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Got a late start, around 10:30am, and could not have asked for better weather or water conditions. I had my photographer, wife, with me today as well as our two canine companions. I figured that at least some of the sockeye smolts would be out in the lake by now so I upped the size of my hootchie to needlefish size and dragged that behind an Abe and Al style flasher. I picked up my first fish on the first pass over South Point down around 35’. Nice fish around 17” which jumped and few times and put up a nice fight. The second fish I picked up as we headed down to the mouth of the Cedar at 15’ off the rigger. I didn’t see the strike, I just heard the drag and the fight was on. This fish turned out to be just a bit bigger than my first but fought twice as hard. Lots of tail walking and several line peeling runs. My wife was able to snap a pic of this fish while it was “walking” near the boat. I’d say this fish went around 18” – 19” and was fairly deep in the body. Both fish were released to be caught again, hopefully during the cutt derby after putting on some more weight. We made out way down the Cedar River sand bar and I got out to take a stroll with our lab for a bit. The bar looks to be a bit lower than in previous years and has changed some from last year. By the time I got back in the boat with the dog, the number of pleasure boaters on the water had increased quite a bit. We trolled north from the mouth to Coleman Point without a strike and called it a day. Enforcement was out in a Grady White checking licenses, it has been two years since I had seen him on the lake, and I saw him check anyone that had a line in the water. Winds were out of the west all day and we encountered water surface temps between 51 and 53 degrees. The algae bloom is still going strong and is coloring the water quite a bit.

hydra

4/23/2011 6:22:00 PM

nice!

MotoBoat

4/24/2011 11:47:00 AM

Very timely finger push of the camera by your in-home personal photographer. Visible in the splashing and frothing of surface water is your flasher being towed by the half exposed fish. Good stuff. Nice day with flat calm water and a stroll onto a sand bar with the canine family member? Nice!. There is a sand bar in Lake Wenatchee that when the front of the boat is touching sand the transducer at the rear of the boat reads 50ft of depth. Assuming you were barefoot, how cold was the water?

mav186

4/24/2011 6:34:00 PM

Great report and pics G!

G-Man

4/24/2011 9:36:00 PM

Moto, I was wearing my waders during the stroll as the warter temps were right around 50 degrees on the bar. The drop-off isn't as dramatic as what you described in Lake Wenatchee, but it goes from 35' to about 5 feet really fast, then slowly comes up to about a foot or so.

Yes, that's my flasher you see in the pic. Pretty strong fish to be pulling itself and the flasher out of the water for that great a distance.

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