Northwest Fishing Reports

My son and I really enjoy crappie. Does anyone know of a good lake or pond within 3 hours of Olympia for good crappie fishing. We would like to go this weekend and do not own a boat.

nwtoolman wrote:My son and I really enjoy crappie. Does anyone know of a good lake or pond within 3 hours of Olympia for good crappie fishing. We would like to go this weekend and do not own a boat.

Tanwax is known for crappie, has some shore access areas. Not sure if it's open, be sure to check the regs.

Lake St. Clair holds crappie (both black and white), but bank access is limited, and it doesn't open until April 28. I just bring it up because if you're in Olympia it's no further than 30 minutes from you.

Your two best bets might be:

Silver Lake (Cowlitz County) http://www.washingtonlakes.com/ReportLi ... id=271&t=1
and
Swofford Pond (Lewis County) http://www.washingtonlakes.com/ReportLi ... id=149&t=1

Silver Lake can be productive for crappie (there's a minimum size limit-- can't remember what it is), bluegill, and perch from the public access area. At least it used to be. Haven't made it down there in about ten years.

Swofford Pond is a really fun lake; that's what I'd recommend due to really good shoreline access. It's more known for it's slab bluegills, but there are crappie in there too. Swofford has brown and rainbow trout, channel and brown bullhead catfish, and crappie and big bluegill. It's a bit early in the season, but when the weather warms and all the fish are active it's a great lake for kids (and adults) due to the variety.

As far as I know both lakes are open year round, but please double check the regs. Both lakes are 1 hour - 1.5 hour from Olympia.

Good luck wherever you go!

1ST .. St Clair is a year round lake ... 2 ramps/access across the road from eachother... Black is another choice ... if you Goog it(be sure 'n check it out on satellite mode) you can see the ramp .... and at the north end the road/bridge where there is a outflow ... might have to walk a lil to get to this area ... DO NOT park where its posted not to !!! ... there is also a store on that end of the lake ... has a small dock that they USED to allow people to fish off of .. ask at the store ... you might have to park there and walk to the (above) north shoreline ... GL 'n becareful on them busy roads ..... DOG

I actally looked at the regs. OL' GREY DOG is right!

Thanks for all the tips, I'm going to try and find the I 82 ponds with the Crappie in them this weekend. As I think it is still too cold on this side of the mountains for them!

been known to happen

don't forget Harts Lake out in yelm, it's full of crappie. once the water warms up it's not hard to catch a bunch from shore or boat. i've had a couple of 100 fish evenings off the resort dock with a small white jig & bobber setup tipped with a berkley crappie nibble.

Do you think it is still too cold for harts lake? Also do they still have boat rentals?

Not really sure, i've never fished harts before the middle of may (mainly for catfish, i fish for crappie til it's gets dark enough). it's fairly small so a couple of really nice days in a row would probly get the fish moving around a bit. no sure about the boat rentals, heard the old lady sold the resort and haven't been out that way the end of last summer.

nwtoolman wrote:Thanks for all the tips, I'm going to try and find the I 82 ponds with the Crappie in them this weekend. As I think it is still too cold on this side of the mountains for them!

well ? .... didnt see a report

made a trip to the I-82 ponds, was not sure which pond was which. I think we made it to pond 4 caught a bunch of blue gill and perch.

need to get in touch with jigmiester he lives out there by I 82 pond he will gladly show u around he knows that area pretty good good fishing at pond 5

I sent jigmiester an email and he never responded back, I would love to get in touch with him would like to head back there this weekend.

keep trying i will be talking to him thursday

I found this old 2004 wdfw warm water fishing guide from 2004. Maybe it has a couple places nearby you can go look at. Let us know if you find any interesting fun fishin!

http://wdfw.wa.gov/publications/00204/wdfw00204.pdf

I found this archived warm water fishing guide a few years back when I was looking for a place for my kids. I hope it points you in a direction of family fishing fun! Note it is from 2004 so the information is out of date and may be Crappie, now let's all get off our Bass and have some fun in the sunfish! LOL

http://wdfw.wa.gov/publications/00204/wdfw00204.pdf