Eastern Washington

[dtrack22]

Hey, a buddy of mine took me spearing down in southern california and I'm addicted. The problem is I live and go to school in eastern washington. Does anyone know of any spearfishing in eastern washington? Or even heard of any? Especially in or around the tri-cities or spokane? Plenty of good fishing around here but I don't know if the visibility is good enough to spearfish in. Thanks for any info you can give me.

[Rover]

What about Potholes ( i am not sure if spelliing is right ) or Moses Lake ? I think you can shoot carp all year long ?!

[Christof]

What about Potholes ( i am not sure if spelliing is right ) or Moses Lake ? I think you can shoot carp all year long ?!
Unfortunately, that is all you can spear.... Maybe catfish, but I would check on that.... The midwest allows all kinds of fish to be speared, but the west coast allows just a couple, and they are trash fish..... Some moster fish on that columbia river system.... You may be able to shoot Perch in Moses lake now that I think about it, check on that.... Some good 5-6 lb'ers on that lake and fine eating!!

Christof

[Nads]

Unfortunately, that is all you can spear.... Maybe catfish, but I would check on that.... The midwest allows all kinds of fish to be speared, but the west coast allows just a couple, and they are trash fish..... Some moster fish on that columbia river system.... You may be able to shoot Perch in Moses lake now that I think about it, check on that.... Some good 5-6 lb'ers on that lake and fine eating!!

Christof

I believe even perch are considered a game fish now. At least in Oregon they are. There are definately some big carp out there though.

[Rob Holman]

Catfish and Carp are all you can spear in Washington that I know of. Perhaps squaw fish on the rivers too.

Where are you going to school? Pullman? Ellensburg? Spokane?

If it's Pullman, you could try the snake river for catfish. That would be a hoot.

I tried Vantage for catfish and all I saw were bass and carp. The carp were really spooky too. Viz was less than 7 feet in most of the spots we went.

I would think a small gun, with thick bands would be your best bet as most shots will probably be 5-10 feet away.

[gogators27]

Lake "ponderay" (how it sounds) is huge, and one of the deepest in the US, not far from you in northern Idaho. I think it is in sandpoint. Maybe Idaho is more open to spearfishing? A little further east to libby montana and there is a large dam that creates Lake KuCanUsa. Just below the dam the world record rainbow trout was caught. I was there when it was caught. Some really large trout and salmon hang out below the dam and feed on churned up and stunned fish that come throught he dam. During the parts of the year the salmon are so thick you can use a snagging line and fill a garbage can with them. I would think(of course you would need to look into it) that since you can snag them, why couldnt you shoot them? Good luck with it.

[dtrack22]

I go to school in spokane, live in the tri-cities. I know the names and locations of all of the main local bodies of water, what I don't know is what type of fish there are in these lakes/rivers and the most important part...is the visibility enough to spearfish. Sounds like to really enjoy myself I just need to go back down to southern california. Thanks for the info, and keep anything else that would be helpful coming.

[Rob Holman]

Banks Lake: Carp and decent viz
Columbia River: Carp, squaw fish, perhaps Catfish, and poor viz
Snake River: Carp, perhaps Squaw fish, and catfish. No idea on viz
Lake CDA: good viz, no idea on fish or what is legal
Moses Lake: Carp and lots of them. maybe some catfish. I would expect horrid viz'
Potholes resevoir: ditto to Moses Lake

In late May to June, Ling cod is open in the Puget Sound (closer than california although the people are just as whacky) There are good spots there and I know of at least one shore dive for ling.

The destination for spearing in Washington State is Neah Bay. long drive however, and mostly boat diving.

[dtrack22]

Wow, thanks for all of the info. I know there is some good spearing around the puget sound area, but from what I've heard alot of it is very deep, meaning you have to scuba, but if there is a shore dive I may just have to make a trip over there. I've done plenty of boating, water skiing, in the columbia and snake and pretty much realized you would need to get lucky to catch much in either. Viz is about 7 or 8 feet, but as soon as you are more than 10 feet deep there isn't any light that will penetrate meaning you would need a light and just hope to stumble across a fish. I do a fair amount of backpacking when I don't have football/track practice or a game/meet so I may be able to hit up some alpine lakes where the viz is usually much better. Thanks again Rob and everyone else for the info and ceep it comin.

[Rob Holman]

if you are going to free dive, go for Banks lake. that is a great lake and viz is often OK. It's up near grand coulee dam, north of Ephrata. The north end of the lake near electric city is where you wnat to go.

[dtrack22]

Sounds good. Thanks a lot for the info. I'll definately make a trip up to banks lake sometime this summer and see if I can't do any good fishing. Thanks again.

[Rob Holman]

If you do Banks, do a write up. I have always wanted to go out there and dive it. When I fish it the water is so tempting...

