New to tri-cities

[budman8]

Would love to know of a couple places around tri cities for trout and bass. Havent found anything. Have a father inlaw and a 5 year old dying to go fishing

[littleriver]

Lots of good water near tri-cities, but which ones will serve your needs best depends on what kind of floatation device(s) that you have.......

Yakima river is load with smallmouth... if you have a small shallow draft boat the run from benton city to the horn rapids access is very fishy.. I've always done well on this drift... small green spinnerbaits and rapalas work well, but I'm sure there's lots of other lures that will produce.... run from horn rapids down to bateman island is also good.. just a little tougher to get the boat in the water below horn rapids...


Snake river reservoirs are all loaded with smallmouth.... lots of places to access........ work the shallow flats this time of year for the spawners and go deep (15 to 30 feet) along structure breaks and food shelves later on in the summer..... I've fished pretty much every foot of shoreline from Ice Harbor Dam to 4 or 5 miles east of Lower Granite and the best lure is the cheapest.... just a little plastic grub on a smallish 1/16 ounce to 1/4 ounce jig... tip with small hunk of worm.... For catfish I would go to worm harness behind a walking sinker and back troll very slowly in the late evening in 20 to 40 feet of water off of feeding shelves...


Lots of good bass fishing below mcnary dam also.... Umatilla Lake west of Crow's Butte has lots of good bass and walleye structure.... there was an old rr grade and highway that got flooded when they filled umatilla after completion of John Day Dam...... that structure feature follows the shoreline in roughly 20 to 40 feet of water from Crow's butte west until at least Roosevelt......... find those breaks and work jigs and stuff and you will do well in the midsummer months... this time of year you should be looking for warmer shallower water though....


AS far as trout goes it's tough to beat "pool trolling" for steelhead in October.... Steelhead start entering the columbia in rather large numbers in July and move slowly upstream... By late September or early october you can catch them by just trolling plugs and jigs and stuff near the exit points for the fish ladders on the major dams... my favorite place was behind McNary.....



Also a bunch of good trout and bass lakes up north around potholes... too many places.. not enough time.. but that will get you started...


When I lived in Tri-Cities I worked the snake all the way to Lower Granite, the columbia down past Crow's Butte, and the basin up to Banks lake.... rock lake, Coffee Pot Lake and spokane area lakes like Amber and williams were also on the menu..

[fishin45]

Im in Grandview and the best places locally ive found are pond 4 and 6(Buena) near toppinish.Both are easy access and usually catch trout.Clear lake near whites pass is great for camping/fishing.

[beerman1981]

Littleriver is right about the Snake River. There is some incredible fishing opportunities available on the Snake. I have been fishing/ waterskiing that river since I was about seven years old, so I have practically grown up on that river. Both channel catfishing and smallmouth fishing is incredible on the river. There is a lot of area to cover, so it can be overwhelming to find a spot. My favorite type of cover for smallmouth is along rip rap. This will also pick up catfish. If you have a boat, drifting along the rip rap in about 15 feet of water is always a sure fire bet to catch some bass. My suggestion, like littleriver, would be to use a grub and a jig head. I usually use a quarter ounce jig, with a three or five inch grub attached to it. I've also picked up some nice bass, by just bouncing a big nightcrawler along the rip rap. If you are interested in catching both cats and bass, I would actually recommend the nightcrawler method, but perhaps go a little deeper (20 feet or more) for the cats. You will also pick up perch, suckers etc. using this method. Below is maps of three spots I have had tremendous success for both cats and bass: (note, all of my fishing on the Snake has taken place during the warm season, late June through mid September).




The first spot is directly across the river from Fishhook park. Fish all along this rip rap as I described earlier. I have caught nice cats and nice bass in this spot.

The second map contains two fishing spots. Both are across the river from Levy Park. The first spot is a long stretch of rip rap where I have caught lots of bass and lots of cats. It seems like I have actually caught more cats along this stretch than bass to tell you the truth. The second spot is just west of a shallow cove. This spot shallow for a ways out, then drops off pretty fast into the main channel. Right where it begins dropping off into the deeps are weeds, where the bass hide. The bass love this spot as well!

Here are a few fishing pics we have taken over the years:

[dbaker]

Dalton Lake is a decent trout lake. WDFW stocks it in the spring. But, the fishing is really only good in April and early May. The lakes faces pretty high fishing pressure plus it gets really warm. The grass in the water seems to be getting worse every year too. If you don't mind getting an Oregon license the ponds at McNary are excellent especially for kids. Hatrock is good place to fish too. Fish off the dam.

[littleriver]

Good map beerman...

I have fished out of fishhook many times.....

Never done that well along the stretch you circle in red, but the
shoreline upstream and downstream of fishhook on the fishhook side
has a lot of gravelly shallows where smallmouth spawn...

wanna be looking for the spawners right about now...

mid to late may when winter and spring were warm.. early june when
winter was cold and the cool spring winds just don't want to stop blowing
until late may early june....


the areas you circle in red across from levy park are also good.... I've worked those shorelines many times...