bob Johansen, January 04, 2010
March is usually the month when the highly contagious "twitching disease" strikes most of us northwest bass fishermen. It's probably those first warm sunny days of spring that brings it on. As the faint heat from those first rays of sun hits our casting arm it starts twitching with an almost uncontrollable urge to get out and cast out for Ol' Bucketmouth, Ol’ Minnow Breath and those other big lethargic lily pad lunkers.
Black bass, both the bucketmouth and smalljaw, can be coerced into striking in numerous
Washington lakes during the month of March – And, on both sides of the mountains. My best
March bass action however, usually occurs on the east side.
Washington's Grant County, located in the east-central part of the state, offers almost unlimited opportunities for the bass angler willing to explore the many little seep lakes. Most of the lakes in Grant County are either man-made or formed by seepage from irrigation waters.
Grant County has no forestlands and natural vegetation consists almost entirely of sage brush, various grasses and interesting little wild flowers -- except around the seep lakes where the cattails grow thick and tall. Scabland with basalt exposures is prevalent throughout the county and adds to the shoreline beauty of many of the lakes.
Although many of the seep lakes are named and are shown on maps and listed in reference books, many are not. Some are very small and hold no fish. Others, however, while quite small and unnamed, hold populations of largemouth bass -- and a few even host the scrappy smallmouth. I fished one seep lake that even hosted a very good population of legal sized walleye that were willing biters. On that lake, we caught limits of walleye and just as we beached the canoes, a game warden suddenly appeared out of “nowhere.” Fortunately, we were legal and the fish cop ended up taking photos for us. Let this be a word of warning those angling in remote seep lakes.
Several years ago during early March, a small group of my family and friends decided to try a weekend camping/ fishing trip to Grant County. The camping "safari" consisted of son
Donald, daughter Sandra, son-in-law Keith, three month old grand-daughter Allyson and good
friend Brian Welch with his fiancée Kelley. We fished four small seep lakes and caught bass from each. Two of lakes were unnamed and the others had local names that did not show up in any of my reference books. Donald calls one of the lakes, "Lake Fourteen" because he hooked 14 bass on 14 consecutive casts.
Everyone caught several bass except Sandy and Allyson who opted to just enjoy the nice
sunny weather and the spectacular eastern Washington landscapes. Son Donald and I probably hooked about 50 bass apiece during the two days of fishing. Keith, Brian and Kelley also hooked and released numerous bass.
Sure, most of the fish were quite small, averaging less than a pound apiece, but some were quite respectable. Keith started the week-end action by hooking and gently releasing a nice three-pound largemouth while casting a crankbait from the shoreline. Minutes later, Don hooked a three pound smallmouth from the same lake on a black jig, also while casting from the shoreline. We also caught several bass in the 1 1/2 to 2 pound class and Don took "big fish" honors with a beautiful five pound, six ounce, football shaped largemouth.
I am happy to say that most of the fish, including the five pounder, were gently released and may still be alive and well. Only a few of the smaller fish, some hook injured, stayed around for a nice evening meal. No fish were retained for the trip home.
Surface lures, floating minnow types, accounted for most of the fish caught. We used mostly floating Rapalas in a variety of finishes. Silver, gold, chartreuse, perch and trout patterns all seemed to be almost equally effective in provoking strikes. The shape and size of the plugs seemed to be more important than the color. The lure action, created by the angler, was probably the most important factor to provoking the surface strikes.
The five pounder just exploded on a Rapala being twitched on the surface near the edge of thick cattails. Later inspection of the catch site showed that she had an excellent, shady ambush place located under a floating root wad.
Other lures that produced a few fish were jigs and crankbaits. Spinnerbaits in a variety of colors was tried but surprisingly, not one strike occurred on that lure. Prop baits, like the Devils Horse, also failed to provoke any strikes.
Most of our bass were caught while fishing from canoes. To reach one of the lakes required a "carry in" of about a quarter mile. Canoes, inflatables or other light weight, hand carried craft are almost a "must" for fishing most of the little seep lakes. The tall, thick cattails or marshy shorelines severely limit bank angling opportunities, and the lack of adequate launch areas make it impossible to launch trailered boats.
So, -- if you are one of those unlucky (or is it lucky?) anglers that become infected with the deadly "twitching arm" disease in March, think seeps – seep lakes. The five pounder was hooked in an unnamed seep lake with an estimated surface area of less than 10 acres.
Camping and open fires are permitted in some areas during March. Firewood is almost non-existent in Grant County, so if you want a nice campfire, bring your own. On that trip, we had a nice campfire that not only provided heat and a pleasant evening atmosphere, but also eliminated piles of burnable litter that we picked up around the lake. Bags of other litter, including bottles, broken glass and etc. were gathered and carried out to be disposed of properly. We left a nice clean camp area -- far better than when we arrived. I urge all campers and fishermen, "Please pack out all of your own garbage -- And, even clean up some left by thoughtless, inconsiderate "jerks" that must be using sawdust for brains.
Be sure to bring your camera. Besides the beautiful sage, basalt and water scenery, bird life is plentiful. Black birds will entertain you with their delightful songs and ducks, coots and geese will share their waters with you -- And, Mother Nature will delight you with spectacular sunrises, sunsets, and clear, star filled night time skies.
The "how to get there" portion of this story will have to be somewhat general in nature. Individual small lakes are unable to withstand the pressure of being exposed by a popular web site like Washingtonlakes.com.
Seep lakes are located in much of Grant County. Perhaps the most, and best known seep lakes are located south of the O'Sullivan Dam in the Columbia National Wildlife Area which extends southward into Adams County. The Quincy Wildlife Area, located S.W. of the town of Quincy also contains several seep lakes. The Crab Creek Wildlife Area has many interesting little bass lakes and a few are located near Royal City. Many other seep lakes are scattered throughout Grant County.
The "Washington Atlas & Gazetteer" provides finely detailed topographic maps to help you get started exploring. This excellent book of maps is available at most sporting goods stores for about 20 bucks. My book is starting to get a little "dog eared." "I don't leave home without it."
By: Bob Johansen - 2010
