Ok, normaly I fish small water, but I have zeroed all winter. Young Son is losing faith in me. So, what area or areas of the lake and where do I find the ramp? I promise to lose the kitty picture if I catch a fish even if its a  slimer.              Here kitty, kitty, kitty!

You can also luanch at the Coal Creek Ramp. This will put you right acroos from the Mercer Island. Then you don't have to run your boat up from Gene Coulon. Just take 405 north to The Coal Creek Exit. Take a right and follow straight under the highway. There is a long fence on the left for a neighborhood. Right after that is the launch on the left.

Nightbasser,

If your main goal is to have your son catch some fish, then you should definitely try to get some perch out of Lake Washington. After you get some perch, give the bass a try.

Perch will be on any big point that sticks out into the lake. Groat Point, at the entrance to Meydenbauer Bay (where the city of Bellevue sits), is a favorite. Coleman point, the big point straight out from Coulon Park, is another favorite. And the south end of Mercer Island always has perch.

Go into 50-80 feet of water to start looking this time of year. In March they will begin to move shallower. If you don't have a depth finder, drag around all parts of the point and mark the spots where you get bites. Perch will move around a bit, but they generally stay in the same area over the course of a day.

If you have a depthfinder, putt around the point with your motor and look for clouds of fish. Sometimes they are so thick that cheaper depthfinders will just show the bottom becoming really shallow for a second and going back deeper again. That is probably a school of perch. FISH THERE! 

The perch seem to bite better if you have a little bit of nightcrawler on the end of the hook. Try little crappie jigs or tiny 1-2" grubs.

If you just have to catch a bass, well, it's tough this time of year. Lake Washington doesn't start getting really good until April. There are people like Ex-Prez out there catching fish every trip in the winter, but it took those people a long time to figure out how to do it consistently. I sure as heck can't do it. Take the tips above and work at it...

Chris