Good Nite, Good Bite: Palmer Lake Fishing Report
If its bass you seek, get out your headlamps and bug spray.
That’s what I did recently when I headed up to Palmer Lake in northern Okanogan County to see how the summertime warmwater fisheries were fairing. I got on the water around 6 p.m. covering my usual spots, marking fish on the fishfinder, but catching very little. Around 8 p.m. the mountain shadows spread over the lake and, like a switch turning on, the bite happened. I picked up numerous perch 8-10" in 10 to 15-feet  of water trolling small Storm Smash Shads in perch patterns.
Check out the baits and lures we have online here.
When I tried trolling deeper all I found were large northern pikeminnow, which are staging in spectacular numbers on the north end of the lake. Switching to bass around 9 p.m. I landed several smallmouth in the 14- to 16-inch range, and one fat 4.5-pound largemouth on Savage Gear’s Goby Tube Jig. I also caught a couple 12-inch long black crappie. It was hard to head back to camp with a bite like that, so I put on a healthy dose of DEET and stuck it out until 11 p.m. catching fish every few casts.
After a brief stay in the sleeping bag, I was back up and with the stars still shining and launched the kayak just after 4 a.m. I immediately found more love on the Goby jig with several hefty smallmouth bass in the 16- to 18-inch range. Switching tactics I found several largemouth bass on PB&J Yamasenkos wacky rigged as well as a few smallies. I managed a few fish on crankbaits as well, but plastics prevailed. As the shade retreated across the lake I hung tight to the shadows until the sun covered the lake around 8:30 a.m. And as soon as it did, the bite completely died.
Smallmouth bass were found primarily in 10-to 20 feet of water along dropoffs, weedlines, and points. I found several largemouth in traditional smallmouth strongholds, but they could more easily be found in 5- 12-feet of water with heavy weedcover or other structure. Crappie were spread widely but best found in 5-to 10-feet of water adjacent to cover. If you just want to catch fish there are large numbers of yellow perch available at the north and south flats in 5-to 10-feet of water and they hit anything small enough to fit in their mouths. Beat the heat and try a little night fishing this summer. Stop by your local North 40 fishing department to get geared up for your nocturnal fishing adventure.