Does anyone have any suggestions on which dock on the lake to go to for warmwater fish? Perch, bass, crappies, ect. Salmonids are ok too, but I prefer warmwater fish personally. If anyone has any suggestions on which setups to use, I'd appriciate it also. Thanks.

I like Lake Washington a lot, and regularly dock-fish it for perch. My favorite is at Juanita; its a big u shaped dock with some nice water. Even the swimming area produces. Luther Burbank usually has some nice perch (fish the small dock that you have to hike to) and I caught a 4-pound smallie once while perch fishing! Occasionally, the Kirkland docks and Seward Park dock are good, but focus on the first two. What i usually use is the good ol bobber and worm fished close to the bottom, but i have caught smallies and even perch on spinners. Sometimes I get a wild hair and bust out the fly rod (which I usually save for trout and salmon) and catch a few perch on Hares Ears. Good Luck.

Arklier,

If you're shorebound and want some Lk. Wa. warmwaters, then I'd recommend the Arboretum. There are many, many docks, walkways, and pieces of beach to fish off.

You can catch smallies, largemouth, perch, sunfish, crappie, and the occasional bluegill. Don't be surprised if your worm ends up enticing a cutthroat anywhere from ten to twenty inches, either.

I don't fish Lake Washington much, since I live on Lk. Sammamish, and when I do I usually do it via boat or float tube, but when I have been shorebound, the Arboretum is the spot.

Good luck, and wherever you do try it, post a report. Thanks in advance.

Fish on...

Todd.

Finally got a chance to fish out at the Arboritum, but I only managed to catch one perch. There was a guy just leaving when I got there who had several nice sized ones in his bucket, but it seemed I couldn't fish a single spot without having my bait run over every five minutes by a boat. People have no consideration for bank anglers and don't give them any space. I actually watched two ladies in a canoe paddle by in front of me not a dozen feet away! Luckily I didn't have any lines in the water at the time, so I wasn't as annoyed as I could have been. I started kind of late, so I only tried 3 spots, though. Was really just playing around with a new rod I bought the other day. I was mostly bottom fishing, because it was a bit too windy for a bobber, but there seemed to be a lot of underwater weeds around that fouled up my rig on almost every cast.

I also like pan fishing. On lake washington, you will do best when you find a 25-35' deep area and fish it at SUNDOWN. There is good fishing from the east side of Mercer Island to Kenndale in Renton.

When bank angling, the arboretum is a fine spot. Again, SUNDOWN is the key. First bite is usually about 7:30 pm and the action will usually be pretty consistent until dark. Three of us went out to our favorite Perch spot a week ago and did absolutely horrible. The standard tear drop weight and worm hook pair usually produces really well when fishing from a boat, but was completely fruitless for us. It was a nice evening and a lot of large fish were showing, but the water temps out there were from 66-68 deg. I think that this might be just a tad bit cold for them.

The best way to "force" perch to bite, is by using a 1/16 smoke grey jig with sparkle and tip it with worm. I found this to be the best producer for perch in the arboretum last July-Aug.

One area that gets a lot of pressure, but provides much action for small perch is the east tip of "Marsh Island" of the Arboretum trail walk. You will also find small blue gills in the lily pads. There are LARGE crappies in these waters as well and a window of time in which to catch a lot of them, but I'm going to keep their secret with me. You'll have to put in your time to figure these guys out. I know I did. I give you one hint, though: You can leave your worms at home. I have never seen someone take these guys on any kind of bait.

Thanks for the tips on the perch.

Out of all the fish in this state, crappies are my favorite hands down. They're fairly big, have no limit (not that I would take any more than I needed), and taste delicious. If you can tell me what you know about Lake Washington crappies, I'll share some of the techniques and stuff I've learned about catching them in other lakes around here. Drop me a line by removing the pork. My email is: arklier@hotspammail.com