Bass, crappie and channel catfish may not be prevalent in Southwest Washington, but they can be found in a lot more locations than anglers realize.
“This region is so centered on salmon, but we also have a lot of warm-water fish,’’ said Stacie Kelsey of the state Department of Fish and Wildlife’s inland fish program at a recent meeting of the Oregon Bass and Panfish Club.
“It’s warm-water and trout fishing that drives license sales in Washington,’’ she said. “Warm-water fish are a great opportunity to gets kids started fishing.’’
Washington stocks channel catfish in Swofford Pond in Lewis County and Kress Lake in Cowlitz County. The state plants tiger muskies — a sterile hybrid between the Midwest’s northern pike and muskellunge — in Merwin and Mayfield reservoirs.
But there are naturally reproducing bass, channel catfish, bluegill, walleye and crappies in many locations locally.
“Vancouver Lake has some nice, big channel catfish, really beautiful channel cats,’’ Kelsey said.
She plans to set some trot lines this summer in Vancouver and Kress lakes to sample for channel catfish, plus in Swofford Pond.
And for what it’s worth, the bait she’ll use on those lines are chicken skins smothered in peanut better.
“It has to be creamy,’’ she told the bass club. “Chunky peanut butter doesn’t work.’’
Kelsey also has heard a couple reports of blue catfish in Vancouver Lake.
Her sampling over 24 years in Southwest Washington also has found:
• Large white crappie at the outlet of Vancouver Lake into Lake River.
• Good populations of smallmouth bass, bluegill and walleye in Horsethief Lake inside Columbia Hills State Park in Klickitat County.
• Big bluegill and bass on the north side of Rowland Lake, east of Bingen in Klickitat County. The lake is split by state Highway 14. The north side as a public access site and boat ramp.
• Big bass in Carlisle Lake near Onalaska in Lewis County.
“I would not be surprised to see the next state record get caught there,’’ Kelsey said.
• Horseshoe Lake in Cowlitz County has a lot of juvenile largemouth bass, but few adults.
• Battle Ground Lake and Klineline Pond, both in Clark County and regularly stocked with trout, also have bass.
• Silver Lake in Cowlitz County, once the premier largemouth bass water in Western Washington, is full of stunted crappie.
“Of the 150 crappies sampled in Silver Lake, three were 9 inches,’’ she said. “The majority are 5 to 6 inches. There are not enough predators.’’
Crappie must be at least 9 inches in Silver Lake to be kept by anglers.
Silver Lake has an overabundance of grass carp, imports from Asia brought in to reduce the vegetation in the lake.
The grass carp have removed too much vegetation, but are very long lived, Kelsey said.
The tentative plan for Silver Lake is to limit the grass carp, get more vegetation to return, then potentially bring in largemouth bass to reduce the number of crappie, but increase their average size.
Bud Hartman, a long-time member of the Oregon Bass and Panfish Club, said Lacamas Lake once produced good largemouth bass fishing. Angling success started to wane about the time the large housing developments were built on the west side of Lacamas, he added.
Kelsey said the water quality in Lacamas Lake has declined, but is better in Round Lake, the portion of Lacamas downstream of the state Highway 500 bridge and surrounded by Lacamas Park.
Yellow perch are being caught in Round Lake, a place with great bank access, she said.
