Thanks for the report! I've been skunked more times than I care to remember trolling for cutts on that lake. But it's those days when you can't seem to keep them off the line that I prefer to remember. Cutty are a picky fish, and if they aren't in the mood to bite there's not a lot you can do about that. Just keep fishing. Tight lines.

That's a rough day, hang in there, you'll get bit for sure. I don't do anything different from fall through spring and don't fish the lake hardly at all in the summer, too crowded and fishing and crabbing the sound trumps the lake. Just vary your speed and trolling path (1.5-2mph), if you get a strike, but no take, kill the throttle for a few seconds, then goose it and you'll hook up often. I like to fish around birds, maybe psychological, but I figure the grebes know where the bait is. The south end tends to be better in the spring when the salmon smolt come out of the Issaquah creek, but I catch fish in the south end other times of the year too. Usually I'm so excited to get fishing that I drop gear immediately and try a pass by the creek mouth just to see if I can get a bite, or I motor up the SE shore and often pick up one or two smaller cutts. My average is probably about one fish landed per hour per rod. Not great, but still fun, when you got a group of guys it's a lot easier to try different presentations and depths and speeds and figure out what they want, by yourself is tough. If you look at earlier posts, which I'm sure you have, you'll see my go to rigs, last time out a guy showed me a pearl luhr jensen with black spots that he says outfishes other lures on some days 2:1. I have used the needlefish pattern some, but just keep going back to wedding rings. You had an off day, I bet if you go out again you'll catch fish out there.