I've heard that these Washington bass don't get very big.  I was wondering if there is even a chance for me to catch a 1- lb.?  My personal best is only 5-6 pounds.  If you live in Washington or any other cold state, what's your personal best?

Average sized fish in Washington is 2-3lbs.  My Washington PB's are a 6-lb largemouth, and a 5-12 smallmouth.  But it seems every year, somebody nails a 9+ in Washington.  And 6+ pound smallies are becoming more frequent.

 

They're there.  It's possible.

Washington Bass are about the same size as Colorado bass, but the smallmouth are bigger.

Smaller lakes in Western Washington harbor some of the biggest bass... I've seen 8-9 pound fish caught...(Not by me!!!) in lakes below 500 acres and most are electric only fisheries that get Trout Plants from WDFW.... trout swimbaits and large skirted jigs with craw trailers seem to be the ticket and the time is NOW as those monsters are roaming the shallows getting ready to spawn.

Eastern Washington of course Potholes is high on the list as the structure there is unmatched and the possibility of both a 8-9 lb Large Mouth is possible as well at a 5-6 lb Small Mouth in the same areas.... Lake Washington back to the West.... just had an ABA tournament where the winning team posted 27 lb 5 fish limits of Large Mouth and Big Fish of 8.88!!!

Bass fishing in Washington is absolutely horrible. You should never fish for bass here. Better off just sticking to brim and trout B-)

LMB state record is 11.6 lbs, Smallmouth 8.8 lbs.

Your chances of breaking those old records is always possible.

Tom

PS, PM Glenn, he lives there!

Washington is more of a smallmouth state, though I have seen pictures of LMB that were caught in Eastern WA that might or might not have been over the state record. Your best bet would probably been East of the Cascades.

I live in eastern wa and There' has been some big fish caught this year by my friends and I. Mostly 2-4lbers but my buddy caught a 10lb largemouth earlier in the year. And we both caught 6lb smallmouth last week.

6

 

So the state records in Washington are 11.57lb largemouth caught at Banks Lake.. the record smallmouth weighed 8.75lbs caught in the Columbia River...  there is a bunch in the 3-4lb range and evn more in the 1-2lb range... Myself, I haven't found the big hogs, PB is just under 6lb largemouth,...But I will keep searching...

Drive 15 hours south on the I5

I'm sure no one here will believe this, but back in the late '90's a guy from the Washington Fish and Game Dept spoke at our club meeting.  He told us that one of his crews that was running one of their shocker boats, shocked and released a 13 lb smallmouth on the Snake River.

I'm the  new guy on this forum. I live in Washington.  The quality of bass is better than you might think.  I recognize the back drop in bassfash's photo.

Drive 15 hours south on the I5

 

Definitely said by a Californian.  Nobody, and I mean NOBODY in Washington refers to a freeway as "the (name)".  Ergo, "the I5" is dead giveaway.  LOL!

Definitely said by a Californian.  Nobody, and I mean NOBODY in Washington refers to a freeway as "the (name)".  Ergo, "the I5" is dead giveaway.  LOL!

Lol so true

Definitely said by a Californian. Nobody, and I mean NOBODY in Washington refers to a freeway as "the (name)". Ergo, "the I5" is dead giveaway. LOL!

LOL, that was funny Glenn

Montana and Idaho have some huge bass. My PB is a nearly 6 lb smallie.

I have not fished much in Washington so my experience has less weight to it but I've never caught anything in Washington lakes over 2 pounds. I've fished Moses Lake, Banks Reservoir, and Lake Washington. They have large bass there, they just seem to be less common than in surrounding states in the Northwest.

Lived here in west was and biggessst I gave seen or caught is 4lbs. Had three that size and a few three pounders. Seems the bass density is lower than some other areas I have lived in.

I really like fishing smaller lakes in a jon boat or pontoon.  I tend to decrease bait size a little and have my best luck fishing slow.  The whacky rigged senko can be killer around wood near shore when I fish largies.  For smallies, I've had great luck with tubes, grubs, jerkbaits and big cranks.  My favorite was the #7 parrot colored Rapala Risto Rap.

Never fished for bass up in Washington. The ABA tourney weight ProCrafter mentioned is a sack to be proud of anywhere in country.   My hat's off to you guys up there, IMO, Washington's steelhead fishery is second to none.  And razor clam chowder.... Sorry guys, I started to drift

Brand new to this forum but I just caught a 7lb largemouth last week (my personal best) from my kayak in western Washington. 

I heard silver lake near mt st helens in southwestern washington has 10lb pluss largemouth

I live in southeastern wa and caught this today. 

Yaaa buddy! 

Here's another 7+ out of my secret lake in south eastern wa. And a good 4.06