Nice to read yer report Cosmo
The canal doesnt get any pressure this time of year
i have fished it a few times during the cold season without a bite. it can be entertaining during middle of summer..but small (smallies)

Thanks Quadfather. Any suggestions for this time of year in the Seattle area?

I don't bass fish during the winter, sorry I can't give you help there. If you are shore bound and just want to catch whatever... I would go with Greenlake for rainbows or German Brown's. Just search the reports and you will get the idea. You can walk the whole lake edge, and cover ground. Throw lures for the Browns. Lake Ballinger seems to be putting out some decent trout from the dock as well.
Bitter lake my summer bass lake. (N. Seattle) Last year it had the best trout population I think it has had for quite a few years. There were triploids planted as well. I would expect there were some holdovers until now, just because trout were being caught later into the summer. It has shore access as well.
If you have a boat, go fish lake WA. and Samammish for Cutthroat. Good this time of year.

Nice report and good for you getting out there. I fish there quite often during the warm season for smallies. Early May to November is the only time I've caught them. I would think they move into deep water in Lake Union but not sure. Can't wait for Spring so I can get back to doing some Bass fishing!

Cold water = fish deep. To find the smallies this time of year, you need a boat, good electronics, and lots of patience. Depending on the lake, smallmouth will hold on midwater humps and deep points in as deep as 70 feet. Search the videos on this site to see some coldwater bass fishing on Lake Washington and you will get the idea.

+1 on what rockjiggr mentioned. Though I've caught smallmouth as shallow as 25' in the dead of winter out of Lake Washington. Once the water temps equalize throughout the water column, which has already occurred, they will start to move into shallower waters as long as the bait does as well. The ship canal won't be popular with the bass until the waters warm up and the salmon and trout smolts start to migrate to the Sound.

Hey Cosmo, your fishing my territory! LOL its a hard time to fish that canal. You can pull in some perch, but you should be fishing with light or ultra light gear, and smaller plastics They dont get very big, alteast the big ones dont hang out in there. You can pick up some trout and salmon there, but its illegal to target them, if you catch a FLUKE, you havta put them back. If you want bass, you need a boat. Right now the canal is full of stickle back, and what appear to be bass fry from the last spawn.
You are best off bottom fishing for trout at Green Lake, or bust out the spoons and spinners, both tecniques work at GL. It has been a bit slow over there lately. For some reason Gort has no problem landing foot long rainbows over there every trip. If you absolutly havta catch a fish, bring your ultra light gear with 1/32-1/16 jighead, texas, or carolina rig some curly tail grubs. Pitch them under the docks and you can pull in some hand sized sculpins. Ugly nasty things. On light enought gear they can be entertaining, atleast you can get you fix.
Or get your salt tag and fish for flounder and squid , I think that is going to be my next move.