Met my fishing partner at the Newport launch around 9:15, as the wind was really blowing out of the south, we decided to start fishing the east channel north of the I-90 high rise. I started off dragging a mini hoochie behind a large slingblade and my partner went with a stacked bead spinner behind a dodger. We trolled around the north side of Mercer Island all the way to Faben point without even so much as a takedown. I then switched out my gear in favor of a Brad's Mini Cutplug, loaded with pike minnow, and fished it 5' off the bottom in waters 20' to 60' deep. This proved to be the ticket as we ended up bringing 7 fish to the boat, all on Mini Cut plugs, fished right on the deck and retracing our path. I ended up with the big fish of the day, which measured out at 21” and weighed in at 4lbs 2oz, a true pig for this time of the year. We both kept a fish and released the rest.

After opening up the large cutt, it was easy to see the effects the early and large algae boom has had on the lake's inhabitants. I can't recall ever seeing any larger stickelbacks in my life, and this fish had 10+ of them in its stomach. It will be a hoot to see what these fish weigh in at come derby time in June.