My brother and I went out in all the rain Saturday and got about as wet as the fish. That's the trouble with an open boat. We left the Kenmore launch just after 10:00 AM and headed down the eastern side of the lake. We trolled for Silvers for a while but had no luck. Then we started marking big fish on the depth sounder so we jigged with Buzz Bombs and still nothing. So we went over to the point north of the State Park looking for those famous Lake Washington Perch.

While we were there we saw several other boats looking for the Salmon but never saw anyone hook-up or land any. One thing that may have put the salmon off was that we saw a seal swimming around out there off of the Park too. I had never seen them in the lake before but there was no mistaking that head sticking out of the water.

The perch on the other hand were very cooperative once we found them and we caught about 40 of them between the two of us. We found them in 65 to 70 feet of water and the wind made it hard to get down that deep. When we went to more weight to hold bottom then it was hard to feel the soft bite. We caught the first one on a worm and then I started using a strip of perch meat on the hook too.

One hint, if you use the perch meat. Strip off the scales first and then cut a strip of meat with the skin still on. Run your hook through the skin, as it is very tough and will not come off of the hook easily. Perch are notorious for getting soft baits off of your hook and that tough hide will sure help solve that problem. Another thing when using strips of perch meat is to change bait every once in a while because the scent will wash out of the meat and then the perch will leave it alone as they like their meat fresh.

Most of the perch we caught were in the 12-inch range and there were a couple that went into the 14-inch range. Not too bad but we never did manage to find any of the really big ones. I guess a 12 to 14 inch Perch is big by most lakes standards but Lake Washington is capable of much bigger Perch than that and we even saw a couple of the big boys in someone’s fish bucket when we were at the Kenmore Launch last Tuesday evening. He said they were in 40-feet of water then but they have moved deeper now.

So to keep from being skunked when out on this lake and for some good eating too, take along an ultra-light rod and find some of those perch. You will be glad you did.

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