Hi, I'll be visiting these islands near the end of this month. I've heard of a few lakes to try--Egg, Sportsmans, and Cascade. I'm sure there may be more. I'd like to C and R bass fish but am limited on time and am also shore bound as this is more of a family trip vs a fishing one. I can bring 3-4 outfits with me. If someone can clue me into the primary techniques and tackle, that'd be great. I like to both power and finesse fish and have infinite gear and baits, lol. I just need to pare down to what are the best bets. I'm thinking of bringing a 6# dropshot rod, an 8# worm rod, a topwater/fluke rod and a 40# braid rod which I can fish reaction baits or frogs on (I saw pics with weeds and lily pads on a couple lakes). Are those good choices? Any other lakes to try? An idea of how accessible the shorelines are would be appreciated.

I'd also like to saltwater fish but again, I'm shore bound. Hello. I have no idea of where to go. I'm probably going to throw a lot of 4 or 5 inch Big Hammer swimbaits as they seem to be a good general choice when I've traveled. Do I need to be on wave exposed areas or will I get bit on the calm inlets too? I assume my target species is a variety of rockfish? I fish inshore a lot in so cal for a similar species called calico bass. Shallow rockfish show up as an incidental catch here. I hope to hop on a salmon charter if there's time. Thanks for any info you can share.

From Capt Marty Mead @ http://WWW.OrcasIslandAdventures.com

Well Im not really in the know on lake fishing, mostly because I am out on the ocean boating the big fish. I understand that Lakedale Resort on San Juan has both trout and bass lakes and there is no tricks to catching fish from them. Orcas has lake Kilabrew for bass while Moran State Park has some great trout fishing in both Cascade and Mountain lake. As far as shore fishing in the salt water your options are very limited. about the only thing you could catch would be small ling cod witch are out of season and need to be over 26 inches to keep during the season or rock fish which is now closed permanently for all species as they are endangered.
Right now the real deal is off shore Salmon fishing. We are having tremendous returns this summer of all species, Kings, Cohos, Pinks and even some Sockeye mixed in. A few days last week we caught all 4 in one day. That rarely if ever happens. The preferred method for Salmon is trolling. I use mooching setups with Lamglass Puget sound Special rods or Keni Killers and Daiwa knuckle busters.
It makes for some good fun when you hook a big Chinook. If we get into a school of jumping humpies then we bust out the casters or fly rods and give it hell. Thats about the most fun you can have Salmon fishing.
Anyway I got a trip heading out in a little bit to catch some Chinooks while there still in town so I'll say good luck. Look me up if you want to go fishing.  marty@orcasislandadventures.com

Kind Regards
Capt Marty Mead
North Shore Charters
PO Box 316
Eastsound WA 98245
http://WWW.OrcasIslandAdventures.com