Northwest Fishing Reports

Hi All,


We have a 6 acre pond in our family that use to be a logging settlement back in the 50s and 60s. Today it is basically used for swimming and sitting on the side of. I have heard stories about how there use to be a nice stock of German Browns and Cut Throat that thrived in it. As with most neglected ponds in semi-harsh to harsh environments there was a natural fish kill at one point or another and there has been no attempts to revive this fishery since. What I have physically seen in it as of today are small Channel Cats and orange colored carp(big gold fish which the Osprey and Bald Eagles love). It is also over populated with frogs. OK, here are the specs.: It covers 6 acres and ranges from 3' to about 30' deep. It is both naturally spring fed and has several small streams, from the surrounding hillsides, feeding into it. It is located in the extreme corner of SW Washington above the Grand Ronde River( it freezes over in the winter). We have two cabins on the shore which draw from a separate spring..... HERE ARE MY QUESTIONS to anyone who cares to respond(it may give you access to this gem) : Can I plant and substain Crawdad here even with the harsh winters? Will they be a good source of food for fish, along with the shitload of frogs? What would be the easiest and hardiest sports fish to plant that would flourish and reproduce without much help? I really appreciate any and all responses! Thanks, Buhba

Any rock gravel area on the bottom? Submergant weeds in the pond? Pads?

Crayfish can also live in the weeds and even climb the weed stems. They also do some swimming.

If you put in crayfish, be sure to use only native ones as the non-native ones are usually illegal. Read the fish regs for a picture and such.

I'd say the gold colored fish might be Koy--or however it's spelled.

30 feet is more than deep enough for the crayfish to migrate, yes they migrate to deep water during the winter.

You should get the pond 'serveyed' by an expert to see what's what.

Thanks Tom!


We have a good rock distribution in the out take channel. We also have good reed growth around a bit over half of the pond. We have 6 different 'floating reed islands' that travel the length of the lake in the mornings and in the evenings. I am told that these floating islands that range from 5 to 15 square feet, were formed from the carp/coy eating away the roots of said reeds. Does this sound plausible?....Can I catch Crayfish here (Bellingham) in our local streams on the west side of the state and transplant them on the eastside of the same state? I understand if you don't want to answer this question considering the complications of regulations these days but I'm not sure of how much access I will have to an expert in that extreme of Asotin County. I really appreciate the speedy response and advice. Buhba

I'm going to guess that a person can't capture crayfish from one body of water and release them into another body of water. This guess is based on the regulation that you can't transport live fish, as the fish and wildlife people don't want bucket biologists putting fish into a lake where it could harm the fish that are already there, like muskies into Lake Washington for example.

But I have no idea where you could buy crayfish to put in the pond, and you'd probably have to have a permit anyway.
So...... :-)

Thanks again Tom!


Maybe, I should just rely on the exsisting frog population?

Crawdads/crayfish will feed Bass real nicely, not to mention the frogs. But I'd say some bluegill and such would be a good balance for Bass. I don't fish for trout so I wouldn't stock any of those, but it is always nice to watch the trout rise on a pleasant evening and eat the insects on the surface, while the Bass rise and eat the trout. LOL

By the way, I thought Asotin County is in the SE corner of the state, whereas you stated SW, then stated "transplant to the east side of the state" So I'm guessing in your first post that you ment SE, not SW.

Ha! A spiney ray man eh? I like to eat my catch and I haven't heard from many who keep and eat Bass. With that said, I do plan on putting both some smallies and large mouth in. I have a good friend who insists on it.

You Are Right! SE!

The only reason I know where that county is, is because I wanted to post a secret lake report and not give away the lake I really fished, and picked that county and some lake in it. Last year I think. Then mentioned that I'd never heard of that county before as someone asked when/why I was there. Then that person posted and said the fishing is great there and that I should try it someday. Then I had to look it up on a map to see just where that county is.

Well Tom,


It's beautiful country and the Grand Ronde is epic in so many ways. I'm not sure if you're going to find much public accessable Bass waters but maybe in 2 years or so you will have a secret spot to visit with a cabin ;).

Planting largemouth bass would be my suggestion, along with perch for food forage and the crawdads you have already mentioned. I would guess the frog, as well as the orange fish population will drop once the bass take up residence.

I would suggest planting at least some sort of baitfish or bluegills! Goodluck!

If it held trout originally I would think that is what you want to restock with. 30' is more than deep enough to winter over. You can probably catch some mud bugs in the GR I won't say you should but for the sake of argument it would be possible. I know the Snake holds Smallies soooo.... but if it was a trout pond, it should stay a trout pond, my guess is it was naturally populated from the river system if there is a clear run up from the GR. Clean up the habitat and those pesky carp and you should have a real gem of little lake. It would be real tough to beat a personal lake for fishing anything!

i would for sure go with a trout pond, it naturally was one, and you could grow some monsters in there too, it would be cool to have variety of trout too, just a though. those german get big. Just a thought, best of luck on your choice bud!

To AJ, narrows, Bodo and Ez; Thanks so much for your informing responses. I am getting more and more excited to get going on this project. Especially thanking you AJ's dad, your Email was exactly what I needed to hear. I am going to take your advice. Buhba

Except the bass won't do anything to the carp, they're just too tough. The carp will suck up their eggs too...... Regardless of which way you go, carp gotta go!

Maybe you should keep the carp in there. Theyll keep your pond clean. And in washington carp arnt as much a a nuisance as california, mainly because the temps here arnt their favorate. In cali every cast you hook into a little 10 inch carp. Here if your lucky enough to hook into a carp its always at least a 5 pounder.

I bet there are already crawfish in there. Never found a body of fresh water in this state without them. As long as the pond has been there for 20 years or more, they will likely already be there. Does the ponbd have a creek o
utlet?