The forecast was off a bit, as usual, and the wind conditions made it tough for trolling solo. I ran down to the south end of Mercer and found a nice swath of color coming from the Cedar River that cut all the way to South Point. I fished the edges of the color and managed to pick up a nice health hen 35’ down in 110’ of water. Poor girl puked up her breakfast near the boat, which looked to be 3 good sized smelt each around 6” long. A quick pic and back into the water she went to pack on some more weight for the derby. I continued to work west along Mercer Island and found a huge school of perch that seemed to be on the verge of spawning. ( see sonar image) Trolling through the school, one was bound to take my Apex, and sure enough one did. Turned out to be around 10” long and just about to pop. If it wasn’t blowing so hard and if I had brought the appropriate gear, I may have stuck around and done some jigging. I continued to work my way north to Seward Park and had a fish on for a short period before it self released which turned out to be the last action my gear received for the day. Water temps are still in the 56 to 57 degree range and it looks like the Cedar is going to color up the south end for a while. Perhaps the smolts will use this to their advantage and make a run for it in the murky waters!

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