We stayed at the state park at Steamboat Rock Sunday night through Wednesday morning. Spent Monday and Tuesday on Banks lake fishing. I would have to say that overall it was a 3. It was the first time that I have fished the lake so there was a lot of learning to do. If anyone is thinking of learning to fish this lake, let me first say that it is huge. I was on the water for about 10 hours each day and only fished 6 different spots. Most fish were caught on worm harnesses with two poles in the water

Before I get into the fishing, let me first say that the weather on Sunday night was crazy. It was 95 degrees when we got to the park and were setting up the tent. Then the thunder and lightning started at 900 pm. Then the wind came up. If I had to guess I would say that we got gust to 50 mph. Then a tent pole broke during a huge gust, which was followed by the rain.

We got up Monday morning and it was still raining, had breakfast and got to it. Launched the boat at the state park launch and on a tip started trolling the bay across from the launch. We picked up three fish right away, two dink walleye and a huge football shaped perch. Fish were caught with worm harnesses

After lunch we fished the north east side of Steamboat Rock. Picked up 4 more walleye, 3 dinks and 1 decent fish, and a dozen perch. We drifted micro jigs tipped with worm for the perch and pulled worm harnesses for the walleye, however one walleye was caught on the micro jig/worm combo.

Tusesday morning we were back at it, but fishing was slower than Monday. No walley or perch but a bunch of smallmouth. Nothing to brag about but enough to keep us interested. Tuesday was spent fishing the shoreline north of Steamboat Rock.

Some thing to know before you go to Banks for the first time. If you are going after the smallmouth you need to know how to fish a vertical drop, whether it is basalt wall that goes from the surface to 40 feet plus, of a rock that is 5 feet under the surface that drops off 30 or 40 feet. I have never fished anything like this so I am still trying to figure it out. Also most of the bottom that I found was sand/mud execp for one small spot of gently sloping larger sized rocks, caught a lot of smallmouth there.

Overall we had a good time and the camp ground was pretty nice. The mosquito control program that they have in place seemed to be working, not 100% by any means but better than nothing. I think next time I wil try the south end of the lake. Also, I picked up one of those underwater cameras in the bargin cave at cabelas in Boise for $35. It was kinda cool to look down there. Scuba is better but if you can't this will work, but I don't know that I would pay full price for it.

bassguy

7/16/2009 11:34:00 AM

Banks lake is a very large lake and has a bit of everything. If you stay around steamboat (devils punchbowl) you will be fishing mostly mud, or a variation of mud sand, there are a few areas that do have rock but not as much as the rest of the lake. Once you leave the punchbowl and say you head south, there is nothing but rock, and more rock. The smallmouth on this lake will pick the areas that have a little of everything, such as rock, (big then moves to small) or rock then gravel, etc. Weed lines also can play a big part in this lake. I could go on for hours on fishing here but the best baits for small mouth bass would be a spinner bait, and a grub. Throw this around rock piles that have variations in them and you will find the fish.

If you would like to know more about banks and how to fish book a trip today

Brian Walters
Brians bass adventures
206-713-0003
[email protected]

G-Man

7/16/2009 1:59:00 PM

Great report, sounds like you had a good time other than the weather. Stating the obvious again, the lake is huge and you've just scratched the surface. If you have a particular type of terrain you prefer to fish Banks has it, you just need to find it. I plug Fish-n-Maps so much I should get a commission but they really have a nice product for this lake and if you are serious about fishing this lake again I'd be sure to pick one up a study it. If you haven't read through this thread have a look, a lot of information was covered.

http://www.washingtonlakes.com/forum/yaf_postst5792_Banks-Lake-Walleye.aspx

ToadWater

7/16/2009 4:23:00 PM

I recently heard that the small eye population is out of balance in Banks and many are hopeful that the state will loosen up on the regs and allow no minimum size limit to clean up the fishery. Any thruth to this. I heard this from a bait store employee on the lake.

medic1

7/16/2009 8:33:00 PM

Well if that is the case, maybe they need to impose something along the lines of no minimum size but a max size to keep the trophy fish in the lake. All my fish were released, maybe I should change my ways. Thanks for the comments guys

G-Man

7/16/2009 10:31:00 PM

You guys are killing me! Get a copy or two of the regs and take them with you, they are also online. The State has recognized the issue with Smallmouths and really loosened up the harvest rules. Statewide Smallmouth rules apply to Banks and are: no minimum size, only 1 over 14" may be retained, daily limit is 10. Largemouth and Smallmouth are also counted as separate species so in theory you could keep 15 bass a day total, 10 smallies and 5 bucketmouths if they meet the size restrictions. I don't tend to keep Largemouth but a 12" smallie makes for some nice fillets. So go do your part to help thin the heard a bit.

ToadWater

7/17/2009 9:23:00 AM

I do agree on the sm bass and I do keep the little guys. I know what the regs say. But my comment was on the small walleye population. I think you misread my comment and thought I said smallies. "Small Eyes=Small Walleyes" Sorry for the confusion.

jsb7273

7/21/2009 1:57:00 PM

Good post medic1. As far as learning the lake, it may seem like a neverending task, but once you find a pattern that works for you, it's a bit easier than you think. I camped there over the 4th and boated 150+ smallies and bucketmouths. The pattern that worked for me was to find rocky shoreline that transitioned to a mud flat and then into a weedline. I used crankbaits and grubs and poprs. I found that the larger smallies and bucketmouths would be sitting in the weedline and come out into the flat and into the rocks for food, and then back into the weeds.

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