Northwest Fishing Reports

I want to get back to Banks and Rufus, but since the lake got drained. Will it be worth while to fish it later this year? Like around late spring, early summer?

Or should I look for a different destination for fishing?

Rufus is hot right now and there is always Rossevelt. I'm not really sure what the schedule on the project is but I thought they were to be done before summer.

Supposely they will be done by late Spring. But the thing is, will the fishing be affected? Is there a die off or something? Drop in fish population?

It's a really big lake, I'm sure some of the fish got caught in water left behind (I saw first hand there is quite a bit.) but I'm sure it didn't do that much to the population. They'll work their way back to the shoreline becuase that's where they get fed.

banks was down 30 feet for repairs to the dam and boat launches....as of the 1st of jan its down 15 feet of full pool. full pool by early spring just in time

The fish probably won't know what to do. Might as well wait until next year to fish it.

A lot of cool low water pictures provided through The Banks Lake Bass Club. I'm sure they got all the way points
into their GPS. I will fish it for sure, I'm hoping that possibly with the lake filling over all that open bottom there
will be more food and nutrients added. It might be really good this spring with some of the brush that also
had developed in certain areas along the shoreline. Been looking closely through the low water photos, I'm pumped!
http://bankslakebassclub.com/2011_Low_Water.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

me too with a cold spring forcast and it filled up by the end of march the flats should be hot... can only hope

I always fish around electric city and Its awesome bass fishing there.

Banks should be good by Mid summer! Im going to fish it in Augest fish should be back to normal by then. Goodluck!

its march 13 banks is 2' low of normal with in slowly warmin up april is lookin very good one can only hope

Last years info, might help:
Banks Lake (27,000 acres): Stretching almost 27 miles from Coulee City in the south to Grand
Coulee in the north, this large reservoir is popular with anglers pursuing many species.
Smallmouth bass up to 4 pounds are plentiful along rocky shoreline areas and largemouth bass
fairly abundant in the northern part and weedy bays. The statewide regulation for smallmouth
bass applies here: no minimum size, 10 fish bag, with no more than 1 over 14 inches. The
statewide regulation for largemouth bass is also in affect: no minimum size but only fish under
12 inches except one over 17 inches and a daily bag of 5 fish. Walleye fishing is still very good.
A cooperative rearing project between WDFW, an Electric City sportsmen’s group, and Coulee
City Chamber of Commerce offers improved fishing for rainbow trout up to 5 pounds.
Approximately 1 million kokanee have been stocked annually in recent years, some of which the
net pens also help raise. Angling for kokanee up to 19 inches has been variable during mid to
late summer. Chumming is permitted. Yellow perch and crappie angling is good, but bluegill
fishing will be poor-to-fair. There is a 25-fish daily limit on perch to prevent over harvest of this
important forage and sport fish species. Lake Whitefish are a very abundant and overlooked
game fish. Several public access areas are well developed, including a Steamboat Rock State
Park about mid-way up the lake, a city park at Coulee City on the south end, and several resorts
at the north end. (See Washington State Parks website: http://www.parks.wa.gov/ada-rec" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; for
ADA accessibility information.)

any updates? My planned trip is in 1 month.

Well Bassplayer was saying it was 2' below normal on March 13th so I'm not sure how fast it's filling but if it was only 2' down I'm sure you'd be just fine for your trip. I just love it over there this time of year. 80 in the afternoon, cool at night and the fish are on fire!

Bodofish wrote:Well Bassplayer was saying it was 2' below normal on March 13th so I'm not sure how fast it's filling but if it was only 2' down I'm sure you'd be just fine for your trip. I just love it over there this time of year. 80 in the afternoon, cool at night and the fish are on fire!

Not quite to the 80s during the day this year. We're only hitting upper 50s right now, forecast is for mid to upper 60s this next week. Overnight lows are chilly in the low to mid 30s. Fishing has been slow, but it's starting to come on. Maybe things will be better by the end of the month.

Whoa, pro tip. I just looked at Google Maps to decide which camp spot to use, since the one we normally get it being used.

The map shows the lake being low. You can see all the shallow road beds and creek channels.....

Bodofish wrote:Well Bassplayer was saying it was 2' below normal on March 13th so I'm not sure how fast it's filling but if it was only 2' down I'm sure you'd be just fine for your trip. I just love it over there this time of year. 80 in the afternoon, cool at night and the fish are on fire!

Its at full pool as of last week water temps main lake 55 to 58 smallies are staged this last big full moon will bring them up.. Im headin over this weekend nothing like catchin big ma ma's on mothers day...Barker flats