The area I would try would be somewhere in the red circle on this map.

[Z~AQUAMAN]

I grew up in that area and also went to Eastern. I spent a lot of time hunting
"sucker fish" in the Spokane river.

Just start around Peoples park and float down to the TJ Menach bridge (it's a few miles or river). You'll come across hundreds of fish to shoot. It's kind of fun to float through the rapids too.

Carp and squaw fish were the only other fish legal when I was there. In fact, there used to be a bounty on the squaw fish. The state would actually pay you to kill these fish! I've dove most of the other lakes and rivers in the area, the Spokane river is by far your best bet. As far as I know, game fish were never legal to hunt in Washington.

I've killed some huge carp in lake Roosevelt and Banks lake too. You'll need a boat for that though.

Oh yeah, if you like craw dads you'll find all you can catch between Pleese flats and 7 mile bridge.

[Z~AQUAMAN]

Oh yeah, I almsot forgot. People like to throw stuff off the bridges. Keep your eyes peeled for goodies, I found two .45 hand guns while hunting fish in the Spokane river. Have fun!

[canuck]

I am from Moses Lake and I am new to spearfishing, I have killed a lot of carp already this summer. Moses Lake is very clear until the second week of May. I have not spearded in Bank because Billy clap lake is only twenty minutes away. Same water as Banks, vis 10 to 15 ft. I have a boat and spend a few hour every weekend inthe H2O. I am looking for someone crazy enough to tag along. I dive by myself most of the time so everyone feel free to contact me. I am getting a new gun in the next few days and it is suppose to be crazy hot for the next few weeks so I will spend lots of time in the water.

[canuck]

Water clarity is going down fast. Lots of plankton below 5 feet. There is one, mabye two weeks left. That is all right because wheat harvest started so free time will be in short supply and bird hunting start in a month. By the first of april water should be warm enought to start over again. Thats leaves only three month with nothing to kill. There is snow boarding for two of those month. That only leaves august with nothing fun to do.

[Mako993]

I may be moving to Washington State next spring. How is the spearfishing all across the state? I know the hunting and rod fishing are the finest kind.

[Kevin Casey]

Where in Washington State are you moving?

"Eastern Washington" is about 4/5ths of the state's land mass. Its Woody Guthrie, high plains scrub desert, roll on columbia roll on as you can imagine a 30's era Republican orchard farmer to be....

"Western Washington" is Pugetopia political correctitopia passive aggressiveatopia....what ever....

The best spear fishing is in the Pacific Ocean off of Neah Bay, about a 6 hour drive from Seattle. Rock fish and ling cod. Halibut maybe, but they are hard to find....

Very little spear fishing opportunities, really!

[Mako993]

My company, L3, has positions occasionally available at Fort Lewis, probably a long ways from Eastern WA or anywhere there's spearfishing. So it'd have to be Neah Bay for me, and the once a month trip out East. Just something I'm considering.

[Kevin Casey]

There's tons of diving out here, don't get me wrong. From the general Ft. Lewis area, which is in south Tacoma, you are about 45 minutes to an hour without traffic to Seattle. 1 1/2 -2 hours to Hood Canal, and 3-4 hours to just about anywhere east of the mountains. A little more to the Okanogins, or Spokane area.

I've never dove out in eastern WA, but there are some places to go out there.

I'll stay in salt water myself.

All you have to do is fall out of your car....

[Mako993]

Kevin,

Thanks for the info, to be sure. How often do you dive Neah Bay or the other salt areas near Seattle?

[Kevin Casey]

I try to dive every weekend!

We have had an unusual heat spell this past couple of weeks, (high 80's - low 90's) so I have not dove that much recently. I tend to get sorta heat stressed before a dive when its too hot out, so I have only dove a few times in the past 2 weeks...

I know that is not that hot for other places, but it is for here. Besides, you still need a dry suit or at the very least a 7 mil wet suit, so pre dive its uncomfortable if you spend any time waiting to get in. Water temps are 50'F - 52'F ish in the summer, 46'F-48'F ish in the winter. When the sun is high for any length of time, the plankton blooms and viz plummets to maybe a few, green feet. When it clouds over for any lenght of time after a long, sunny spell, and you catch the tide high after a flood current in the afternoon, viz can be EXCEPTIONAL!!! 40'-50' vis on those rare occasions in the Sound, easily 100' out in the Pacific.

I try to get out to Neah Bay 2 or 3 times a year. There are few facilities out there, so its car camping, or sleazy Indian reservation motel. Both are doable, but limit the stay to a long weekend at best. I car camp generally. I like to cook, so I bring a lot of crap and I hunt ling, blacks and the scallops are awsome. I've never got a halibut, but the hunt is on!

