Lake Review - Badger Lake, Washingon

I know I said I would review gear but like a nice gentleman who doesn't want to get sued I asked for permission before doing one. That was before any of this blog stuff came into being....and no response so I am going to review a local lake that I fancy a couple times a year.

Badger Lake 

Spokane County, Washington

Latitude -  (47.34283922)

Longitude - (-117.6380423)

Do not own nor claim to own this picture.

Alright so this little lake is about an hour from Spokane, Washington. The main fish here are Rainbow Trout, Cutthroat Trout, Triploids, Bluegill, Largemouth and Smallmouth Bass. Now don't get me wrong this is a giant lake with tons of space for fish to hide, but the last couple of years the W.D.F.W. have been trying to poison it, so in turn they stock it less then they should, Causing the trout population to go down bass population to go and people to complain about how the bass are killing all the trout and how we should eliminate the bass and start over. Now you may be thinking, "Jesse in order for the bass to be killing all the trout there has to be MILLIONS of bass of gigantic proportions." Well that is true, but not what I meant. See people only really fish for trout here because everyone hates the bass fishermen (and women) getting close to the personal fishing docks. Enough politics though.

How to catch them

Trout

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Okay so here we are talking about my love, Mr. and Mrs. Trout. "But you just said that it is hard to catch trout." Well...yeah but I know some things. Right off of the public boat launch there is a rock wall, otherwise know as the other side of the lake. About 10-15 yards off that rock wall there is a trench that goes about 30-60 feet down. This is the spot for some trout fishing, they are all of good size as well. This trench follows that rock wall throughout the whole lake around the corner and opens up into the big area were all the jerks with jet skis and speed boats play. and goes down the center by the island and keeps going on the left side down around the corner (about 20 yards out ). Then cuts to the middle and gently meanders over to the other rock wall by the rock swing. You will know the place because there is usually about 10 other boats sitting there catching some fish. Oh and about 10,000 swallows. I told you the where now I will tell you the how, I have caught them trolling the trench about about 15 feet down with a wedding ring or a chartreuse and silver rooster tail. If trolling is not your thing and you would like to sit there, that is fine too, hook up some weight (not alot)  throw some night crawlers on, some Chartreuse PowerBait and some salmon eggs, let it hit the bottom then reel up 4 or 5 times and wait

Do no own nor claim to own

Bass

 Okay so this is where is will get sketchy on my strictly limited knowledge of bass fishing. All I know is that the bass do not want to bite and when they do, it is so soft you could wrap a baby in it. So if you go to the end of the lake you can see from the boat launch there is a "resort" if you go past that a little bit you will see a submerged cattle guard, this is your spot, thar be monstars in da waters. Go out about 20 feet from that if you can cast that far. Hook up a Senko worm with the weightless Texas right or the wacky rig. As seen below.

Do not own nor claim to own this picture

Now that you have done that cast to the right of the cattle guard and bonce it across the bottom making the fish fall in loooove with, you seduce the fish. Last year I got hit by something big over in that area. Basically you can get them to bite if you get a curly tail and reel it in from the shore bouncing off the bottom, they won't be big but they will be fish. The far end of the lake has a ton of lilly pads and there are some bass living under them. I however never have got them to bite. The last spot is kitty corner from the island it is about 3 feet of rock, sand and weeds. I have caught some good 2 pounders in there and even had what look like an 8 pounder come up on a bass I was reeling into the boat. ( yeah yeah fish story). 

Bluegill

  Drop a hook in the water with a worm on it...... Anywhere......

That is all I have for this lake I will grade it below.

The Final Tally

Trout- 2 out of 5 stars  

You have to work for them but when you get them, it won't be disappointing. You may however be disgruntled from the wait.

Bass - 3 out of 5 stars

Even though I have issues catching them the word on the water is they are not slowing down as of last year and they are getting big. So if you like bass they are aplenty.

Bluegill - 5 out of 5

At least if it is slow fishing for other fish you can go home not being skunked.

Lake itself- 4 out of 5

It is a beautiful lake, Osprey will come down feet from you to catch a fish, the rock faces make for a beautiful sight whilst waiting. In the heat of summer the water is like bathtub water. It is a great lake.

Overall Score

Go to it and give it a try, worse things worse you will get to have some quality outdoor time.

The Leaderboard Set-up

All right here is an example of what it will look like when we catch a fish, the size and weight will be ONLY of the largest fish we have caught of that species. When we catch that species we will then take a picture or video of that fish and post it by the name of the fish. The number of fish caught is how many of that species of any size we caught. Then the place where the largest fish was caught will be where it says (Caught at), and the lure (or bait) it was caught on. 

Here is a little preview of what the it will look like when we are done. I am using the world record weight and picture,  so no one thinks Tim or myself actually caught it.

Largemouth Bass

Size - 27.95 in.

Weight - 23.11 lbs.

