With the weather looking good in the morning I decided to run out to the lake and get in some fishing before the wind returned and shut everything down again. Arriving at the launch around 10:30am I saw that the Seattle and Mercer Island patrol boats were still busy searching the bay for the missing kayaker. It was a grim reminder of how deadly the cold water is this time of year and why you should always wear your life vest, especially when boating alone. I headed north and fished the Luther Burbank area and picked up a smallish 14” cutt right on the bottom in 52’ of water. The fish didn’t hit my mini cut plug hard and initially I thought I was just ticking the bottom. No real fight coming to the boat but started the panic thrashing once it got near and self released before I could snap a pic. I eventually made my way around the northeast tip of the island and noticed a bunch of bait on the sonar so I concentrated on working the bay for about an hour and picked up a 10” koke on a mini apex for my efforts. Heading west towards the I-90 bridge I encountered a snag in 90 feet of water fishing 35’ down. Luckily I was able to break off my trailer hook and retrieved my favorite flasher and mini apex lure. The HotSpot I’ve marked is the snag and it looks like an old buoy and line on the sonar so be on the lookout for it. Fished for another hour or so before calling it a day and headed back to the launch to see the patrol boats still at it, I really feel for the guy’s family. Overall the weather was great for a winter’s day and I had the top down during the whole outing. Winds were variable and changed from coming out of the south to the west by mid afternoon. Skies were pretty clear so I really worked the UV angle, guess the resident cutts are still getting busy in the river and streams.

PS – I can’t believe the bait pictured didn’t produce a fish, I mean really, what more could you ask for?