There are not any more charters out that way, unfortunately. There used to be one good dive charter there several years ago, but he's gone. So, you have to basically bring your own boat, or suck up to friends with a boat. There is only one charter that I know of that will bring his boat all the way out there. They are great too, so it works, but you have to plan that well in advance.

What is cool about Seattle from a central location standpoint is that you can shore dive to your heart's content, or get into the San Juan's and onto Vancouver Island for weekend trips very easily. There are dive destinations and charters all over the place up there! I've been really lucky too in that I've made some good friends in SE Alaska! Getting up there is fairly easy, and the diving there is cold, fantastic viz and freak'n awsome! I get there about 2 times a year.

The more you learn about current planning, the more places you can dive from shore in Puget Sound. You have to accept diving at the times of the day when you can dive the site you are interested in diving, and not at the time of day that is convenient for your schedule!

High tide slack after a flood in the afternoons are best for easy, relaxing dives, and anything else is whatever you want whenever you want it!

[Tino Bernazzani]

When are the seasons for rock fish, lings and halibut open in Neah Bay?
Every time im in town it seems nothing is open for the take.
You can always dive for crab (when the season is open). Mukilteo Oil Docks always seems to produce limits for me when Im in town.

[Mako993]

Kevin,

That doesn't sound too bad to me, overall. Here in VA and MD we conditions similar to your green algae on some days, too, unfortunately, and viz is limited to a few feet at most. Those are bad days, though, and we can usually expect at least 6' feet and maybe up to 20' on a great day. I haven't personally seen 30' to 100' ft viz around here, at least not yet, and probably won't anytime soon. You have to go farther south to get into that, like SC, GA or FL. The last time we wen't out, viz was nil, and it wasn't really worth the time. With the current we were getting bounced around anyway, adding to our chagrin.

What's bad about living here in DC is that there is no shore diving, and the closest ocean is about 3 hours away in VA Beach. The Chesapeake Bay's viz isn't good, a few feet at most, unless you go shallow, and you might get 6' feet. That's about 40 minutes from here over in Annapolis, MD.

How far into the season do you guys dive? I want to get out there and check out the area, and it'd be good if we could do some spearing while I'm out there, man.

[Kevin Casey]

Sonny & Mako,

You can dive all year long!

The best time to dive is in the fall when the viz is 40' easy, and the temps are cool. With the gentle, pleasant rain, diving in the winter is good too.

The rain water runoff can drop the viz near shore during heavy rain times though....

But, for spearing and/or harvesting, the rules are sorta tricky.

Puget Sound and the Straight of Juan DeFuca are broken up into zones. The species and the zones define the harvesting season for that particular area and species.

The longest "season" for anything is the Neah Bay area. I don't have the regs in front of me, but in mid April its open. I was out there then, and did great! I'd have to qoute the regs to answer your specific questions...

I can do that, but I just don't have them with me here at my work computer at the moment...

I'll update this thread with the info when I can get it, in a few days. This is my Friday....

Crabbing is a blast! Dungeness Crab and Rock Crab, with Dungenness being the larger of the two!

Its GAME ON with those buggers!

I tried shrimping for the first time this year, and that was a total RIOT!!!

You have to go late at night, and go deep. The season is very short too, like maybe 3 or 4 days! I had a whole bag full, but I got greedy and screwed up and lost most of 'em! ha ha...

Puget Sound is really a very big, deep estuary! The species in it are truely unique, but they are not replenished by migration from the Pacific. What is in here is what will be in here, so the seasons are much shorter.

You can not spear fish for salmon either. They are off limits for spearos....

I'll update with reg info early next week.

If you ever wanted to plan a trip, I'd be more then willing to hook up with you! I've got a ton of friends who dive and hunt!

That would be bitch'n!

[Mako993]

Kevin,

Thanks for all the info. I'd like to take a trip out there to spear. My lifelong buddy and his family live in No Cal, so I could visit with him for a couple of days and take a few days for WA State sometime in October, if the diving/spearing is still good then. I could also do some bird or deer hunting if you or anyone else you know is up for it. As far as salmon, I've never taken one on a fly rod, and I'd like to try :] But of course the main focus would be spearfishing Neah or Puget Sound.

[Kevin Casey]

Mako,

Here are the addresses that I found for Washington State Fishing Regs;

http://wdfw.wa.gov/

fishregs@dfw.wa.gov for fishing regulation questions

fishpgm@dfw.wa.gov all other questions

Neah Bay is Zone 4

According to the hard copy of the regs that I have in front of me for Zone 4, Ling cod is open from April 15th to October 14th.

Rockfish are open all year.

Dungeness Crab and Red Rock Crab are open from June 18th to February 28th.

Ling cod or rockfish would be the only real species available to spear fish. Everything else would not be worth while. All of the zones in the vicinity of Seattle or Tacoma would be closed in October.

There are several salmon days open during that time though, but salmon are just for anglers!

