i've been hitting the lakes a lot lately with no success. anybody have any ideas about good lakes to hit this time of year from shore or dock. i'm in tacoma and don't wanna drive more than an hour to fish. please help i'm tired of gettin' skunked

Hey Spokey,

Ever try Bill's Boathouse on American?
They can do pretty good off of their dock.

Ken

That's my sugestion, try American Lake.

American is a good choice. Either from the boathouse or from the WDFW access, just south of the boathouse.

Does Fort Lewis have a ramp? Any cost?
One day I am going gives them Kokes a shot....

Downriggin'

I don't think so. I am not 100% sure though. There is a lot of bank access from the Fort portion of the lake. I do believe you have to have a special access permit if you want to bank fish from the Fort area. Whats the point though when good access is availble to the public via WDFW access.

tried american lake off bill's boathouse and my girlfriend caught a small perch and i got skunked. Outta desperation i went out to harts on the 2nd to spend the night to catch some catfish. saw a few channel cats come up during the day (up to 5lbs) and around midnight i had my first bite but it ran for minute (it was big i was using my salmon rod and it was doubled over and pulling drag before the hook popped out). around 2am or so i got another chance and landed a 26" channel cat. didn't have a scale to weigh him but he was easily over 10. the guy fishing next to me caught two cats one around 4lb and the other 8lb. there's some big ones in there i heard some of the regulars talking bout cats breaking off 25 and 30lb line.