Riffe lake

I am planning a weekend trip to target bass. has anyone done riffe lake? I have been researching bass lakes in Washington and riffe keeps coming up. any tips or suggestions would be appreciated.

If your launching at the west park (Mossy Rock Park), work the area right by the launch. Moving eastward the south shoreline is pretty interesting, steep dropoffs but lots of tree stumps. About a mile or so along you come to a long shallow cove that is the spillway to Swoffard pond. One of the better smallie spots is right up near the spillway in 5 to 8 feet of water. Lots of weed beds, banks and a deeper channel (about 14' deep).

Tried the North shoreline at that end of the lake and it seems better for Koks, not so much for bass. Overall, it's a really nice lake to fish by kayak. I've hit it twice this year and looking for another trip window soon.

Also, great Mexican restaurant in the back of the Mexican market in Mossy Rock. It's the one on the main corner as you come into town and hang a left to head toward the lake. They do an awesome chicken mole, but it's all good. Yummm, now I really want to head back there.

thank you yaktrap! we are planning on hitting riffe in 2-3 weeks. we are both getting back into bass fishing. I heard there were free camp sites on the lake. do you have any experience staying at those?

Stayed 5 nites at Taidnapam Park,just before July 4th...east side by the fishing bridge.After the turnoff from the main road on the way to the park there are some spots on the water for camping..seen tents rvs,vans ,etc. looked pretty good.There was a bass tournament going on,the guys I talked to werent doing too good.
Didnt bass fish much,spent most fishing time chasing the landlocked coho..did pretty well after I figured it out.Was going to make a report,but I drowned my camera and cant seem to get the pictures off my phone.Was catching nice fish 15-16".This was a bass question so I wont go into detail,but if anyone wants to know what I learned about this end of the lake just hit me up.
Taidnapam is a very nice park with nice campspots (both rv and tent),the fishing bridge is kinda insane but most everybody is catching limits right now.
Good luck out there!

thank you yaktrap! we are planning on hitting riffe in 2-3 weeks. we are both getting back into bass fishing. I heard there were free camp sites on the lake. do you have any experience staying at those?

I've no experience with the east side of the lake, just the west end. There's only the Mossy Rock campground on the west end, built and maintained with money from the dam construction. The tent sites are something like 18 bucks/night and are at the edge of a parking lot, not very appealing. But overall the facilities in the campground (ramp, fish cleaning station, bathrooms) are excellent. I'll probably explore the east end of that lake next, sounds like interesting fishing up that end too.

Stayed 5 nites at Taidnapam Park,just before July 4th...east side by the fishing bridge.After the turnoff from the main road on the way to the park there are some spots on the water for camping..seen tents rvs,vans ,etc. looked pretty good.There was a bass tournament going on,the guys I talked to werent doing too good.
Didnt bass fish much,spent most fishing time chasing the landlocked coho..did pretty well after I figured it out.Was going to make a report,but I drowned my camera and cant seem to get the pictures off my phone.Was catching nice fish 15-16".This was a bass question so I wont go into detail,but if anyone wants to know what I learned about this end of the lake just hit me up.
Taidnapam is a very nice park with nice campspots (both rv and tent),the fishing bridge is kinda insane but most everybody is catching limits right now.
Good luck out there!

What is a landlocked coho called? I don't spend a lot of time on the trout/salmon/steelhead end of things, so this is maybe a pretty dumb question.

Stayed 5 nites at Taidnapam Park,just before July 4th...east side by the fishing bridge.After the turnoff from the main road on the way to the park there are some spots on the water for camping..seen tents rvs,vans ,etc. looked pretty good.There was a bass tournament going on,the guys I talked to werent doing too good.
Didnt bass fish much,spent most fishing time chasing the landlocked coho..did pretty well after I figured it out.Was going to make a report,but I drowned my camera and cant seem to get the pictures off my phone.Was catching nice fish 15-16".This was a bass question so I wont go into detail,but if anyone wants to know what I learned about this end of the lake just hit me up.
Taidnapam is a very nice park with nice campspots (both rv and tent),the fishing bridge is kinda insane but most everybody is catching limits right now.
Good luck out there!

What is a landlocked coho called? I don't spend a lot of time on the trout/salmon/steelhead end of things, so this is maybe a pretty dumb question.

Not sure what landlocked coho are called, but landlocked sockeye are called kokanee.

I don't think there is a specific name for them..not that I've heard. There is ongoing debate about whether these fish are kokanee (sockeye) or coho. I'm no expert but from the little research I've done, I'm in the landlocked coho or silvers camp. Either way,we're talking bright red meat and similar targeting...although they seem to be more aggresive and stay hooked better than kokes!