Greg: Banks Lake - 5/7/2026

My lackluster central Washington fishing trip entered day 2. I camped at Spring Canyon Wednesday night. I enjoyed the burbot that I caught on Rufus Woods cooked in a miso, ginger, and hot honey sauce on top of rice and vegetables. After checking the morning flow data at Grand Coulee Dam, I decided to fish somewhere other than Rufus Woods on Day 2. After strongly considering a trip to Seven Bays, I decided to go to Banks Lake instead and launched at Northrup. I fished from 9 am to 330 pm without a bite. No bass, no perch, no walleye…nothing. I hit spots from Coulee Playland down to Rose Bush in depths from 10 feet to 45 feet. As I loaded my trailer to drive home in shame, I talked to a pair of locals who fish Banks once a week. They got one bite all day…catching a single walleye in 40 feet of water. They claimed that the bite at Banks has been terrible for the last 3 weeks. Surface water temperature after gusty winds overnight was 60 in the main lake and 62 to 65 in the Devil’s Punchbowl.