Washington

Species #19: Yellow Perch

/ kchalling / Leave a comment

My goal today was to catch trout—coastal cutthroat and/or rainbow. I decided to try the Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie River. I got up at 4:40 a.m. and stopped by my son-in-law’s place to pick up some small swivels, hoping they would help with the line tangles I’ve been getting when using spinners.

I started at Pratt Bar on the Middle Fork but had no luck—no bites at all. Not ready to give up, I drove farther upstream and found a beautiful pool right off the road. I followed the advice I’d been given: casting upstream at about a 45-degree angle, using small Mepps and Rooster Tail lures (including a brown trout pattern), and targeting likely spots behind boulders, in pools, and along seams. Unfortunately, nothing worked at either location, and after a couple of hours I decided to move on.

Next, I headed west to Beaver Lake in Sammamish, which supposedly has abundant rainbow trout from stocking in 2024 and 2025. After 45 minutes without a bite, I struck out there as well.

I really dislike days when I don’t catch any fish, so I tried to salvage the outing by changing locations. I looked for places where I might at least catch a new species and settled on two options: the Lake Washington T-dock, where yellow perch are possible, and the Carp Pond at the Union Bay Natural Area near the University of Washington.

Fortunately, things finally started to turn at the T-pier. I started with a small Mepps lure but again had no success. I switched to a simple bobber-and-worm setup, and that made the difference. I caught a Yellow Perch (Perca flavescens)—my first—then another, and then a couple of pumpkinseed.

Yellow Perch

After that, I headed to the Carp Pond and tried for carp using a bottom rig (size 6 hook with sweet corn and a small split shot). A couple of college students there said they had caught a small bullhead that day but no carp, although they had caught carp there before. I didn’t get any bites and gave up after about an hour.

I finished the day along the shore of Lake Washington and caught a couple more bluegill and a few pumpkinseed sunfish.

In the end, even though it was a challenging day, I did end up catching a new species—the yellow perch.

Species #18: Pumpkinseed

/ kchalling / Leave a comment

My goal today was to target the Pumpkinseed sunfish. A little research suggested that although Pumpkinseed are not native to the Pacific Northwest, they are common in lakes throughout the region.

My son-in-law Luke, my daughter Meredith, and my grandchildren Nora and Henry—who all enjoy fishing—joined me. We all live in North Bend, Washington, with Meredith and her family just two miles from my second home.

We decided to start at a small lake called Borst Lake, just north of Snoqualmie. Pumpkinseed are said to be easily caught with a simple bobber and worm setup. Borst Lake looked promising, but after about 45 minutes without a single bite, we gave up.

We then considered other options. After a bit of internet searching, Meredith found Lake Alice, a couple of miles south of Fall City, so we headed there. It turned out to be a small but very clean lake, surrounded by beautiful homes. I felt optimistic.

I set up a small bobber, a size 8 hook, and a piece of worm, casting toward some docks and boats about 30 feet away. It wasn’t long before the bobber dipped under. I reeled in a small sunfish which, to my delight, turned out to be a Pumpkinseed—mission accomplished!

The fish was quite small, easily fitting into my son-in-law’s palm, and had the characteristic red rim at the end of its opercular flap. I posted a picture to iNaturalist, which confirmed the identification. We stayed a little longer and Meredith, Nora, and Henry all caught a Pumpkinseed. Luke and I also tried to catch largemouth bass but were unsuccessful.

I now have four sunfish species to my credit: Bluegill, Green Sunfish, Pumpkinseed and Rock Bass.