Crappie and Walleye in my opinion fair better than halibut or lings, the only saltwater bottomfish that can compare is a yelloweye and i've only eaten them when i go to alaska! Tons of flavor!

There are two kinds of fishermen, those who fish for spiny rays and those that dont. I once bass fished, i bet 20 or so years ago. Big 20 second fight, then just drag them in on the surface......Just could not get into it

A 4 pound smallie on light spinning tackle with just a small grub on the end is a pretty good time. Better yet, poppers on the bug rod.

Largemouth on the other hand...... 20 pound test on a salmon jigging rod just doesn't quite do it for me.

Having grown up in the midwest, I have a natural connection with spiny ray fish'n and eatin. After spending fifteen years in the northwest, I have made the connection with the cold water species. If your looking for the challenge of spiny ray fishing you just have to match the equipment to the fish like has mentioned in the previous posts. Catching a bucket full of bluegill or perch is just as exiting as catching 2 springers. Drinkin beer and filleting a bucket full of perch is a party back in Michigan. Then deep frying those boneless and skinless fillets and serve them with more beer and potatoes is a tasty treat, IMO.

Bass was a numbers game for me as I didn't think they fought well. It was always about how many I could trick and get to the boat.

Spiny ray = Any fish you can pick up by the mouth, wave in front of a camera, throw 10 ft end over end back into the water, and not get flamed here.

Its been said pound for pound small mouth can be one of the toughest fighting fish. Its all about the set up your cathing them on. Light line and a 6' 6" medium pole gets the job done. Why would you use salmon gear for large mouth i use the same set up for both largies and smallies. You will never no untill you try. For the guys that dont like them thanks less pressure for me.

if i had a quality smallmouth lake close by i wouldn't be as much of a hardcore steelhead fisherman. they don't taste half bad either.

Lake Washington is a quality smallie lake...

I can do that with a spoogin buck steely from off of Tbird line, so it must be a spiny ray! lmao

Lake Erie is a quality smallie lake Fish hunter.... Lake Washington is a big deep western washington lake with a few smallmouth bass residing within it's boundaries....

Western washington sporties should feel lucky that they have the kind of anadromous sport fishing opportunities that they have... no question that the pursuit of sea run trout and salmon here far exceeds the kind of sport fishing opportunity offered by spiny ray fish like smallmouth bass and walleye in eastern and midwestern states...........

but, when there are no steelhead and there are no chinook a man has to fish for something and that, more often than not, ends up being spiny ray species such as bass and walleye....

Most of us western washington sporties DO fell lucky to have the opportunity to fish for steelies and salmon.. Thats the biggest reason most of us would rather live here.....

i'd rather live in the great lakes, more steelhead and salmon, plus nobody will bust your chops for whacking one over the head.

and the best part is if they're not cooperating, you can switch gear and try for a walleye in a few of those rivers

Chum man makes a good point. When I fished Lake Erie and Lake ontario on a regular basis about 2 decades ago the limit was 5 (trout and salmon in combination) and you didn't have to punch the stupid punchcard....

Only problem with Great Lakes salmonoids, except for the lake trout, is that the fresh water doesn't do much for the flavor.... probably ok to smoke but for the table I used to target walleye and lake trout........

I terms of pure red meated fish eating heaven i don't think anything beats a 6 to 8 pound winter blackmouth caught in the cold deep waters of puget sound where they are gorging on calmari......... but any salmon caught in the saltchuck or fresh from the saltchuck and not too dark yet is going to be much, much better tasting than the one you get in the great lakes...

Yea but those salmon are just loaded with mercury and PCB levels...

I fish for bass also in some smaller tournaments... Lake Wa is a kick in the pants...i love to fish for smallmouth...i fish for everything...i really was pretty depressed for a while after the North of Falcon meetings this year, (I lost a month of fishing in a area that i fish at lunch) but anyway...i really let my bass club freind rip when i had a few drinks and told em "all you guys will give a crap about the salmon and steelhead in this state when there are no more and we turn to YOUR precious litlle lakes and start fishing for Largies and Smallies"....they wernt too happy with me...but a few of em said that they would help me try to protect the salt and some rivers if they could...I took it pretty hard after i found out about next years rule changes...but hey...this is the first time that i will ever be able to fish for Summer Kings in area 9 and 10 and be able to keep one!! c