last time I was out here, it was close to a month ago and fishing was red hot.

Welp, you definitely feel the cool in the air. Water temps was at low 60s when I got there.

Started off on the west bank working my way up to a point that I haven't fished in a while. Started off shallow. 30 mins, all I felt have been tiny bait fish.

I get to a dock and pitch the dropshot to the closest side. Felt the thump and set the hook. Finally a SMB. Not big. Probably about a pound or maybe 1.25# at most. The next cast, I put it on the opposite side of the dock and thump again. Nice, it's getting slightly bigger. Maybe 1.5# or better. Tried the back corner without a bite.

Tried the same thing with the dock next to it. Nothing. Then I toss a wacky rig along the same spots. Saw the line swimming away and set the hook. Wow, a 1.5# or so LMB. Nice.

30 mins of slowness and bam, 5 mins of quick action.

I get to the point I wanted to attack and spend some time in the area. Started working a jerk bait and had a big school of dink SMB worked up and attacking, but couldn't hook them.

I probably spent too much time in this area. But eventually, I kept moving down the shoreline.

Caught me a few more dink SMB along the way with a swimbait and dropshot.

I then boat across the lake and try the east side.

Fishing away from shore and working the deeper water. Tried fishing the deeper weed edge. I let my swimbait sink down and swim it back. Get a tug and another one of those 1# SMB. Do a couple more runs with the swimbait and jerk with no reaction. So I toss the DS out. Catch me 2 quick SMB. 1 a dink and other about 2# or so. All 3 were caught around a 10-15' radius. The 2# coughed up a 5" perch that was still whole and fully colored. Must have just swallowed it.

Since the jerk wasn't getting much love, I tied on a mid to deep diving crank. I toss that in the area along the deeper edge with nothing. Then I tossed it into shallower water, but still deep enough not to get caught in the weeds. I feel a thunk! Wow, I haven't had a crankbait bite in a while. It feels like a tank, LOL. Actually, it might be my first crankbait bass at Sammamish this year.... I'm trying to reel it in and it just keeps pulling downwards. Hmmm, I guess it is a big one. I'm trying to maneuver it towards the back of the boat, and I still cant see the fish.

It forced me to go back to the bow and I'm there holding it in place. Hmmm, this feels weird, I don't feel the headshakes anymore. It's just pinned to the bottom. It feels like I'm hung up. What's odd is, I'm confident there's nothing down there that I can be caught on.... I'm thinking wtf, did I somehow lose the fish?!?!? I have a bend in my rod, no drag is being pulled. And I can't budge whatever it is. As I'm about to tighten the drag, I feel the headshakes again. Now it finally comes up and I see it's a pretty nice LMB! Not a pig, but a nice one. The LMB is getting tired and I walk to towards the back of the boat and get it into the net. The lure is engulfed! Awesome. Fortunately, it was an easy removal too. A quick weigh, and it's only 3.20#.

Continue along this pattern, but that's it. I think there was 1 more dink SMB in that area. I moved back into the shallows again. I pitched my DS in the shade side between a dock and boat. See the twitch and set the hook. Another dink, but what was interesting was the bigger fish and another dink chasing it! The bigger fish looked to be about 2# or so. It followed it for a long time. It swatted my fish twice trying to get the lure.

Made a couple more toss back into the area with the DS and wacky without a bite.

Then I checked out my fart hole. Only spent about 10-15 mins there. Didn't even get a nibble. Looks like the hole is done for the season.

On my way out, I swung back around and see if I could catch that 2# I just missed. Again, no bites . Bummer.

Not fast and furious like last month. But it was very nice to be out there. 3 LMB for me a lot for Sammamish, lol. Caught 1 with a wacky. 1 with a crank, 1 with a DS. Caught them in shallow and deep. Didn't have much of a pattern today. At least one I could decipher.

Sorry for the picture quality. New poverty phone since I destroyed my nice one.

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