I've been following the posts for Lake Sammamish since I moved to E. Bellevue a few months ago and watched the video on winter cutthroat fishing that sealed the deal for me on hiring a guide to get to know the lake. So, I hired Paul Lewis to take me out today and it was a blast. I read many reports from him on LS and clearly he knows this lake inside and out. I asked him if we could do a combo bass and cutthroat trip and he had it all perfectly planned out when he picked me up at the public dock at 5:45. He introduced me to drop shotting and we got right to business on the SW shore of the lake. He actually caught the 1st smallmouth on his first cast! Like a good guide, right after hookup, he offered to have me reel it in, but I refused wanting to catch my own bass. We kept moving and casting and after about an hour, I hooked up with about a 2-3 lb smally casting into a dock. (pic shown). I had no idea what I was doing with the drop shot rig but they say it's a pretty foolproof method for beginners and I proved that right as I took the pic and let the fish swim back to it's home. I got another one to really prove the point... I made a cast and created a rats nest tangle right at the reel. I started untangling it but gave up and so I clipped the line coming off the reel and clipped the line at the end of the rod and started pulling in my d/s rig by hand to retie. About 5 feet from the boat, I feel a tug and end up bringing in another smally fighting and landing it with my hands! Yeah, d/s rig is dummy-proof!
Captain Paul caught another one and a rock bass before we decided to call it quits on bass and start targeting the cutthroat. I used an orange-ish brown 3 inch grub thing the whole time and he used a white curl tail on his drop shot. He kept apologizing for how slow it was this year for bass and said that most sammamish fishers agreed with that. We even saw the tribal gillnetters not too far from where we were fishing wondering how many smallmouth were getting caught in the walleye netting study.

Anyway, on to the cutthroat as we fired up the boat. He set up the trout rigs while I ate breakfast and we motored to where he said he was catching them left and right just yesterday with another client. We trolled with wedding rings and a crawler piece and couldn't go more than a minute without a perch taking it. Here's the thing about guide Paul that I really appreciated... this guy has an intuition about this lake. I guess that comes when you live on a lake and fish it hundreds of times like he does! Every time, all day, that we weren't do well for more than a half hour, we switched things up...and each time, he got us onto fish. So, after a short time shaking off perch, we picked back up, headed to another spot, and within minutes caught 2 cutthroat and lost another. We repeated this process the rest of the trip as I learned from him how to work his downriggers and tackle setups. He is very friendly, knowledgeable and happy to share his lifetime of L/S knowledge with you. This trip would be really good for a dad wanting to bring his kids for a fishing trip in town where there will be virtually guaranteed action on perch for the kids and a comfortable boat to have all the snacks and room to keep the kids happy. Of course, the hard core angler will do very well to learn from Paul for a great fishery right here in town, I still can't get over that I drove 10 minutes from my house and I'm catching 2 lb smallmouth and 17 inch cutthroats all day! Something I have driven across the state for in the past.

Also, one last thing. I want to make a shout out to the folks here at NWFR. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading everyone's reports and when I can't get out on the water myself, feel like I'm fishing vicariously through them and I really appreciate all of what you have put together here and everyone who posts their adventures good and bad fishing days both! I really appreciate the new website and how much very cool info you all share freely with us! I had a great day yesterday because of this site and it's how I found guide Paul and I sincerely hope others do too! Keep up the great work.
:-)

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