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My girlfriend and I fished the mouth of the Palouse River Saturday from 6 pm to midnight, and I went out again Sunday morning 6 to 11 am. We were targeting channel catfish from my boat.

Saturday (6pm-12am): No luck-- we couldn't even catch bait for the channel catfish! After two hours of trying to catch a perch, trout, pikeminnow, or bluegill on worms all I had to show for it was a 9-inch yellow bullhead catfish (released). Albeit, that was pretty cool, because I had never caught a yellow bullhead before. So as the evening set in we just fished chicken livers for the channel catfish. Lots of little bumps, but no takers. We were fishing around humps and drop-offs in 10-40 feet of water.

Sunday (6am-11am): The next morning I was up at 5, trying to catch some better bait from the marina at Lyon's Ferry KOA (were we stayed). I caught and released two small smallmouth, and retained one small trout. I cut it up into four chunks of cutbait and hit the water around 6. After fishing deep again for two-three hours with no luck, I took a cue from the five boats that zoomed past me up the river and went shallow. That was the ticket-- the channel cats were hunting/playing/mating in 1-4 feet of water! After locating a reedy area with some structure, success was a synch. I lost my first two. I saw one attack something in the shallows, so I threw a jointed swimbait by it which it savagely struck. I was using my bait catching pole though, so it tore through my four-pound test with the first headshake. I then started using the cutbait. The first taker broke my leader (8-pound test) right at the boat. But I managed to land the last two(pictured). Great fights! By then it was time to check-out of camp, and I was out of good bait anyway.

Now that I know what I'm doing I can't wait to get back in 2013 or 2014! You could really knock em dead in this fishery. Just fish shallow at night or in the morning and use fresh cutbait. I think I'll bring some jointed-minnows as well next time. The Lyon's Ferry KOA is a great place to camp too.

ericksg

6/4/2012 3:25:00 PM

sweet cats! cut sucker fish works well too!

YJ Guide Service

6/4/2012 5:12:00 PM

Great job and thanks for the report were heading that way in a couple weeks for Sturgeon and Cats. Thanks

tele_maniac

6/4/2012 6:37:00 PM

Thanks for the report, tips and picture! Been wanting to head down there to fish for cats for awhile. Need to make it happen.

reelinanrockin

6/4/2012 7:54:00 PM

Check the reg's might not be lawful to cut up at trout and use it for bait. Suckers are ok though.

goosegetter79

6/4/2012 8:16:00 PM

Great job!! reelinanrockin= It is legal to use trout for bait!

Fish-or-man?

6/4/2012 9:31:00 PM

Thanks all! It's a really great fishery as long as you don't make the mistakes I made on day one. reelinanrockin, it is my understanding as long as it's legal to keep and not fished live, it's okay. I read the regs beforehand and didn't see anything to the contrary and saved the head/carcass/tail in the field. Next time, I'll get a few stocker trout from a lake on the way down versus taking one from a river though!

YJ Guide Service

6/5/2012 6:50:00 AM

How far up the Palouse were you going? and did you fish the mouth itself? Thanks We fished down by Pasco and caught stringers in the 400lb range this spring...and fish in the 20-25lb range

KNM

6/5/2012 11:11:00 AM

Thanks for the report. I hoping to be able to make it down there soon, but we'll see what work has planned for me.

Fish-or-man?

6/5/2012 7:54:00 PM

reelinganrockin-- I can't find it in the regs. But I talked to an old WDFW guy and you are likely right. But for the life of me, I can't find it anywhere in the regs! At any rate, I'll most likely use sucker next time. YJ-- I fished up the actual mouth. Had my success near the reedy area way in the back where it starts to get narrow. Pasco, eh? Hmmm. I have a buddy with a trailer in Benton City!

pacbassman

6/6/2012 1:18:00 PM

goosegetter79 is mostly right. It's legal to use trout for bait as long as there are no regs saying trout must be released. Makes sense. If you can't possess them its kinda hard to use them for bait. Those are the regs to check. Tight lines brothers!

SnoKing

6/8/2012 7:19:00 PM

Hey Fish-Or-Man, Great report. My wife and I were over at the Yakima/Columbia confluence last weekend and the cats were slow. I suspect the water was a bit cold and the water flow was roaring thru there so we had a tough time. I've not been able to hook up with any cats and I have this need....you know the need. I have a couple questions. How far up the Palouse did you go? And do you know if the boat ramp at the mouth at the park is large enough to launch a 26' river boat? From Google Earth it looks like there's a park right there but my guess is that they don't allow overnighters so maybe there's another campground someplace around there. I see you stayed at the KOA at Lyons Ferry. That would work too. Anyway, great report and any info you could share would be appreciated.

Fish-or-man?

6/10/2012 8:49:00 PM

Hi SnoKing! Hmm, good point. I bet part of the reason I could only get bites in the shallows was the cold water temp. The Snake/Palouse were still really cold! I went all the way to the back of the mouth of the Palouse. I fished the entire mouth, but I got my fish way in the back shallows where the river starts to get narrow. I didn't see any other overnight places to stay; doesn't mean they're not around though. The KOA is a good place to stay (you can stay on your boat in the marina too)! Nice store and resturant; friendly folks. If you stay there, launching is free. If not it's $5 to launch. I don't recall seeing any other launches around the area. But I might have just not been looking well! A lot of locals were using the launch though, which tells me it's probably the best game in town. I just posted a video of the trip in the video section. Give it a watch, and let me know what questions you have! I'll tell you what little I know! Ha ha. Thanks!

SnoKing

6/12/2012 11:11:00 AM

Fish-Or-Man, I went looking for your video but didn't see it...I'll check again later to see if Mike has yet to post it. Which marina are you referring to? We'll camp on the boat for sure and maybe just anchor up in the upper end and fish all night. Thanks for the tips and when we get back I'll let you know how we did.

Fish-or-man?

6/12/2012 11:54:00 PM

Hi SnoKing! Try following this link: It should take you to the video: http://www.washingtonlakes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=15394 (it's on the forums, in the video section). I think it's just called the Lyon's Ferry Marina. It's operated by the Lyon's Ferry KOA. Just give their office a call and they should be able to give there rates, etc. If you are just using the launch and not mooring there, it might just be the $5 launch fee! PS: Watch the shallows, it gets shallow (i.e 2 feet) quick in the mouth of the Palouse!

SnoKing

6/13/2012 1:24:00 PM

Fish-or-Man, Thanks...I did spot the Marina on Google Earth...right across the bridge. I had to be blind not to see it the first time! Real convenient too. I don't think it's even a 10 minute run up the Palouse to the right water. I'll be interested to see what the water temps are and I'll measure both at the mouth and the narrows and report back. I see Yankin' Jaw pulled out 400 pounds earlier this year when the water was cold so I don't know if my theory hold water.(cold water that is...bad pun). Anyway, fishing is all about keeping track and sharing results. I'm heading over to Fish Lake on Thursday and Friday to harvest a few planters for use as bait in the Palouse (and to see how the browns are doing) so I should be well armed for the elusive Snake River cats.

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