Hello Brandon, Nice to hear from someone else in E. Washington. Here in the Methow Valley, Twisp, there are great spots to fish locally and in the greater area. We have Patterson lake for panfish, lots of small and medium size trout lakes, you can't help but catch fish. On the Columbia there are big trout behind Chief Joe Dam in Rufus Woods Reservoir. Also Walleye, but no as easy to catch as in Banks Lake, Potholes Reservoir, etc. Good Luck--from the Methow Valley

When I was young and before Totem Lake Center in Kirkland, WA. was built we fished that little lake and adjacent ponds. We used a black jig with weedless hooks and a pork rind black eel. Let the casted bait lay for a bit after casting, then retrieve in slow stop and start fashion. when the line starts moving away, let it go until it stops again, then as it moves again set the hook. Was very successful anytime in the evening or mornings.

We live both in Washington and Alaska. The Alaska Dungeness is unbeatable, Washington Dungeness a close second. Snow crab, OK, Obelio crab, OK-- King crab fresh is super good, frozen OK. We had Brown King Crab, Mostly not available anymore. It was definitely the best. Went to the East Coast and FL to visit and just could not get excited about Blue Crab, but maybe we did not get the best they had. We like big chunks of fresh crab right out of the cooker.

We have smoked salmon for 60 years and counting. Tried so many recipes and methods. Always come back to 1 1/2 cup salt, non iodized--1 1/2 mixed brown and white sugar. Mix w/ 1gallon warm water, mix and let cool to cold. Soak fish (up to 1 1/2 inches thick) for 2-3 hours. Rinse or not--up to you. Do not smoke until the fish has dried with a pellicle --Dry to the touch and almost like a shiny skin on it. Refrigerator drying overnite works fine. Smoke with an oven thermometer so temps can be regulated to maintain no more than 160 degrees (very important) for 3 hours, renewing chips occasionally. Then kick the heat up 20 degrees or so for an hour on the thicker pieces. This is called hot smoking. We shrink wrap our product and freeze it and it lasts a long time if you can stay away from it. I like to put garlic powder and pepper on it just before placing it in the smoker. A little olive oil after it cools makes a gorgeous product.

Thank you all for your astute observations. Alaska coho and chum salmon (shown)are great, but we cannot access our Ak cabin due to restrictions so we revert to our old habits of perch fishing here in E. Washington. We know how to catch them and do, but because this area is managed for the trout fisherman we find ourselves lacking info on which lakes have perch of more than 5 inches. Any knowledgeable locals??

My wife and I love perch eating and catching, crappie as well. We live in the Methow Valley and have to travel a bit to get to lakes that offer spiny ray fishing for decent size perch. Patterson Lake and Leader Lake are close and OK but fish size is pretty small. Any ideas on catching bigger ones or new places to try?? in the general area?? Thanks for any help

My wife and I are lifetime fisherpeople, both in Washington and SE AK. We have been lucky to have experienced amazing adventures in many kinds of fishing but we still love perch and crappie fishing (and catching). We are hoping to share our small bit of knowledge in return for advise and tips from other Washington state spiny ray anglers.