Saturday afternoon I hit Beaver Lake in my float tube after being skunked bass fishing around the Arboretum on Lake Washington earlier in the day. It was a gorgeous day with temps in the 70s. I started out tossing a black Roster Tail to see if I could hook any trout as I was kicking over to the small cove to the left of the boat launch (as you face the water). I was using a medium-fast retrieve about 3-4 feet below the surface. Managed two healthy stocker rainbows.

Once in the cove, I started fishing the pads with a weedless, Texas-rigged Senko in black with green flake. Initially, I was casting to holes in the pads and letting the bait sink to the bottom. I had no luck with that retrieve. However, I did manage to cast into a tree on shore. So, I popped the worm out of the tree and cranked the Senko along the surface of the pads to make my next cast. As soon as the Senko hit open water, a fish hit. It was a small (rougly 1/2 pound) largemouth.

As a result, I started casting back into the pads and retrieving the Senko on the surface. Boated four more largemouths about the same size (C&R for all). Later, I tried to use the same retrieve around some old dock pilings and hit a gust of wind, which gave me a great backlash. While picking out the backlash, my line twitched and started moving off to deeper water. Once the back lash was picked out, I reeled in my slack, still felt the fish, and set the hook. After a short fight, I landed my biggest largemouth of the day (roughly 2 pounds). The fish was thanked for the fight, revived and released to be caught again.

All and all a great day on the water. I arrived at the lake about 5:30 and left at 7:30. There were quite a few people on the lake, but due to the size there was still plenty of room to fish in relative solitude. Water was fairly clear with visibility of about 4-5 feet.

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