Northwest Fishing Reports

Hi All!

I grew up fishing lake and ponds in the midwest - bass, pike, walleye, and panfish. I now have a 7 year old boy who wants to try fishing.

He is new to the sport so we really need to keep it simple like stillfishing with a bobber and find success before his attention span burns out. I was hoping for a super easy "catch a small panfish" spot but haven't really connected yet. We have tried a couple of spots on the E side (Cottage Lake, Bassett Pond, and Crescent Lake) without any real success. Cottage lake is not very "atmospheric" since we are limited to the dock. The other two spots are super weed choked with very limited access.

Any ideas on somewhere to take him in greater King County?

Bearforceone,
I feel your pain. You just want to see your kid hit some fish, any fish, etc. unfortunately, we are in the dog days of summer. This means lakes are at their warmest temps. Trout fishing this time of year is difficult, unless you can get out in a boat and troll deeper depths, jig, etc. there are perch to be had, but again, none of this is easy from shore. Warm water brings epic weed growth and algae blooms. For me a go to ‘Bobber and worm’ lake is Greenlake/Seattle.
But that would be in March-May.

One option is you might hit one of the local salt water piers. Fishing for flounder/sand dabs, etc can be SUPER easy, and prolific. You can fish those tiny salad shrimp, like the 1/2” ones. Give them about 45 seconds in boiling water first, just to form them up.. to stay on the hook.
Use a drop shot rig.. Simple egg sinker at end of line, 1st TINY hook about 12” above that, 2nd TINY hook 7-8” above that. Pinch barbs on hooks. Cast out, wait. The flounder from the pier may not be as quick of a hookup as when in a boat, but you definitely should at least hit some sculpin, flounder, etc.
Otherwise with the warm lake waters, a boat is such a better option to get down to the cooler water.
Good luck with your son.

Edit: I would suggest ‘Dock A’ at the Shilshole Marina. If you consider the Edmonds pier, that is kind of a weird experience for a 7 y/o. From the Edmonds pier he won’t easily see the water. The water is 20-30’ below him, and high railing.
Dock A, Shilshole, water is closer, and almost no one there.

Logboom park on lake WA is almost a sure thing for perch or sunfish this time of year but it's not all that atmospheric. Almost any pier in the sound will have shiner perch that are easy to catch either with a herring jig or a small egg hook with a piece of worm on it. And if your willing to come a bit farther south...American lake has a lot of perch, rockbass and a ecent trout bite off of the bill's boathouse dock this time of year.

re: Logboom Park

That is in Kenmore, right? Just go off the dock?

Yes in Kenmore, there used to be a sign telling you to not eat those fish though due to contamination. Not sure if that is still in effect but might want to C&R, or check for details.

Update: The boy and I went this morning and nabbed 16 perch and sunfish. They were all small-ish but so is he. He was super excited. Thanks for the idea.

bearforceone wrote: ↑

Fri Aug 09, 2019 2:18 pm

Update: The boy and I went this morning and nabbed 16 perch and sunfish. They were all small-ish but so is he. He was super excited. Thanks for the idea.

Winning!!

Another lake that could be worth trying is Gissberg Ponds in the Smokey Point/Marysville area. Half of the lake is a Juvenile only (15 years or less) fishing which will give you lots of room to practice casting. There are trout, panfish, bass, and a couple other species in there as well.

Some King County creeks used to be open to juvenile fishing like North Creek and Swamp Creek though upon looking at the regulations it doesn't seem that is still the case. Feel free to do some research as those were fun when I was young to learn how to river fish. The Sammamish River (Slough) is open until end of August and could provide some opportunity to fish as well for pike minnows which are a lot of fun and a couple of other species too.