folks, there is simply nothing to say except that fishing on lake Sammamish is incredible right now. It isn't every trip you have a day like this, but they are sure great when they come.

Today was a day of learning with Rmrauscher. Our goal was to see what the fish wanted, what depths were the most productive, what lures worked the best, what speed they preferred, do they hit on turns, etc etc etc. The day was very informative, and the final conclusion was the fishing on sammamish is strong, the fish are abundant, and most importantly they are finally out of spawn mode and on the feed!


The day began at 7:00, with lines in the water at about 7:15. It took about 30 minutes to find our first fish, but a God's tooth 50/50 gold did the trick and we boated a nice 17.5" fatty. in the next 20 minutes we caught one more and missed 3. an hour into the trip we were 3 for 7, with the fish chomping on the gods tooth and swiping a bit at the Reli Lures Diamond Flash Spinner. in the next hour, the spinner bite shot up and fish started crushing it. in hour two we were 10/14, releasing the smaller ones and keeping a few of the real nice ones we got into. we began to experiment with gear, changing colors on the Reli Lures Diamond flash, as well as colors on the God's tooth spoon. we also used a Old Goat OG1 in perch pattern. by hour three, we had caught 18 fish total, with pink, red, and orange diamond flash spinners being the main producers on the spinner side, and a slough of God's tooth spoons working just as well. SOME of the drops we did with the spinners had worm on them. The fish we caught with worm on the hook we decided to keep, as for the most part they swallowed the hooks fairly bad. this far in the trip we had 4 of our 18 fish that counted towards our limit, and they were in the box. Whenever bait is used, fish count toward your limit, when fishing naked lures, you can catch and release as you please.

we fished for another couple of hours and we ended up catching over 30 fish on the day.... (yes that was OVER 30 FISH) using god's tooth spoons set on the fast action setting and on the kokanee setting, on on almost every color in the rainbow of Reli Lures Diamond flash spinners, and Old Goat Lures OG1 perch pattern plugs. the fish were hungry! we also caught two juvenile chinook, which were carefully released back into the water. they were handled as little as possible, kept in the water, and they swam away strong. on my boat, I use a rubberized knotless net. when planning on releasing fish, using a net that doesn't hurt the fish is a very crucial part in ensuring the mortality of the fish after their release.

we ended the day with 2 nice limits of 15-18" fish. all of the fish were filled with salmon smolts. some of the bigger fish we kept had smolts up to 5 inches in their belly. Cutthroat trout are the epitome of a predator. the main staple in their diet at this time is salmon smolts. when they aren't feeding on smolts, they eat a significant amount of Kokanee. and in a lake where the kokanee are struggling to live, this is extremely detrimental. I had the opportunity to talk with trout unlimited a while back, and they said between low oxygen levels and high temperatures, the kokanee have about 18" of healthy livable space in the water column. In that area they compete with cutthroat, and often end up being preyed upon by them. a few years ago, tens of thousands of kokanee were released into sammamish. This fall, only 19 returned to spawn.between 2002 and 2005, the early run of kokanee on the lake became extinct. now there is only a fall run. one day hopefully we can find a balance between kokanee, cutts, and environment so we will see a kokanee population again here in Lake Sammamish. This being said, the cutthroat are also a natural fish. the WDFW estimates between 30,000 and 50,000 fish are in the lake, with number staying steady. keeping fish in the lake is legal and ok, but at the same time it is important to eat ALL you take. when taking fish from a natural fishery, the worst thing one can do is let if freezer burn. not only is that wasting delicious and extremely nutritious food, it is also incredibly unsporting.

The fish in Lake sammamish are definitely prevalent and ready to be caught! make sure you follow the regulations on what counts towards your limit. we used some bait on our lures, but spent most of the day fishing naked lures as we wanted our day to be extended past just a couple hours of fishing. As stated above, all sorts of combos worked. we used dodgers part of the time, we fished just lures part of the time, we tried it all and found willing fish all over the lake. it was fantastic fishing for sure! it does take some time to find where the fish are, but once you locate them they are more than willing to bite.

Cutthroat trout fishing should be hot through the summer, and Smallmouth bass fishing is starting to heat up as the prespawn bite is about to begin! Panfish on the lake will heat up when the water gets a few degrees warmer. I have a few dates left in May to target cutthroat trout or smallmouth, then June and July still have dates available (including weekend dates) to target all 3 types of fish on the lake. Book now to get your favorite date! call (425)-753-5772, or email paul@fastactionfishingseattle.com if you would like to book

in addition to Sammamish, Lake Stevens is hot for kokanee right now! whether you want cutthroat, bass, Kokanee, or panfish, Fast Action has the trip for you!

thank you for reading and tight lines to all,
Captain Paul

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