West side cats

[Demonknight]

Being pretty new to the lakes out here, are there any with good sized catfish on this side(west) of the mountains? Hoping to take a couple of weeks off soon and would like to plan ahead.

[Fish-or-man?]

The westside cat-containing lakes that I know of are all quite a bit south of you. Harts Lake in Pierce County is suppose to be pretty good for catfish. I've never fished it, but reading the reports it sounds like there is a decent catfish population. There are channel catfish populations further south in Lewis County at Swofford Pond, and the spillway area that enters Swofford from Mayfield Lake. I only fished for them once at Swofford and didn't do any good, but apparently the occasional 20-pound channel cat gets pulled out of there. A gentleman I talked to fishing the Mayfield spillway side after dark told me he can usually get a couple of keepers a night (however that night he'd just been catching dinks).

[Anonymous]

In July last year at Harts Lake I saw a HUGE bullhead someone caught. The channel cats they had could have been used for bait.

[Jake Dogfish]

Most of the lakes here have Bullhead catfish that can get up to about 3 pounds but usually are much smaller in the local lakes.
I think the problem with the Channels on the west side is that there is way too much pressure on just a few opportunities. There are alot of people around the Military bases that come from other parts of the country and want to catch catfish here.
I think the WDFW needs to find more suitable lakes here to plant them in so they have a chance to really get established.

[Demonknight]

Well I'm not picky *S* Bullheads and I get along just fine...tough little shits, they are almost as tough to kill off as carp are. I know of a lot of small ponds back home that are over run with them...the key is to drop in some large catfish to prey on them before they get stunted.... 2 to 3 pounders are not unheard of for us out of one nice lake we fish...I just wish those random hits that snap the line in 2 seconds would happen more often so I could plan for them.

[fishaholictaz]

The Columbia has some big cats also!! I would go to Swafford if I were you! Also check out Patterson in Thurston Co.!:-"

[Fisherman_max]

even further south lacamas lake is good for channel cats and bullheads. some get pretty large to! one that was caught aproached 20lbs.

[gpc]

Lake Terrell, also supposedly has them. I know there is a few more. I want to say Kress lake, if not Kress than a lake around Kress. Hit the cascades and your options will really open up for some whiskers

[bassmasterderek]

I really enjoy fishing the cats at Harts lake. Swofford is my other favorite.

[Demonknight]

Those all sound like fun, and the photos on th elake pages make it look nice..only one more question (yeah right)...any good comp grounds in the area?.. we have a 36foot bus conversion to camp in and would need a place to park it.

[fishaholictaz]

Those all sound like fun, and the photos on th elake pages make it look nice..only one more question (yeah right)...any good comp grounds in the area?.. we have a 36foot bus conversion to camp in and would need a place to park it.

Offut Lake resort is able to park you! (I am pretty sure)Good trout bass fishing there and not a far drive to some mentioned lakes Check them out they are great people fun place to camp!!

[leahcim_dahc]

Good tips on the "Cat" waters...I'd like to get more catfish than what I have.

Here is a photo of one I caught out of Swofford Pond this past summer....

[colton]

how big is the the cat in the pic above

[Demonknight]

man..nice cat..makes me hungry all over again....

*edit* I would guess about 5 - 6 pounds on that cat

[leahcim_dahc]

how big is the the cat in the pic above

Honestly, I don't know. I didn't have scales when I caught it. I found a weight calculator online that used the length and girth to "guesstimate" the weight. It was right at 31" long and 19.5" around, or something like that...that put it at roughly 14.5 lbs. How accurate that is...I don't know.

Just for scale...those cans of ravioli are the bigger cans, and the boots I am wearing are size 11XW U.S issue combat boots.


Chad

[fishnislife]

Good tips on the "Cat" waters...I'd like to get more catfish than what I have.

Here is a photo of one I caught out of Swofford Pond this past summer....

WOW! That is one fat cat! One of the biggest I have seen in Washington.
Nice.





fishnislife

[Fisherman_max]

what did ya catch em on?

[kavykid2k6]

lake cassidy

go south east from the boat ramp, go smack dab in the middle of the lake, throw some liver on a 1/0 circle hook and pull up 20"+ cats. i have heard there is channels in this lake but i havent found them yet. they love eatin crappie too

[leahcim_dahc]

what did ya catch em on?

chicken liver...

[tnj8222]

we used to use shrimp in north carolina for catfish. worked good. liver works great but hard to keep on the hook.