At 1200 acres, it is the largest lake in eastern Washington that contains Tiger Muskies. The max depth is about 30'.  Much of the shoreline is developed. There are multiple places to work on this lake:

1. Docks

2. Lily pads

3. Deep weed beds

4. Shallow weeds

5. Rock points

6. Sunken island

The Docks are an obvious place to start looking for Tiger Muskies on Newman Lake. You can spend the better part of a day working the docks, if you want to get every nook and cranny. Careful though, there are a lot of ropes holding some of the docks in position.

There are three distinct areas of lily pads on Newman Lake. The entire south end of the lake is lily pads out about 30-60 yards from shore. The Northeast bay is almost entirely lily pads. Then, finally the Northwest bay has just the end covered in lily pads. While deep enough water to hold muskies, these lily pads are nearly impenetrable. Fish the edges of the pads.

There are a lot of deep weed beds in Newman. Some of them make it almost to the surface so they are visible. When it gets hot and the boat traffic is high the muskies settle into these little nests. Right in front of the public boat launch is one such weed bed. The edges of the lily pads also have a deep weed bed associated with them, most being anywhere from 30-75 yards off the lily pads.

There are shallow weeds all around this lake. Again, near all the lily pads, between the pads and the deep weeds. You will have to use surface lures, or get used to pulling weeds off your hooks. These areas hold a lot of bait fish, and what do muskies eat? You get the picture.

There are a handful of rocky points on the lake. The largest one is the center point between the two north arms of the lake. This rock point should hold fish, although I have yet to see any taken there.

The last feature which has fish potential is the sunken island in the Northeast bay. It is near the center of the bay and is clearly marked by navigation buoys. The island comes to within 3-4 feet of the surface. There is not a lot of structure on this island, but off the north side there are some weeds to work. You can also work the south part where it drops off into about 15-20 feet of water.

Location

Travel east from Spokane on I-90 15 miles. Take exit 269 toward Liberty Lake/Otis Orchards, proceed onto E Appleway Ave, left onto N Liberty Lake Rd, which becomes N Harvard Rd., then right on WA-290/E Trent Ave, left onto N Starr Rd, left onto E Newman Lake Dr. then left into the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife access site on the lake.

Remember that effective May 1, 2008, the minimum size limit for Muskies increases to 50 inches. Prior to May 1, 2008 the minimum size limit for tiger muskies in Washington State is 36". Under both regulations there is a one fish per day limit and C-P-R fish don't count against the limit. Please handle them properly.