Go a little later and get them in the Cowlitz. Shorter drive. Same fish.

Check out the Fisherman's Seafood Cooperative. Not clear what your needs are but they might meet them.

Great smallmouth fishing up the Snake all the way to the Grand Rond. In fact, good from the bank on both those rivers of water too fast for your boat. You can drive to the Grand Rond to road end and boat ramp. Mostly jet boats that far up though.

I definitely have a 3-lure answer. The one rod question is non sequitor, so I can't answer that one. Who on earth would travel 3,000 miles on a fishing trip, or even plan 8 hours in a boat, and only bring one rod? Break the rod in the first hour and lose the whole trip? Never.
So I'll just answer the lure question.
Red/white daredevil, 1/2" dick nite spoon, and lead-head bucktail jig. I actually have caught fish in Maine, Key West, Yellowstone, Washington and Montana with these.
The problem with "most successful" lures is that those are the ones we use most often. It shouldn't be a surprise that our "most successful" lures, that we use most often, catch more fish. If we rarely fish with X, Y and Z, we are not going to catch fish on X,Y or Z. If we think A,B and C are the best lures, will fish with them more than anything, lo and behold, we're "right". A,B and C catch more fish than X.Y and Z. Sort of a self-fulfilling prophecy?
I do have a 4th that I used in Saskatchewan that caught a pike on every cast. But I can only list 3.

You could try the Skookumchuck East of I-5. It drains the area near the Centralia coal plant. In fact, there's an enormous stormwater collection system there that used to be accessible to the public. You might check that out. Not your normal stormwater system. Hundreds of acres. You could call the plant to see about access.

The upper Cowlitz above the dams has some nice water.

Ed,

Keep me in mind if you want company for a day on the lake. I'm retired as well and always looking for an excuse to go fishing.

Which stream? Cowlitz? The Yakima looks like this now in the Canyon.

Thanks for the offer. That would be fun. I was certainly unaware of the crappie fishery there, although I've caught them in other lakes. I'll keep in touch.

Incidentally, the mouth of the Cedar River is also good. Larger fish move in and out of the lake there.

Trout fishing in L/W can be good for bows and cuts. Along the bridges for trout and at the NE end of the lake for cuts.

Smallmouth bass fishing is good along the shorelines. I can't imagine anything close to a record coming from Lake Wa since it's so cold.

There's good perch fishing, but fish in the lake have various levels of organic contaminants in their flesh and fat so I would avoid resident fish for eating, personally. No Walleye. No crappie either.

There is no salmon fishing in LW. The only openings in the past have been for Sockeye, but it's been closed for years due to low runs and no expectations that will change. No Kokanee. You can get bass and kokanee in Sammamish, but there are better kokanee lakes for that too (Lake Stevens, Samish).

There are boat ramps on Mercer Island, near Seward Park, and 2-3 other locations. Don't plan on getting marina storage. I assume you've already called to seethe waitlists are more than a year.

For a really special trip, if you can haul your pontoon over the Cascades, go to Lake Chelan. You can camp at lakefront campgrounds or stay at lakefront resorts with docks. Lake Chelan has rainbow, cutthroat, salmon, kokanee and Lake Trout - and lots of them.

Lake Whatcom by Bellingham is pretty good, especially for catch and release, because mercury levels are too high to eat many. Cutthroat must be released anyway. Smallmouth average 3-5# and more, probably because no one keeps them.

The Duwamish River downtown has a late summer Coho (Silver) run and a small King run in August.

LAKE WASHINGTON - Good for cuts, rainbows and small mouth. The north end has good old tree stump habits for cuts. The south end supports Cedar River cuts and rainbow although bridge trolling works - limited to minimum distance from the bridges. There are no open sockeye seasons. Perch and bass come with health warnings. If your pontoon is trailerable, you might want to switch to Kokanee lakes. Limits are common and they are salmon. There is no marina space available, especially for pontoons that won't fit rack storage. Try marinas on the Duwamish River

One they enter the river to the hatchery, they will NOT bite. But that's late summer. I'm guessing all the usual Kokanee stuff works. Just find the right depth.

Find out when the gulpers are scheduled to start. If you're there then, use dry flies late afternoon anywhere on the lake. If not, try shorelines early AM with red/white spoons.

You're right about the Cranebows. I had no idea. Caught a 20" 3# and lost two bigger ones. The 15" one seemed small after all that. I'll have to go back!

You're right. Utah and Wyoming don't have a Springer King run, or silvers, sockeye, chum or pink salmon. They don't have halibut, ling cod, rockfish, squid or albacore. And of course, no geoduck, Dungeness, red rock crab, clams or mussels. There's just no comparison. There are a couple kokanee lakes. Good for them!

Pass Lake. Wooly bugger.