Caught at - Lake Biwa, Japan

Number of caught fish - 223 fish
Caught on - 6" Yamamoto senko worm 
(I do not actually know if it was caught on one, but it sounds reasonable) 

Okay so if you have anyways that we could improve on this go ahead and comment and tell us.

WE do no own this picture nor do WE want to be sued

Winter Casting Training

You read the title right. I'm talking about training your cast during the winter. Athletes spend their off seasons working on different aspects of their game, so why shouldn't anglers? So, here's my take on how to train your (spinning reel) cast over the winter.

• Step One: You need a weight. Any weight will do, as you are simply adding it in place of a lure. I chose a 1/8 oz. bullet weight. You could even use one of those fish-shaped practice lures that come with kid's fishing sets. Tie this to your line or a swivel, depending on your preference.
• Step Two: Head outside. Nobody wants you casting in your house or apartment. At the very least, don't practice your casting inside while your wife is home.
• Step Three: Pick a relatively large spot and start casting.
• Step Four: Start casting towards smaller and smaller targets. I would suggest working towards landing your weight in a coffee cup consistently. 
• Step Five: Congratulate yourself on your casting prowess come summer.

I'd post a video but it's been snowing all day...and my wife might murder me if I accidentally put a lead weight through her flatscreen TV.

Jesse's Thoughts: 

I couldn't agree more with Tim's thoughts on this, being able to cast in precarious places has been an issue of mine, and my lures. They have the aerodynamics of a swing set. There is a bush at local lake that has close to 10 lures and flies in it. Now I haven't been doing the coffee cup although that is a wonderful idea, all I do is set up some rifle targets and try to hit them from various distances.

Although I just had an idea about how to upgrade the training of the coffee cup. So lets say you are pro at hitting the coffee cup now, okay it is impressive however, lets take it to the next level. So get some bushes or brush, and make an over hang, making the cup a nice little home for the cup, with one entrance...your entrance. Now we have an extra level of difficulty.

Well Hello There

First off, welcome to the Fisherman's Challenge! I'm very excited about this project, and hopefully all of you readers will be too. 

My name is Tim. I've been fishing for the better part of seven years now, which puts me well behind the curve for a man in his twenties. Up until this year I have strictly been a trout man. Sure, I've picked up some bluegill and perch along the way (who hasn't) but that's always been my target. In fact, here's a picture of the last couple I caught.

And that's how I discovered I hate the taste of trout.

 But things are going to be a little different this season. Jesse and I are going to push ourselves to the limits of our abilities, catching a wide variety (and hopefully quantity) of fish. I'll have to pick up new techniques and new ways of thinking. I'm moving to a mostly exclusive catch-and-release mode. All in all, there are big changes happening and it's extremely exciting.

Like Jesse said, we have been friends our whole lives. When I started fishing he was pretty much my teacher. With any luck the student will surpass the teacher this year.

Best of luck to him!

And here's a picture of my ugly mug for all of you:

A little introduction of a novice fisherman.

Let the introduction begin, my name is Jesse as the title implies I am a novice fisherman in all forms of the word. I have spent most of my 20 years of my 23 years of life fishing for trout of all shapes, sizes and species. My favorite trout however is the Cutthroat, I am assuming however that most of the people reading this know what one looks like, but for those of you who do not... Behold the majestic Cutthroat... ogle at it...admire it and respect it...

Born and raised in eastern Washington the fishing for trout has been the normal routine weekends, weekdays, whenever it was possible to go out and fish we would go out and drown some worms. When I was growing up I was only taught how to catch trout or bluegill, the bluegill was the first fish I every caught because...well it is easy to catch, I have caught many of bluegill on bare hooks. 

To rapidly shift gears, in the last few years the bass fishing has skyrocketed in the pacific northwest. At least in my eyes it has. Now don't get me wrong people have been fishing bass in these waters for a long time, I just now started to notice it. And for the one or two people who have never seen a large mouth bass... Behold the submarine of the deep.... The predator of the pond... The one...The Only....LARGE MOUTH BASS...(cheering ensues) 

The last two years I have began to fish for Large mouth bass and that is about it. So this challenge is really about us growing into better fisherman and I suppose the (as cheesey as it may sound) brotherhood that is built between friends and family with the aid of fishing.

Now I have know Tim for probably 14 years give or take a few, and we have been fishing on multiple occasions, in multiple areas. So even though it says it is a challenge it has a competition aspect between us. We have been trying to one up each others catch count for the last 6 years I think. Well I think that is all I have to say really, I just hope people come here to see how it is doing and give us advice on how to catch some of these fish. 

Now I do not know about Tim, but I am going to try and review some of the gear I have caught fish with when it is slow fishing and whatnot. If anyone wants something reviewed let us know, we will do our best to get to it when we are not drowning worms or setting our hooks. 

Now a picture of yours truly...from five years ago...