Northwest Fishing Reports

This is a desperate attempt. My uncle is in town from texas and I've taken him to long lake twice already, he fell in love with small mouth fishing here but we planned on a crappie fish fry. Seeing as I live by long lake I've always had decent luck with crappie but haven't had any this year. I've seen reports with some great fish but I haven't found them in the usual places. Anyone pick any up lately?
Pm me, I won't tell:-#

ZERO crappie for me this year.........

Perch should be waking up pretty good right now near the weed edges, however.

E

well long is not on the top of my list for crappie went this morning with no luck at all. Those things are kind of a thorn in my side at this point.

got some good advise on my post from yesterday "thanks guys". we tried alot of what was suggested we went up stream from the resort up past the real shallow area on the left side to the no wake marker then worked our way down trying to find drop offs there is a lot of rockie bottom there not a lot of pads where we were but a lot of grass. the unusual thing to me is we didnt get any perch or bluegill. we didnt try worms did try eggs one on the tip of the hook thats what we got the squaw fish on. more knowledge of the lake im sure is the key and that will take time. I might be able to get access to the willow bay area to launch from the sounds of that might help.

Did you pick up any fish?

The Thumb snagged a couple slabs (13" and 13.5") while bass fishing in the west shore area off a pad edge in about 25 feet of water (makes no sense to me either....).

E

One squaw fish, nice fight on the ultra light.

Gisteppo wrote:Did you pick up any fish?

The Thumb snagged a couple slabs (13" and 13.5") while bass fishing in the west shore area off a pad edge in about 25 feet of water (makes no sense to me either....).

E

In more southern climates, crappie often school up and suspend in open water. I have seen them hitting shad or shiner minnows like that in Arizona (Lake Roosevelt near Phoenix), Southern Utah (Lake Powell) Southern Colorado (Pueblo Reservoir) , and in New Mexico (Elephant Butte), but we don't have shad or shiners.

I suppose that if they have a food source out in the deep water, we may be missing a real opportunity. But don't ask me what they would be feeding on.

Perch, no question in this lake.

E

Gisteppo wrote:Perch, no question in this lake.

E

And perch seldom suspend in schools.

Nevertheless, when I fished last Thursday down stream of the DNR launch, I did see suspended schools of something, but they hit bottom pretty fast as the sun came up. I should have fished them, but I was not pre-loaded for suspended fish.

I've caught perch at long lake off of the pier in the park. Casting a foot off of the pads on the near side of the shore. Caught one blue gill from the same pier straight out next to the fallen tree. It was about 9inches. The two perch I caught were about 9.5 ish. I heard there used to be a good crappie population in there a few years back but all the chemicals added to kill the weeds (which didn't work) hit the panfish population hard.

RB wrote:I've caught perch at long lake off of the pier in the park. Casting a foot off of the pads on the near side of the shore. Caught one blue gill from the same pier straight out next to the fallen tree. It was about 9inches. The two perch I caught were about 9.5 ish. I heard there used to be a good crappie population in there a few years back but all the chemicals added to kill the weeds (which didn't work) hit the panfish population hard.

I'm familiar with the chemicals used, and in the concentrations used, they would have had no real impact on the fish. I suggest instead that removing the weeds, and yes the weed mix did change, impacted the panfish more then anything else.

That is always a problem when we have non-native species invading, if we don't kill them back, they take over. To kill them, we damage the natives as well. And in all honesty, sometimes the non-native are better for the fish, even if not to the fishermen or the overall ecology.

As an aquatic weed applicator (I work for a small company that does a few local lakes), I can tell you with 100% certainty that the chemicals we use (Diquat, 2,4-d) have exactly zero effect on the fish. You can literally squirt a live fish in the gills with our concentrations and have no impact on the fish.

What changed is that most people were fishing Eurasian watermilfoil stands for their particular species of preference. The spot I like for perch was affected also. Fish have changed their habitat location because of the non-native species. All you have to do is find the appropriate natural habitat, and the fish will be there.

Look in deeper water, as the pondweed and curlyleaf have become more abundant shallow. Look for drops by lily pad patches. There is a native North American milfoil that has similar traits which is less invasive and leaves good sized stands. Bear in mind that the only places the weed structure has changed is near docks, so if you have a good spot in a less inhabited area of a lake, odds are the weeds are still there.

Don't think for a second the EPA, DOE, WDFW, or any other agency would allow a chemical that would be detrimental to fish in the water.

E

Gisteppo,
I sorry which Long lake are you talking about? Which county is it in?
Thanks,
Richard Fish The Northwest

Long Lake, Lake Spokane, Spokane county.

E