Available Guide

Available Fishing Guide:
Website: Darrell & Dads Family Guide Service

Phone: (509) 687-0709

Quick Links

Banks Lake Report
Grant County, WA

Photos

Details

09/13/2012
Smallmouth Bass
Morning
09/13/2012
3
2837

Every year my extended family go fishing and jetboating at Steamboat Rock state park on Banks lake for 10 days so this is a report from 9/3 til 9/13.

After last years slug fest from the lake being 25 ft lower than usual we were very optimistic that it would be similar this year. We started with the base plan of trolling around in devils punch bowl out in front of the park because it always produces fish, from bass to perch and the occasional walleye. But after two days we didn't touch a single thing. So the 3rd day we decide to hit the rocks adjacent to and across from the Northup ramp... throwing ralapas all morning and were able to put 3 smallmouth in the live well. Our depth finder would go nuts sometimes as we cruised over random rock piles throughout the lake but the fish just would not bite. I mean we would find holes with fish everywhere and drop a whole worm down and run over it time and after time and couldn't catch a thing. We fished almost every morning from 6 - 10ish and for 3 of us fishing we took in 22 total is 10 days. The biggest being 17" but most were in the 10 - 12" range. And for the first time ever in our 8 years of fishing banks lake we failed to hook a single walleye or largemouth. I also may add that we set two lines out every night off the beach and were able to get a few catfish with a simple bobber and worm with a weight underneath to catch a weed and keep it stationary, I did catch my first ever catfish this way.

Saturday night a lightning storm roared thru right over the top of us as we were around the campfire, but the next morning we woke up and the place was completely smoked out. Listening to the radio we heard that almost 60 wildfires had sparked over night between Wenatchee and Coulee City. We drove up to the airport and I snapped a picture looking west over the north part of the lake close to electric city. The rest of the time there it was smokey but still very nice and I am glad to be able to enjoy this beatiful country year after year. It really is paradise in our state.


Comments

BassSlayer1981
9/14/2012 8:48:00 AM
I was over there the same time you guys where. Man it was a real smoke hole. Nice smallie.
dgsmith
9/14/2012 10:15:00 AM
I was told when they lowered the lake level last year that many fish were trapped in small shallow pools and pelicans and other fish eating birds came in flocks and ate thousands of fish. I was at Banks this past June and had a hard time finding fish where I usually caught many. I hope the state does not do this again for many years so the fish can have time to reproduce and grow.
rickydbasser
9/14/2012 2:14:00 PM
A few years ago I was at Banks. Had the same dillema with the graph lighting up with dozens of fish out in 30 plus feet of water. Same thing, no bites. Finally dug out the fish camera and put it down....Both times I did, the fish smiling for the camera were carp. Don't know if that was your situation, but just a thought.
BassSlayer1981
9/14/2012 3:02:00 PM
@ rickydbasser I fish banks a lot and theres tons of carp everywhere when iam out bass fishing. I mean banks is a carp farm. Saw some big ones in my boat the last couple days I was over there. I don't like them.
backwater
9/14/2012 4:29:00 PM
I stuck one between the eyes and the darn thing swam of with my arrow :(
Amx
9/14/2012 7:33:00 PM
They have no brain, so you can't kill them that way. Have to have a rope attached to the arrow. :-)
fishinChristian
9/14/2012 9:56:00 PM
The largemouth fishing never fully recovered from when they dropped the water level during a big spawn right around 1970. The carp and other fish have gone up in percentage ever since. Average fish size is down considerably. For a while there even a 6 or 7 pound fish was met with very mild admiration. dgsmith, I hope you are right, but I have not seen evidence of a learning curve.
Red beard
9/14/2012 10:36:00 PM
Ok I forgot to add that we saw a ton of baby largemouth and perch just swimming around without a care, not so sure about the carp... I only see them laying on the surface.
BassSlayer1981
9/15/2012 1:52:00 PM
I went over there a couple times last winter to see the draw down. There where fish stuck in many pools of water. The bureau of reclamation does a draw down every 15-20 years for Maintenance Repairs. The spawning period wasn't bad this year. Theres a couple different guys that made youtube vids during the april and may months catching largemouth like crazy on banks.
funkay3
9/26/2012 5:24:00 PM
How do you catch the carp there?
Red beard
9/26/2012 9:21:00 PM
I've never actually caught a carp myself, but Ive seen my cousin nail a few by forming a piece of white bread on the set up similar to powerbait and letting it sit in the shallows, I've read that corn works too.
Leave a Comment:

Available Guide

Available Fishing Guide:
Website: Darrell & Dads Family Guide Service

Phone: (509) 687-0709