So, if you wanted to spearfish for Ling and Black Rock fish, it would have to happen in Neah Bay in the first 2 weeks in October.

That is the best time of year to dive Neah Bay anyway!

I have no idea about boat availability though. That could be tough...

[Tino Bernazzani]

Kevin,
Thanks for the info. I always wondered about Neah Bay, but the long treck and lack of shore diving has kept me from trying. I really enjoyed all the dives I have done in the Puget Sound. Lots of little flounders, and huge pink tumpet looking things all over the place. The water was actually a lot warmer than I thought being in the low 60's and after you get through that top ten feet of murk it really opens up. Would love to hook up with someone who knows the diving areas a little better than I do. I lived up there for 8 years but did not start diving until I moved back to CA. I am trying to get up there in Late September but we will see. Thanks again

[Kevin Casey]

Sonny,

Well, if you do make it up this way, give a shout!

I'd be more then happy to dive with ya!

[Mako993]

Mako,

Here are the addresses that I found for Washington State Fishing Regs;

http://wdfw.wa.gov/

fishregs@dfw.wa.gov for fishing regulation questions

fishpgm@dfw.wa.gov all other questions

Neah Bay is Zone 4

According to the hard copy of the regs that I have in front of me for Zone 4, Ling cod is open from April 15th to October 14th.

Rockfish are open all year.

Dungeness Crab and Red Rock Crab are open from June 18th to February 28th.

Ling cod or rockfish would be the only real species available to spear fish. Everything else would not be worth while. All of the zones in the vicinity of Seattle or Tacoma would be closed in October.

There are several salmon days open during that time though, but salmon are just for anglers!

So, if you wanted to spearfish for Ling and Black Rock fish, it would have to happen in Neah Bay in the first 2 weeks in October.

That is the best time of year to dive Neah Bay anyway!

I have no idea about boat availability though. That could be tough...


Thanks for the info, Kevin. That sounds like kind of a small window for limited choice of species, save for rockfish. We have them in abundance here, but in VA and MD you can't spear them. I am taking a trip out there, but it probably won't be until sometime this winter. I'd have to bring my heavy winter suit, and we could go for rockfish and crab :}

[Kevin Casey]

Right ON!

Blacks can be quite challenging sometimes, cuz they swim off the rocks, up in the water column. They are fun target practice!

I generally use a tethered shaft for them, but the viz would be so good, you could free shaft if you wanted to. I've gotten pretty good at filleting them too! Zip Zip! done.

I've got a couple of guns, so you wouldn't need to pack yours all the way out here if you didn't want to.

Give me a shout when you have plans, and I'll work out all of the details from here!

[Rover]

Hi Kevin.How are you ? How you hunt ,scuba or freediving ? I am from WA too.

[Mako993]

Right ON!

Blacks can be quite challenging sometimes, cuz they swim off the rocks, up in the water column. They are fun target practice!

I generally use a tethered shaft for them, but the viz would be so good, you could free shaft if you wanted to. I've gotten pretty good at filleting them too! Zip Zip! done.

I've got a couple of guns, so you wouldn't need to pack yours all the way out here if you didn't want to.

Give me a shout when you have plans, and I'll work out all of the details from here!

Kevin,

Sounds like your blacks are like our spades, which look like giant angelfish and present themselves to the shot for you at a broadside most of the time. What's more, when you shoot one, more rush in to the fill the void, and it's mad fun shooting. Plus, they're delicious.

Yeah, getting a speargun onto the airlines these days is probably a pain in the ass, so I won't bother if you've got an extra. I'll let you know when I'm headed out that way, man, and thanks!

[Kevin Casey]

Hi Kevin.How are you ? How you hunt ,scuba or freediving ? I am from WA too.


I dive exclusively.

I've tried freediving, but it was incredibly hard for me to do. You really can't do it worth a damn in a dry suit.

In a wet suit, you still need to have a fair amount of weight. I got down 20-30 fsw and was negative. I had to bounce off the bottom to get momentum to get back up.

I just thought there was way too much potential for me to totally screw up doing that, so I said neeeaaahhhhh....

I live in SeaTac!

[Tino Bernazzani]

Kevin,
I will hit you up in September when I make my way up there. I am not certified in scuba but I can hold my own while freediving (Can hunt comfortably at 50' and stay down about a 1:30) I don't know if I will be able to make it to Neah, but would love to do some good crab diving. Last time I was there I did really well and everyone loved the crab (two day license + crab card = $28 vs $60+ for store bought dungis). Thanks again for the info,
Santino aka Sonny, and Tino

[Rover]

Hi Kevin . Yep you r right about dry suit :))) I live in Renton :) I do most freediving ,but I have full set of scuba too. I go dive almost every other weekend,send me PM ,if you want to go .
Thank you
Vadim