I thought this report was lost from my computer when Internet Explorer crashed but I found it here when I was about to start a new report!

Started the day by hitting the road later than expected only to hitting a wall of traffic as I got to the I-90 turnoff from I-405 (ugh!). Then, I finally got to the exit that my GPS told me was the right one for Lake Sammamish but after a 45 minute wild good chase to find the boat launch I finally found it. Not bad, only a 2 hour 45 min drive from Rochester. :-(

Oh well, finally got to the boat launch around 10:00 a.m. and was surprised that there were so few other boaters. One guy was actually leaving as I got there, we talked and he told me that the lake was full of sea-run cutts, awesome! Now the bad news, you can't keep Kokanee at Sammamish, argh! I didn't realize that and was looking forward to bringing some home.

Anyway, got on the water around 10:30 and began trolling about 200 yards from the launch. I was using Dick Nite Watermelon Dodgers with a orange Wedding Ring behind it with a piece of worm on downriggers in about 60 feet of water and going to a depth of 30 feet on one and 25 on the other. Wasn't long before one of the rods began dancing and the gear popped off the downrigger clip. After a short battle I boated a nice 16 inch cutty (sorry didn't take any fish pics) and put the gear back out. It was a fairly consistent bite for the next 3 hours, a mixture of cutties and kokes. Nothing over 16 inches but still fun to catch.

Only giving the trip a three star due to the disappointment about not being able to keep kokes. Beautiful day, the weather couldn't have been better. Note: the pleasure boaters and jet skiers hit the water BIG TIME in the late afternoon and remained until I left at 8:00 in the evening! And it was a glorious sunset as you can see in the picture.

Lots of fish rising in the morning, probably could have done well without the downriggers but when it warmed up in the afternoon I was picking up most of my fish at 42 feet.

Get out there on a weekday, you won't be disappointed!

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