Lone Lake (Whidbey Island) Brown Bullhead Catfish?

[olde_salt]

According to WDFW, Lone Lake on Whidbey Island has some catfish in it. I need to take a few little kids (ages 7 - 8) fishing, so catfishin' fits the bill for kids this young. Can anyone confirm for me that Lone Lake has catfish?

I appreciate any feedback.

[JoshH]

I don't know about the catfish. I haven't run into a case where the WDFW says a species is there and actually isn't yet, so I would assume this is correct. Lone Lake is a terrible mess though right now. Massive trout die off last year, and a big grass carp problem they are trying to rid themselves of. They planted the carp to take care of a particular weed issue, but now the carp are eating every plant in site and causing issues for the lake. My 2 cents is I would look for an alternative lake, but again, I've never fished Lone. For kinds, I would consider Cranberry Lake in Deception Pass State Park. Lots of shore and dock access, good rainbow trout fishing right now, and you can catch a lot of perch if you just toss a worm under a float not too far from the shore/dock.

[olde_salt]

Thank you for the insight and intel, JoshH. Do you think there are Catfish in Cranberry Lake? I ask because the kids' families have already gotten bottom fishing rigs for the kiddos. It would be nice if we could target catfish somewhere on Whidbey. I'd hate for them to get skunked the first time out fishing.

Cheers!

[JoshH]

I've not seen any catfish in Cranberry, just rainbows, browns, largemouth, perch, and even though it's not listed in the WDFW site, pumpkinseeds. If you bring along a bobber and worms, you won't get skunked, little perch and sunfish will bite all day long. Or float power eggs 3 - 4 feet off bottom there for trout. I know of a few places to catch catfish somewhat locally, but would be a drive from Whidbey, and I've only had success heading towards and after dusk fishing a worm under a float when they come to towards the surface to feed on fry.

The cat fishing on Lone might be fine though. Can't really find much about how the fishing for them there is.

[olde_salt]

Hey, thanks again for the reply JoshH. We'll give Lone Lake a shot for Brown Bulls. I've also been looking at Campbell Lake in Anacortes. The WDFW reports that they stock Brown Bullheads and Channel Cats in there, although it doesn't look like there is much space to fish from-the-shore on that lake.