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Well it's been a while since I've been able to get out on the Lake. I've been busy and the days that I've had off, the winds were a bit excessive. Today we got a break from the rain and the wind which was my cue to head on down to the ramp. I decided to fish the area between the bridges as I figured that the south end of the lake would be stained and full of debris from the heavy rains we had been having. I decided to experiment with a new bait today and despite it providing my only hookup of the day, it resulted in me having to kill the fish as it totally swallowed the rig. The fish hit with my rigger down 50' and didn't fight much at all. I suspected that I had picked up a large squawfish but as it made its way to the boat I could tell it was cutthroat and that it had swallowed my bait. Once at the boat, I found that both hooks were firmly embedded in the gills and the fish was bleeding profusely. So into the boat she came and I went home with an 18" spawned out hen. I spent some time chasing kokes but they weren't having any of it. It looks like they were in the 20' to 25' range but I could not entice them to strike. The water surface temps are pushing the 50 degree mark in spots so I expect to see a pickup in the bite over the next couple weeks if the current weather pattern holds. It was mostly sunny with not much of a breeze to speak of and yes the pressure had risen early morning and leveled out about the time I hit the water. I did not see another boat chasing cutts in the time that I was out, just a bunch of bass fishermen doing their thing.

Red beard

4/14/2013 11:58:00 PM

Man do I miss the blue waters of Lake Washington, nice fish bud!

jpjames14

4/15/2013 11:17:00 AM

G-man, nice fish! My buddy and his dad got a new Hewescraft that we ventured out in Saturday. I think it may have been the most non-ideal day to fish cutty's - lots of wind, rain, and a serious change in pressure with that thunder storm. We had a solid strike off the south tip of Mercer with no hookup, and landed a 16inch what I believe was a silver judging it's spots and flash on the tail closer to Kirkland. We released him of course. Anyways, we are new to the fishery but I'm inspired to get some of these fish. Any tips? You seem to be the expert on this lake.

G-Man

4/15/2013 1:36:00 PM

My tips would be: 1. use clean gear and fresh bait/scent 2. Troll quicker than what you would for kokanee, in the 1.5 to 2.0 mph range 3. Find the bait and fish below it. This time of year is tough as the fish are all over the water column. As the waters warm up and the thermocline starts to develop, the target zone narrows considerably. I tend to fish deep, in the 35 to 60' range, year round. I don't surface fish much unless I'm not getting bit down deep.

jpjames14

4/15/2013 4:05:00 PM

I appreciate the info. Hopefully we'll be getting after it again here in the next few weeks. Thanks!

123

4/16/2013 6:14:00 PM

Nice report, do you know when fishing on lake washington for panfish and bass will start up? and can yuo catch the cutts from shore at all?

G-Man

4/16/2013 8:24:00 PM

123 - As long as the water temps are in the 50's catching cutts and bows from shore is doable. As the temps creep up they head to deeper waters in search of their comfort zone. As for bass, the lake is doing pretty good right now, it is the middle of April and the fish are gearing up to spawn. Panfish is the same pretty much the same as bass, just no one talks about any of them.

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