I have had a recurring notion that suspended fish occur more here in the NW than we have imagined.  But it will take some real dedication and commitment on the part of an angler to spend the time and energy to decipher when and where it applies on our lakes.  Still, imagine the advantage of cracking the suspended code here in Washington!  I'm tempted...

Dr. Tag Watson is one of the best at targeting Suspended fish.  It's not just a shad thing, he's been known to do it on Lake Whatcom smallmouth that are chasing Kokanee schools.
I assume it can be done at Alder Lake as well.   
Some of the biggest fish are known to be loaners so you might not even need a large school to catch a nice fish out in open water.

I recently had an interesting conversation (with a local bass angler whom I respect greatly) about "Suspended" bass.  Until recently, I have considered suspended fish as a Midwest large reservoir opportunity that is usually connected with schools of shad. 

Since we don't have schools of roaming shad in our lakes, I have been hesitant to explore the possibility of suspended bass here in the NW.  I have not invested time and energy in this endeavor. Nor have I run across any NW anglers that have utilized this suspended concept here, or at least publicly admitted it out-loud.

So I have to ask, what is your experience with suspended fish?  Have you ever found them and successfully targeted them here in the NW?  I look at Lake Washington and other larger lakes where I see large fish on my sonar near the surface over deep water, but assume they are carp, etc..  But the questions remain in my mind "Is there a chance that they are bass? And am I missing opportunities due to assumptions about the "shad connection" which do not apply to us? 

Long ago we spent a lot of time on the WBC forums discussing such things, and while I realize most will prefer Facebook and other social media platforms, I thought I'd throw it out to see if anyone else has a theory or experience with suspended fish in the NW that you'd like to share.