I got down to Beaver at around 10am with my girlfriend's step dad, Jimmy. He just got a new canoe and borrowed his buddy's trolling motor so we decided to take it out to see how well they both performed. It stopped raining almost as soon as we got down there so that sent us good vibes. This was my first time coming to this lake so I was eager to get on the water. We started at the launch and circled the main lake for about an hour, myself fishing for bass along the pads switching between a spinnerbait and popper, and him fly fishing for anything that would hit. After an hour of no bites, and a few switches in lures and presentation, we decided to head towards the western mini-lake that is connected to the main lake via a shallow channel. Along the way there I had a hit from something on the spoon I was using. The water was murky so I couldn't see well, but judging by it's flash it looked like either a bass or a decent sized perch.

We got to the mini-lake and within 10 minutes I had the first fish, a small yellow perch that bravely hit my spoon. I released it with renewed hope for this new lake. Soon after Jimmy hooked into a perch almost twice the size of mine. Not a bad catch at all. I decided to stop fishing for bass for a while and sought after perch and other panfish instead. I switched up to a red curly-tail grub and fished for a good 15 minuted before my next fish. It was quite a shock when it hit, as I was expecting something much smaller. I hooked into a nice 15" rainbow, most likely a holdover from last year's stock. Jimmy, having fished the lake before, said that it was a pretty decent size for this lake. Apparently they don't get too big in here.

I decided to go smaller with an even smaller grub, and all we caught for the next 2 hours were a 9"rainbow for Jim and a very small perch for me. We left the lake around 3 and headed to Stan's BBQ in Issaquah for lunch. Not a bad day on the water, the canoe and motor worked together wonderfully, and I can't wait to take it out again! Not bad for a first experience on Beaver Lake either. I was a little bummed on the shortage of bass action, but I suppose the water is still a bit cold for them. Oh well, hopefully later this month it'll get better.

Cheers!

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