Nitrosteve
6/3/2014 6:02:00 AMGreat picture of your son with a fantastic smile:) You guys will have great memories for years to come. Keep up the good work!!
Fish Dawg
6/3/2014 6:24:00 AMNice haul! Great to see the next generation out there enjoying the outdoors. Thanks for the report.
Fish Dawg
6/3/2014 6:24:00 AMNice haul! Great to see the next generation out there enjoying the outdoors. Thanks for the report.
rickydbasser
6/3/2014 9:02:00 AMRock bass can be a real pain on American, but lord that lake has some pig smallies. If you go back into last year's reports on American, you'll see a pic of a guy holding a 7 lb smallmouth. That is one big smallmouth! I fish Tapps a lot simply because its close by, and the amount of smallmouth that can be caught in a day, with 30 plus days being common. But bigger fish are rare. American is just the opposite. Six or seven smallmouth is a good day, but the chances of catching a wall-hanger are far better. Last fall after catching countless numbers of smallies at Tapps, I decided to fish American just to see if I could get a bigger fish. It didn't disappoint. I only caught two but one was 3-12 and the other 4-3, my two biggest smallmouth for that year.
bassman72
6/3/2014 2:44:00 PMI love fishing Tapps too because it's kinda close and the number of fish you can catch. I recently read a study published by WDFW from 1997 about how the fish in Tapps have a slower growth rate than other Washington lakes because of lack of vegitation due to draw down and average temps are cooler and poor water quality (oxygenation) and the lack of forage fish. I know things have improved since then. They just did another study I think I Jan. because residents wanted trout and Kokanee planted there again. It will be interesting to see the complete study compared to the earlier one but for now they will not be planting trout in there again but will manage the warm water species already there.
rickydbasser
6/4/2014 1:39:00 PMBassman72, you are totally right. I talked to a biologist who was part of a shocking on Tapps. They found that is was literally being over-populated with smallmouth, which inturn, whether it be lack of vegetation and forage fish, or whatever is causing slow growth rates. Because drastic draw-downs of the lake are a thing of the past, which means huge quantities of cold river water won't be coming into the lake all at once, maybe the lake will hold a more consistant temperature and allow for more vegetation to thrive. And, inturn, the smallies, not to mention the largemouth will live a healthier life. We'll see.