Northwest Fishing Reports

Does anyone know if Padden has an bass? I have heard a couple people over the years swear they caught bass there. Rumor has it Padden once had bass but they tried to kill them before puttng stocker trout but some survived. I hope there are some remaining bass still there.

I don't know for sure, I fished perch a lot last year and never happened to hook a bass, there are lots of perch though. I tryed some bass fishing on the far side of the lake w/ all the downed trees and didn't ever have any luck, I plan to try a bit more in the future. I am not sure if there are or aren't bass there.

Lip rippa-
Padden was "rehabbed" in the late 1970s and it was successful in killing all the bass (they are a pretty easy fish to kill with rotenone). Interestly some attempted to introduce bass back into the lake about 3 weeks after the treatment; they were seen dead at the boat launch.

Given that "help" folks give the state with illegal planting of fish it is almost a certainity that there are bass in the lake now. Matt mentioned the perch - there were none in the lake at the time of the 1970s treatment so they must be from an illegal introduction as well.

Virtually every lake with public access in Region 4 now have bass in them; most from illegal introductions. While that probably is considered a postive by the bass fishers it does come at a pretty steep cost to the trout fishermen and the license buyers as a whole.

Tight lines
Curt

Smallmouth would be the bass of choice in Padden with the clear water, big rocks, big crawdads and deep water (think kokanee). They would get fat too off of the trout.