The saga of Whorde Tries to Catch a Salmon continues last Thursday with Episode .... I've forgotten ... is it 16?

After reading reports of salmon being caught in Lake Washington, I readied my trusty rubber raft, skipped my workout, and set forth at 6 pm from the Sammamish Slough boat launch. Racing toward the lake at a full ... let's say 3 miles per hour, I figured I had until 7:30, so I'd go out 45 minutes and back 45 minutes. My goal was ... Anderson Point is it?

Things seemed kinda sketchy. I was looking at the buoys, and at the depth chart I had printed, and couldn't decide my exact course. Then I saw a float plane landing, so being of sound mind I stayed well away from there. That did not prove to be the best idea, as I was promptly surrounded by weeds on all sides and ended up having to stop and unwrap my propeller probably 12 times. But I made it through the shallow spot, and wasn't run over by a float plane.

When I got to what I judged to be 15 feet of water or so, I dropped standard salmon trolling gear..... full speed ahead for me is trolling speed, so why not right? There was decent action on the flasher. I was feeling better about things once out of the weeds. I didn't get any bites, but I didn't snag the bottom, and I slowly let it down farther to probably 30 feet.

Well, I motored down to the Point, it was ... maybe 6:55 or so, so I turned around and headed back, gear in water up to past where I began. It was getting dark, but I figured I would make better time since I would bypass the weed jungle. Didn't get any bites. Which I guess doesn't surprise me, as the Point is where the deep water actually starts. But I thought it was worth a shot. Those salmon down by Kirkland have to go right around that point to get to the Slough.

And then the real fun began. I got just about to the float plane landing zone, and my battery dies. Being of sound mind, I hadn't brought the spare, as I was only going to be out 90 minutes right? Well, apparently 90 minutes is 10 minutes longer than my battery will push the raft at full speed. Sigh.

So I spent the next half hour rowing in the dark.

And so ended Episode 16.

gotbike

10/6/2014 5:39:00 PM

Brilliant report! Keep trying, try and hit the morning if you can, try a bit deeper, and do remember that spare battery! Tight lines!

G-Man

10/7/2014 3:21:00 PM

The section of water you were in was no more than 20' deep and at that depth this lake is full of weeds. You need to stay in the channel between the red and green buoys until you get to the large white "can". From there, head for Mt. Rainier until you are past Arrowhead Point. At this point the water depth will drop rapidly from about 40' to 100'. This is where folks typically set up to fish the North end of the Lake for Coho.

Leave a Comment:

Login

Flag

×

Why is this comment inappropriate?

Close Submit

Delete this comment? Provide reason.

No Yes

Edit

×

Cancel Save