When I retired four years ago I promised myself that I would take one day a week to celebrate my long-standing love affair with the sport of fishing. Usually, for convenience' sake, that celebration occurs on any given Monday. So it was very early on this Monday morning that I headed out to Blackman's Lake in Snohomish. Blackman's is an enigma to me... at times I do quite well, then other times I get the skunk. The lake fills with vegetation in the Summer, so part of the secret of any success is to use long leaders to get the bait above the vegetation line. I arrived at a tick before 5:00 AM... temp at the outset was 51 degrees, sky was cloudy. One fisherman was already on the southernmost pier at Hilltop Park. I started out with fl. orange Power Eggs on one rig (5' leader) and pink on the other (6' leader). Temp reading of the water was 56 degrees at 20' depth off the pier, but at 5' depth, the water temp was 66 degrees. The first three hours were much like many a day at Blackman's ended, without so much as a bite. I kept trying different colors of PE, tried Power Dough, salmon eggs, color combinations, etc. At about 8:00, I tried two chartreuse PEs on a 5' leader... about a half hour later, had the first hook-up of the day... a violent hit, several aerial displays, and I reeled in a prime, beautifully colored, 14" Rainbow. Hope was renewed! In the next hour and a half I had several hits, without hook-ups, then about 10:00 my second Rainbow came to the net, a 12 1/2" beauty. A half hour later, my rod was nearly pulled up and over the pier railing by a violent take... I knew right away that I was into a bigger fish. No leaps from the water, but dogged runs and plenty of violent headshakes... could feel each one through my UL Temple Forks 8 1/2" rod. What was a matter of several minutes seemed like an eternity before I brought the gorgeous, feisty fish to the net... surprise, surprise! Not a Rainbow, but a 15 1/2" Cutthroat (note the extended jaw-line in the pic)! Two more Rainbows of 13" 1/2" and 13" completed my limit and I was done by 11:00.
Saw perhaps another dozen fishermen come to the two piers at Hilltop, through the morning. Most came, spent one or two hours and then left without a bite. Perhaps they just didn't have the time to remain, but I sense that in a culture of "instant gratification" people just don't have the patience that it takes to be successful fishermen these days. I embrace the challenge of trying to figure out what the fish want on a given day. Sometimes I don't figure it out... fish win! Sometimes I do figure it out... I win! To me, that is the incredible charm of this sport I enjoy so much. Saw only two other Rainbows landed on the two piers at Hilltop, although I did observe one small boat on the lake and the fisherman was landing several fish that I could see, while trolling. One fellow came onto the pier about 10:00, casting a 6" brown worm of some sort, back under the pier, trying for Largemouth Bass. He had only fished for fifteen minutes or so when he hooked and landed a beautiful Largemouth of 3 or 4 pounds. A couple of quick pics by his partner, and the fish was back in the water. Last time I fished Blackman's, an enormous Largemouth made a pass at the trout I was reeling in, darting out from underneath the pier. There are some very large Largemouth in the lake!
Had an unforgettable day a Blackman's. watched the eagles tirelessly flying back and forth to their nest tree, obviously feeding their young.
Lots of geese and other waterfowl moving on the lake. All morning I watched an enormous school of thousands upon thousands of what I perceived to be newly hatched LMB fry, swimming around the pier I was fishing from. So life continues on at Blackman's Lake. PTL!

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