lAKE SKANEWA

Well this is my fourth week in a row fishing this lake. We have caught salmon their everytime we have gone. We picked up three this weekend. The first was a little to dark to keep but put a good fight about a 12 pound coho. The second was brighter not a bad fish kept it for the eggs She went I am quessing here about 15 - 20 pounds. The third the brightest and biggest of the bunch was another nice coho. To bad but the fishing seems to be over for the coho up their unless you need some eggs. Their are a lot of them cruising the shallows looking like their on their last gasp of air. Definatly Going to hit this place again next year.

It's over huh? I knew I should have gone down there this weekend.

It 's open till the end of the month with the increase in coho's you can catch. You probably could catch some but I wouldnt bet that you would be able to eat em. They just seemed to be getting darker every week we have fished. On of the boats fishing saturday caught 12 and kept 2. If you need eggs or want to do some catch and release I would go but dont expect anything for the smoker.

How are you catching these fish? I'm off Wednesday and was planing on steelhead on the Cowlitz, but with the the water so low it may be a bad choice. This wouldn't be too much farther to drive.

Hi Mike,

We have been trolling warts out in front of the launch. We head straigh accross from the launch. Then head up the lake(river) trolling about 10 feet off of the bank it drops off steeply on that side. You will continue up you will go around a small corner where you cant see the launch anymore. You will see an antenna on the shore make aloop heading back down. Their is a stump on the corner go half way accross the river then turn right headed back toward the launch. You have to be careful with the section of the lake above the launch it is really shallow to about half way accross up to where that stump is. You can see the bottom. When you launch at the ramp head straight out or slightly down from their. Their are some dead heads just out from the ramp. I used my small 11 foot zodiac and had no problems. Their were also boats up to 20 feet . I just didnt want to tow my boat that far. We found Solid colors worked best (orange, pink) but also had luck with crome and orange or red or What ever. Now if your not in a boat. I would throw spinners from the shore. They were also catching them using eggs below a dink float in the shallows above the ramp. Good luck By the way the directions on you washingtonlakes.com work perfectly.

Thanks! Turns out I have to work tonight so no fishing Wednesday BUT I WILL remember this for next year (maybe even print it out). Glad to hear the directions were acurate.