well folks, it doesn't get any better than this. fishing has its slow days, its fast days, and its crazy days. but rarely do you get all of that in one, fantastic and incredible day of fishing.

SHORT REPORT:
went out with my little fishin buddy (richard) and his dad (rick), expecting to catch a fish or two, but not expecting much (days like my last report are extremely rare on Sammamish.) caught three trout in 90 mins, took a break and then went back to the same spot as yesterday. 10 fish 75 mins. then 15 mins later, doubled up on 2 trout... now at 14. spent 2.5 hours looking for that last fish, until we gave up.. i was pretty depressed with that last fish, so went back for it. trolling motor died, so i motor mooched for 20 minutes, finally got him. 15 fish in 5.5 hours. amazing day.

LONG REPORT:

MAN OH MAN... what a day. I met up with my little fishing buddy and his dad around 8:30 and starting fishing around 9. we started close to the north end due to the incredible amount of birds i saw. since there were three of us in the boat, i ran 3 rods at different depths:
Rod 1: watermelon dodger and red wedding ring at 24ft
Rod 2: purple uv dodger with green wedding ring at 32ft
Rod 3: ford fender with a pink and purple wedding ring on the top

10 mins into trolling, rod 2 gets slammed. i pop the clip and pass the rod off to richard. he did a great job bringing the fish to the boat, and to our surprise, it was a vampire! i mean this kokanee had the hooked nose, the dark red body, the whole bit. it was beauty and i should have taken a picture. right after the release, rod 1 got hit hard. passed off to rick, another kokanee, but this time no signs of spawning soon. another 20 minutes goes by and i was just about to leave, then rod 3 gets destroyed. this time, richard brought up a nice 16 inch trout. finally, a fish in the box. another 20 minutes, rod 1 with a nice cutt for rick. the action had slowed down, so i started to troll south in 80 FOW along the east side. it took another 15 minutes, but rod 1 got another hit. we seemed to hit a dry spell after that, so we went in for a restroom break and snack.

i decided to go back to the same spot as yesterday hoping the action was the same, and boy was it. i was dropping my rigger down, and 5 seconds (no joke) i reeled in a kokanee with the help of richard's nice net job. got all the rods set, found my troll pattern from yesterday, and the fish went off. (i forgot to mention i switched my rod1 to a green smile blade). we got 9 trout in an hour, plus a few kokanee in there. none of the rods caught more fish than the other, so the fish were all up and down the water column. now, we were sitting at 12 fish, 3 away from the limit. fishing was amazing.

the plan was to finish the troll and call it a day, but right at the end of the troll, BANG! rod 2 gets slammed. richard was there to take care of it. then, rod 1, bang! ITS A DOUBLE!!! i decide to reel in my second fish (i truly love putting my guests on the fish so i don't reel in very many myself) and we were surprised with two nice trout for the box. so now we are sitting at 14 fish with one more to go.

now, the day turned from a great day fishing, into a press to do the near-impossible: get 3 limits on lake Sammamish. we threw the tackle box at them gave it all we got, tried tons of different spots, speeds, patterns, everything. we even tried eating! (fish always bite when you are eating... sadly we caught a kokanee while we were eating. we caught a 7" trout as well as two kokanee, but for 2.5 hours, it was silent. the fish just stopped biting. after the painstaking process of trying to catch this last fish, we finally had to give up and take richard back for soccer practice. i was pretty sad we didn't get the last fish, but still, 14 trout... spectacular. it was a great day fishing with rick and richard. i was almost packed up, when i called my dad and told him the plans and when i expected to be home. when i told him we had 14, he said "what happened to the last one? he fooled you?"... well... that was enough for me to go back out there. (i dropped the fish at the car so i didn't get in any sorts of trouble)

sadly, my electric trolling motor was dead so i had to come up with a new plan. my main motor does not go slow enough to troll for trout, so i motor-mooched them speeding up to 2.1mph and letting my boat slow to .8mph. i decided to use the ford fender for this technique, because the action it makes when it speeds up (goes towards the surface) or slows down (drops in a flutter) seemed to be more effective in my logic. to took 30 minutes but wham! fish and he was an acrobat. he swam right at me faster than i could reel, but thankfully i caught up. i was so excited i didn't even net him. i just flipped him in like a bass. i was so relieved. it incredible. 3 limits in 6 hours. insane. insane.

it was by far the best/ most productive day i have had on the water. i believe my previous record was 8 or 9 lake Sammamish trout (rainbow an cutthroat) so i was excited to demolish that. also, that is 4 limits in 2 days. fantastic. my neighbors are taking all but 3 for their christmas dinner. so awesome to catch your meal.

it was really great to take out my buddy (who is 10) and his dad. i love taking people out and sharing my passion with them (and hopefully create a fisherman out of them). richard got to reel in a ton of fish and help beat the boat record for quantity. what a great time.


thank you to all who left such nice comments/dropped me messages on my last post. i really appreciate you guys taking the time to read my story and (hopefully) enjoy the story.

i will be out on the lake more (hoping tomorrow). i will be taking out some people, but if a fellow NWFR member wants to come fishing/ just inquire on what has been catching the fish (luck mostly), drop me a message.


until next time tight lines and good fishing!