Took the little kids and grandparents down and fished right in front of Gonzaga Law School. Took the crawdad trap along as I'd seen some big ones in there. Baited the trap with chicken liver and tossed it in then went to work rigging up the kids' poles. We were just plunking with worms and dough balls as I didn't care what they caught. They're 2 and 3 so you know fishing with them is almost more work than it's worth. Anyway, it's so rocky there we kept getting hung up on the bottom and breaking off. My son did manage to hook a fish (don't ask me how) but got it wrapped around something a few feet from shore and broke it off. My daughter caught a huge crawdad on a worm (must have been about 7 inches). Eventually I pulled the trap and had a few dads in there so for fun we just tied some liver on their poles and let them fish for crawdads.

We ended up with 32 before the storm hit that evening. Also managed to land a couple of fish but I don't know what they were. I thought they were whitefish but they didn't have mouthes on bottom, rather big mouths in the front. I don't think they were small mouth bass. They were probably around 8 inches and caught on a nightcrawler.

One of my friends said the river is pretty polluted, but let me tell you I could barely taste the mercury in those crawdads after I'd boiled them up and dipped them in butter.

I'm interested to hear anyone's take on what type of fish I was catching. They would hit hard but not put up much of a fight.

Mike Carey

7/8/2009 8:06:00 PM

That's too funny, could barely taste the mercury. :-)

fun outing dad.

curado

7/8/2009 8:45:00 PM

squaw fish or nortern pikeminnow

Bass Ackwards

7/8/2009 8:51:00 PM

I'd be willing to bet that what you were catching were squaw fish. I know that they're below the falls so wouldn't surprise me a bit. Sounds like you've got yourself a decent craw spot.

MaxExp82

7/9/2009 9:18:00 AM

How exactly were you bringing in the crawdads? Would they just not let go of it ? Ive caught them on rod and reel before, but never 32 in day , tell us your technique !

bazzdude

7/9/2009 10:23:00 AM

You were catching squas. I used to fish there at upstream as well and i would catch tons. I used bread though. Fun to catch that is about it. Ya ask you buddy about the sewer treatment plans that have spilled into the river the last few years. Nasty, but i have eaten fish out of there and they seem fine. I would not eat too many thogh. Go to fish lake or some where else for a dinner if i were you. Anyhow, nice report.

bjperry

7/9/2009 11:04:00 AM

Squawfish huh? Guess I should have been disabling them before returning then.

Some crawfish were caught in the trap, but the majority were caught by line. Yes, just attach some bait to your hook and visually target them. Once you've got bait in the water they all start coming out because they can smell it. Then drop your bait right in front of them, they'll grab it, then slowly move them toward the shore where your bucket awaits.
Great fun!

ToadWater

7/9/2009 2:06:00 PM

I think those were baby salmon.... LOL!!!! Children, Squawkers and Crayfish.....sounds like a fun day!

Bassmaster3000

7/9/2009 9:17:00 PM

Hmm... That river is really polluted... I would never eat anything out of there. hehe

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