Hi folks!

I'm heading over to Spokane in early may for a family event and have been asked to take a few nephews out fishing. They're under 14 and new to the sport, but are raring to go after my son told them about his escapades.

Any good areas out there? I'm looking for easy trout fishing and access- if it was good for fly that's a bonus (for my 11 year old son). We'll be out near liberty lake.

Thanks for any help!

JC

My info is seven years old, but it's probably still close. If you have a boat, then the situation changes a bit. For fishing from shore, Newman Lake south of Liberty has tons of smallish bluegill, perch, trout, bass and tiger musky. The timeframe you're looking at is about right for the bluegill to be moving towards the shallows, and for a fly rod fish, they're a lot of fun, especially in the evenings with a popper. There is fairly good bank access at the public launch. I can't say much about Liberty as I only fished it a couple of times.

If your focus is mainly trout, a trip to West Medical should be on your list. There should be access around the lake in several spots. Trout used to be the mainstay there... but it was heavily infested with goldfish the last time I checked.

Having access to a boat opens a number of different lakes as in many places, shore access is limited.

There are a number of lakes with resorts and bankfishing opportunities in the Cheney area. I'd check the listings in this forum's home page(Washingtonlakes.com) for better, more up-to-date info.

Keith

If you want to fish trout in the Spokane area I would recomend going to the lakes in the area between Cheney and Sprague. My best experience has been Fishtrap, and early in the season Fish lake, which is closer to Spokane. Fishtrap will have bigger fish, but there should be an excellent chance of catching plenty of trout in Fish lake in early may. Don't go there in july though. There's also sunfish in Fish lake, whereas Fishtrap has some catfish.

Fish lake is closer, about 20 min from Spokane, probably about 45 min from Liberty Lake. Fishtrap is about 45 min from Spokane, which would be a little over an hour from Liberty Lake.

Both have excellent fishing access for kids. You'll have to pay $ 3 pr. person (not sure what the age limit is for the kids to fish free) at the Fishtrap resort. At Fish lake you might have to pay a couple of bucks too as it is now a park, but I don't think they start charging until late june when the lifeguards is on duty.

You can try Liberty Lake first. I havn't fished there for a couple of years as I do not care for the way they buildt the dock there (I don't have a boat), but I did catch a trout there once. My brother in law caught a bunch of catfish there 2 years ago, and claims it holds quite a bit of bass, but I've never seen any.

I've tried Newman Lake from the boat launch several times, but never caught anything, nor have I ever seen anyone catch anything. There's supposed to be record size tiger muskies in there, but you probably need a boat to get there or go to one of the resorts. I don't know how much they charge. Be aware that the WDFW is doing some research until some time in may or june and the tiger fishing is limited.

Jes