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Summit Lake Report
Thurston County, WA

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Details

05/07/2018
66° - 70°
Casting
Smallmouth Bass
Green
Mostly Sunny
Plastics
Afternoon
56° - 60°
05/11/2018
3
8508

So I absolutely love smallmouth, and seeing that Summit Lake is only about 20 minutes from my house, I decided to give it a try. Well I left my fly rod at home because I wasn't planning on chasing trout. Of course I arrived to find trout all over the shallows. I caught my first coastal cutthroat which made me happy. It was my first fish of the day and it absolutely hammered a little 3" Reins Rockvibe Shad fished on a light jig head. Those coastal cutts fight much harder than the Bonneville cutts I'm used to catching. I also had rainbows smacking spinnerbaits and jerkbaits. I eventually started throwing a little 2" grub on a 1/16 oz jig head and the trout approved. Later in the day the smallmouth did too. Before that I caught a few smallies out in deeper water on a drop shot. I ended up fishing about four hours and caught 9 smallies, 5 rainbows and the one cutthroat. I lost count of how many fish I missed though. For whatever reason I was missing way more than I caught. It could be that the bass were all dinks. I talked to a home owner on his dock and he told me that the better smallmouth are at the other end where it's deeper and rockier. That might be a little tough to reach in a float tube with the boat launch the only access. Still, it was a fun lake and I'll be back.


Comments

Mikeel1987
5/11/2018 11:08:22 AM
I believe the lake was said to have toxic algae in it and to avoid skin contact with fish and or water. Just thought I'd let you know
grubowski
5/11/2018 11:19:24 AM
Yeah I saw that but it honestly looked pretty good to me. I could see the bottom in 12’ of water so I wasn’t too worried. When I hear algae bloom I’m picturing pea soup. That was pretty common at the end of the summer in Idaho. I think they’re just being overly cautious. That was Monday and I still feel fine ??
Cokanee
5/11/2018 4:43:06 PM
Was there any other boats fishing? It says online it's still closed due to algae. I'm having Kokanee withdawls
grubowski
5/11/2018 7:35:39 PM
Yes a few boats came and went while I was there. I did see a sign about algae when I first pulled in but it was several paragraphs of fine print and the main text said nothing about the lake being closed so I went ahead and fished. The water honestly looked great to me.
bob johansen
5/11/2018 6:13:43 PM
Nice catch! I was surprised to know about the smallmouth. I fished it several years ago and caught a few small largemouth bass but no smallmouth.
grubowski
5/11/2018 7:40:09 PM
Oh they're everywhere now. They could probably use a little thinning honestly as the biggest one I caught was all of 10". The opposite end has deeper water and more rocks and bigger smallies from what I've been told. A fisherman I met at the ramp did say he caught a 7lb largemouth at the launch end on a leech pattern while fly fishing for trout. I'll have to explore the pads once it warms a little more.
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Available Guide

Available Fishing Guide:
Website: Darrell & Dads Family Guide Service

Phone: (509) 687-0709