Previous Next

Well the weather forecasters got it right and we received our clear and sunny day for the Thanksgiving weekend. The fog was thick as I launched at Newport and made a cautious run north to Hunt’s Point. I had picked up some large McMahon spoons at the tackle swap and wanted to give them a shot for use as dodgers. I figured that the 50/50 copper/brass combo would work well while the fog was blocking the sun and in the event that the water was stained from all the runoff from the recent rains. Surprisingly the waters seemed to be quite clear throughout the lake and I stuck with my plan and tied on a small hoochie behind the large spoon. I worked over the normal depths where I was marking bait but had no takers. I worked my way into shallower water and had a take at around 40’. The fish was large and did some acrobatics and somehow managed to bust my leader as it neared the boat, not the way I wanted to start off the day. I re-rigged with a mini Apex and sent the gear back down, continuing to work the shallows. This paid off as I was able to bring several fish to the boat, including a toad of a fish that Slabman watched me boat and photographed for me. He did a great job with the pics, thanks a ton Slabman, as I wasn’t able to do the fish justice with the hand held video I took. I did give it a short go for perch around Luther Burbank, but by that time the sun had dropped behind the hill and they didn’t seem interested in taking my spoon. The winds were mainly out of the North and picked up speed as the day wore on while the barometer remained fairly steady throughout the day.

paintermott

11/25/2012 7:44:00 PM

So an Apex really does work huh? lol nice

The Quadfather

11/25/2012 7:55:00 PM

That is a cool little spoon/dodger.... I'll have to look for those. Have to compliment you on your photos. Very nice! bummer little cell phone pic. on the toad fish, but there is no hiding it's girth! As always, thx. for your cutthroat report.

ARK

11/25/2012 8:58:00 PM

Wow, nice cutt. You can purchase spoons that large or larger at Seattle Marine. We use them during the ocean commercial troll season for chinook. Now my secret is out! LOL Trying to recruit my wife to fish the cold weather in Lake Washington as I lost my long time fishing buddy this September. By long time I mean more than 50 years! Any luck fishing the southern end of the lake?

G-Man

11/25/2012 9:45:00 PM

Ark - I typically work over the northern section of the lake this time of year. Once the smelt migrate south to the mouth of the Cedar in preparation to spawn, I'll focus my efforts south of Mercer Island. Plus, the north end gets much less pressure this time of year and it is sort of neat to check out the progress of the bridge.

hewesfisher

11/26/2012 7:45:00 AM

That's not a toad, it's a HOG! Nice catch G-Man. Even the cell pic is decent IMO. Always enjoy reading your reports, even more so the nice pics you share with us. :-)

G-Man

11/26/2012 9:05:00 AM

Funny, the original posted picture was just a thumbnail, Mike was able to swap in the larger image for me after Quad pointed it out. When the fish originally broke the surface, waaay behind the boat, all I saw was its silhouette and my first though was coho. I did manage a clean release, so hopefully that fish will be spawning in the not so distant future.

afk

11/26/2012 6:06:00 PM

Great report as usual! Thanks again for all the pics too.

The Quadfather

11/27/2012 1:35:00 PM

G-man... Lately I have been interested in "Old school" salmon spoons....
Went by "Seattle Marine" this morning. Wow! I've been here almost 50 years, and never been in there. That place is off the hook for cool salt water tackle, etc. Anyway... they have QUITE the extensive catalog on varieties of salmon style spoons. Some stuff that looks great, and looks like real potential when fishing the larger predatory trout, ie. lake WA, and also Omak.
Only bummer was that they are sold by the Dozen! I got all worked up over this stuff..... came home, did some Ebay searches, and it's great to see that there are a lot of old timers selling these spoons out of their basements. Check it out.

smallieslayer

11/29/2012 5:48:00 PM

what hawgs...i live right by the mouth of the cedar. if you school me on the trout i will school you on the smallmouth in that lake in the spring time...

Leave a Comment:

Login

Flag

×

Why is this comment inappropriate?

Close Submit

Delete this comment? Provide reason.

No Yes

Edit

×

Cancel Save