Fishin' Magician: Dave Graybill

Salmon fever is running rampant throughout Central Washington, as sockeye numbers continue to increase. Currently, over a half-million of them have past over Bonneville Dam. There are some great fishing options for those who don't fish for salmon, though.

I recently tried Fish Lake for perch and Banks Lake for smallmouth bass, and had very good success on both. The perch bite is definitely on a Fish Lake. Just using a piece of night crawler for bait, my wife Eileen and I caught and released over 70 in an afternoon. We kept 20 for the pan.

Fishing is better in the early morning according to Scott West, at the Cove Resort. The next day we launched the boat on Banks. I ran to one of the canyons north of Steamboat Rock, and we were into fish immediately. We were casting Senkos to the steep, rocky shores here, and further down lake.

We found fish everywhere we went. The four-inch green and white was a great color, and so was the three-inch pumpkin with black flake. We caught and released over 50 smallmouth. Eight of them were from a pound to three pounds.