SW washington

[dlt074]

made it out to merwin on sunday April 29th... didn't see anything! tried a little of everything i had in the tackle box and tried most of the usual spots. did manage to catch a rather large 4 or 5lbs squawfish on an 8" crank bait. but no muskies!

anyone been out to merwin or mayfield and seen any sign of them yet?

[Don Wittenberger]

It's too early to be fishing Merwin. They're still in their winter haunts, laying dormant on the bottom in deep water. They won't be catchable until mid to late June.

[muskie guy]

Don; in your opinion when does Mayfield start to turn on? I'm heading there in several weeks any way but it's always good to have info from guys wth first hand knowledge. Are you going to be in this years tournament?

[Don Wittenberger]

Same time as Merwin. These two reservoirs are only a few miles from each other, so they get the same weather; and they have identical physical characteristics -- they're at the same elevation, both are river canyon impoundments about 190 feet deep with similar underwater topography, and are fed by snowmelt from the surrounding hills -- so they're usually doing the same thing at any given time.

The main differences between Mayfield and Merwin are these.

1) Merwin is nearly twice as big, 4000 acres vs. 2200 acres.
2) Mayfield tends to be colder below its top layer, because the inflow from Riffe Lake is consistently 48 degrees year-round, so you generally fish shallower water in Mayfield than in Merwin;
3) Mayfield has lots of weeds, whereas until last year Merwin didn't have any (possibly due to the 1981 St. Helens eruption, which coated the bottom of Merwin Reservoir with ash), but Merwin is growing weeds now and should have extensive weed beds this season;
4) Merwin has lots of shoreline logs and stumps, whereas Mayfield has relatively few;
5) Merwin is a "newer" tiger musky lake, and the fish there aren't as educated yet, although they're getting there fast.

I'm not sure what the water conditions at Merwin will like be this spring and summer. The water was very muddy over the winter. Last fall, a developer carved up a hillside above Cresap Bay for a big housing development. Apparently he didn't have all the required permits and there's a big row over that now, but in any case, after work ended last fall the winter rains washed tons of mud down from the bare hillside into the lake. So we may have turbid water conditions at Merwin this year, at least in the early part of the season. I'm not sure. Water flows through the reservoir from Yale Lake above, and through the turbines of Merwin dam, so there's a current and maybe all the sediment has washed out by now. Muddy water might actually help fishermen. They're easier to catch if they can't see you or your boat.

Which brings up an important point about fishing the (normally) very clear water of Mayfield and Merwin lakes. If you can see the muskies, they can see you, and it's darned hard to catch fish that know you're there. So, when I fish those lakes, I usually position the boat well away from the casting target and throw long casts. If the water surface is choppy, you can move in a little closer, but in those conditions you can't see what's under the surface. The point is, I seldom see the cover I'm casting at, but I know exactly where it is, because I memorize the location of logs, stumps, weed beds, dropoffs, etc. It's always tough to catch tiger muskies from calm water under blue skies, but if you find yourself on the lake under such conditions, it doesn't have to be wasted time. On days like that, lay your rod down in the bottom of the boat, turn on your electric motor, and scout the lake. By that I mean cruise slowly along shorelines and flats and look at where the wood is, and what the topography is. This is when you can really see it, and it's also the worst time to fish, so this is when you should be studying the lake's structure and cover, marking up your map, taking notes, noting shore landmarks, and memorizing where the fish-holding cover is.

One other point about Mayfield Lake. This lake has a number of sawn-off stumps in shallow water along the shorelines. You definitely want to know where these stumps are, because the wood is a heat sink, i.e. the stumps soak up the sun's heat on bright days and store it, so on cloudy days the water immediately above the stump tops will be slightly warmer and tiger muskies will park themselves right on top of those stumps to warm themselves. In September of 2005, I stopped by Mayfield on my way to Merwin, launched from the county park, and motored to a bay that holds some stumps. It was cloudy and ripply that day, and I threw my first cast of the day at one of those stumps. I couldn't see it, but I knew exactly where it was, and guess what. I caught a 25-pounder off the top of that stump on the first cast of the day. Muskies don't have to be the fish of 10,000 casts. Sometimes they aren't, if you have a strategy. This wasn't the first time, nor will it be the last, that I or someone in my boat caught a first-cast fish. But this brings up another point. You can't afford to be a one-trick pony. Everyone fishes Mayfield's stumps, so they get worked over pretty hard, and if you won't catch much at Mayfield if all you do is pound the stumps. Because of the fishing pressure there, you need a variety of tactics on that lake. So, as you grow into your musky fishing, learn a variety of techniques and tactics, and understand why they're effective, so you can make intelligent decisions about where and how to fish under the conditions facing you at the moment. This will vary day to day, and even at different times of day, so you need to be constantly assessing what to do and why you should do it. This is a thinking man's sport.

[Bill G]

Muskie Guy have you heard something about a tournament for this year? I know what was said last year but I don't see anything scheduled on the WDFW web site?
Bill

[dlt074]

Bill

my brother called the Mayfield resort to see what was up and they told him there would be an announcement about this years tournament posted on their site May 1st... but alas i've seen nothing.

[muskie guy]

First off, thanks to Don for another very detailed posting, good stuff. Second the Mayfield resort has been sold and the new owners did not have the resources to have the planned spring tournament. I called them as well and was told that the summer touney is still on. We asked for, and are getting a one and a half day tourney this year also. So that will be nice. Still no new info on their website.

[Deadeyemark]

Bill, I talked to George Penznick tonight about Mayfield. Lake's up and stable for a while but still cold. He's not sure if he's running the musky tourney this year but thinks someone else is going to and he'll be fishin it.

[muskyhunter]

Cool guys,
WHEN is the tourney going to happen? Is there a date or dates? Thanks, Todd

[Deadeyemark]

No dates yet. If I hear anything, I'll post it.

[Don Wittenberger]

Was the water still muddy when you were on Merwin? And did you get a water temp reading?

[dlt074]

the water was not as clear as i've seen it in the past, but it didn't strike me as muddy. i could still see down 5 or six feet.

[Don Wittenberger]

I haven't been down there yet this spring to see it, but I've been aware of the muddy water all winter. I'm not sure how that will affect the fishing, but it might actually help. The tiger muskies at Merwin were tough last fall; we had to work hard and dig deep for that. If the water is less clear this season, it might actually help the muskie fishermen. However, you'll want to space your casts closer together, work closer to the cover, and use high-visibility lures in that situation. Maybe go to chartreuse bucktails with nickel blades. And probably slow down your retrieves a little. When the fish can't see as well, they need more time to spot your lure than you'd give them in clear water.

[dlt074]

http://www.washingtonlakes.com/ReportCo ... 80&lid=172

nuff said.

not sure where the pictures of these fish on this site went. but they can be found elsewhere.
muskyhunter28's fish here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/hempler.com ... 5429745858
and dlt074's fish here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/hempler.com ... 1877057170