Menu

Lake Whatcom

Lake Whatcom provides excellent smallmouth bass fishing. 

This lake also has largemouth bass, but we most commonly fish for smallmouth.  May is an excellent month to fish for really nice smallmouth bass.  During the month of May the fish are on the beds and it can provide awesome action all day long.

We offer bass fishing trips on Lake Whatcom for smallmouth and largemouth bass.

Contact us now to book your trip.

Facts:

  • Lake Whatcom (from the Lummi word for “loud water”) is located in Whatcom County, Washington, which is a 90-minute drive from Seattle.  Lake Whatcom is the drinking water source for approximately 85,000 residents in the city of Bellingham as well as Whatcom County. It is approximately 10 miles in length and 1 mile in width at its widest.
  • The lake is divided into three basins. Basin 1, the Silver Beach Basin, is the furthest north, and has a maximum depth of 100 feet. Basin 2, the Geneva Basin, is the central basin where the drinking water for the city of Bellingham is withdrawn. This basin is the shallowest, with a maximum depth of just 40 to 60 feet. Basin 3 is the southernmost basin and is the most remote. At its greatest depth, Basin 3 is 328 feet deep, and is estimated to contain 96% of the lake’s total water volume.
  • There are nine streams and approximately 25 additional small creeks and tributaries that flow into Lake Whatcom, accounting for 23 sub-watersheds in all. Lake Whatcom drains into Bellingham Bay by way of Whatcom Creek.
  • The lake has only one island, the 3-acre (12,000 m2) Reveille Island, owned by Camp Firwood, which is believed to be the site of past ceremonies by Native Americans, due to the presence of pictographs and a zoomorphic stone bowl found on the island.

Lake Whatcom is home to 13 species of fish. Among these are six native species:

  • Kokanee (non-anadromous form of Sockeye)
  • Coastal Cutthroat Trout
  • Longnose Sucker
  • Peamouth Chub
  • Sculpin
  • Threespine Stickleback

Three species have been introduced to the lake:

  • Bluegill
  • Rainbow Trout
  • Smallmouth bass

There are four species that have been illegally introduced:

  • Brown Bullhead
  • Largemouth Bass
  • Pumpkinseed Sunfish
  • Yellow Perch