taking kid fishing and new to area. (spokane)

[oneshotonecast]

im new to spokane area and have a 7yr old who is brand new to fishing. ive been out twice without sucess. im looking for a place where chances of any kind of fish small etc can be caught. I just want her to catch her first fish. is there any stocked ponds that are a pay to fish place.? public or private close to spokane area. also I have no boat.
thanks for the help in advance.

[hewesfisher]

There are pay to fish docks on Clear Lake, public fishing dock on Silver Lake (just need your WDFW Vehicle Access Pass), pay to fish dock on West Medical Lake, 2 resorts on Sprague Lake with pay access fishing docks, pay access dock at Williams Lake near Cheney, public shore access at Badger Lake (WDFW pass), public fishing dock at Newman Lake (WDFW pass) and I believe there is also a public fishing dock (WDFW pass) at Liberty Lake. Best bet for shore or dock success would probably be Clear, Sprague, Williams, and possibly Liberty. West Medical is good early in the season, but it usually falls off as the weather warms up. Badger may be good too, but I don't know how good bank fishing is there.

To my knowledge, there are no private, stocked, "pay to catch" ponds in or around Spokane.

Hope that helps.

[oneshotonecast]

thanks a lot. ill try out some of these. just looking for easy simple fish like bluegill or whatever. I just want her to get hooked up before I advance her to bigger and better fish.

[oneshot]

welcome!! i like your name.. ;)

I took my 6 yr old boy over to visit family back in May and I took him and my 10yr old nephew to West Medical lake.. they have free shore to fish but we paid to fish at the fishing dock there, they also rent small boats super cheap.. anyhow.. we slayed a LOT of fish!! they stock the lake really well early in the season and then for dads day they put another good size number of triploid trout in there.. it may be tougher fishing this late in the season but its a good bet you may catch something.. just fishing power bait suspended off the bottom is the trick for little kids..

here's a video from our trip there, you see the dock and get a feel for it and see the potential.. the boys put on a clinic!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-3M6QsZCYc" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Anglinarcher]

im new to spokane area and have a 7yr old who is brand new to fishing. ive been out twice without sucess. im looking for a place where chances of any kind of fish small etc can be caught. I just want her to catch her first fish. is there any stocked ponds that are a pay to fish place.? public or private close to spokane area. also I have no boat.
thanks for the help in advance.

What you want is perch, large perch so she can keep some, lots and lots of perch, with cheep boat rentals and easy access to the fish. I have your place.

Downs, south of Cheney between Rock Lake and Sprague, is a private lake but you can pay to launch for just 6 or 7 bucks, or rent a row boat for next to nothing. You can also fish off the dock and do well. At this time of year, the perch are staked like chord wood, just waiting for a little worm or grasshopper to sink to them. There is no limit on the perch so you can fish until she is tired --- which may not be soon.

[Anglinarcher]

PS, Elokia lake, north of Spokane, had Jerry's Landing. Like Downs, it has cheep row boat rentals and more perch then you can deal with. The trick there is to find deeper holes in the weeds and drop a worm in without weight. A little harder to fish, but just as many perch.

[hewesfisher]

Forgot about Downs Lake. Yesterday I spoke with a friend of mine who, for the past several years, spends the month of September camping at Downs and he was lamenting the fact the new owners had remodeled and upgraded facilities there, but with higher prices on everything. So those prices may be different and no longer "cheap".

[hewesbob]

Fishing Downs Lake can be perfect for kids this time of year. At times you can get two at a time fishing in the pads. The prices have not changed for the past five years, you can still rent a boat get a dozen worms a soda and an ice cream bar for less than $20.00. Thats a good investment in a kid.

[hewesfisher]

Per my friend, as of last week, prices have gone up. The folks at the resort couldn't even tell my friend what it would cost for an RV spot for the month of September and he's been going there for years.

[hewesbob]

Sorry Hewesfisher I didnt mean to contradict you or step on any toes, but I owned Downs Lake resort from 2001 thru 2006 when I sold because my wife(who ran the resort) passed away. I sold to the Griffy family. Unknown to any of us at the time of the sale they were forced to upgrade the electrical thru out the RV park. This was a great expense and forced them to pass that along to the customers.From 2007 thru 2012 the Griffies were never able to recoup what they had spent and took their losses and sold to the current owners. I was at the resort a few weeks ago and asked what I owed for a boat launch and BOB( new owner) said "$6.00 same as when you were hear". The new owners know that they cant raise prices and make a go of it at such a small resort. Not being able to quote a monthly fee for your friend is probably because alot of folks want a DEAL. If people would realize that it cost money to keep a nice place like this going and just pay their share it would be easy to keep a great place like this in business. The point of my original post was that Downs Lake Resort is a great place to take kids this time of year for fast action perch fishing that is affordable.

[hewesfisher]

It's all good hewesbob, just passing on what I heard from my friend after he visited the resort last week and his comment "everything went up". He's 75, and lives on a fixed income, so I can understand his position. He and his wife have been camping there every September for quite some time, you might even know them.

Still a good place to fish and probably an economical choice even if prices did go up.

[Anglinarcher]

Thought I would provide a phone number to the Farleys Downs Lake Resort so that people could ask them about prices and the such. Their phone number is (509)235-2314, winter number (509)953-4286. Their email is [email protected].

Their launch fee was $6.00 on 8/24/2013. They do rent row boats and their RV spots are cheaper then at Fish Lake.

Rather then the claims about how expensive or cheap they are, give them a call yourselves.

Now, as for the fishing, I hit it at the wrong time of day, but they told me we are just a little early for the perch. Check my report out. I expect one or two weeks from now the perch will be on fire and anyone can catch them, kid, adult, dog with a line on their tail. LOL

[hewesfisher]

Now, as for the fishing, I hit it at the wrong time of day, but they told me we are just a little early for the perch. Check my report out. I expect one or two weeks from now the perch will be on fire and anyone can catch them, kid, adult, dog with a line on their tail. LOL

Same report I got from my friend yesterday.