So after months of trying to get one of my customers out fishing the stars finally aligned this morning and we made a plan to meet at the Atlantic city boat launch at 6 am! We motored out of the launch and made a right turn at around 100 feet to start our day.

Now with the water temp at a balmy 74 degrees I wanted to see what it looked like down below so deployed my fish hawk water temp thermometer down to the bottom on my down rigger. When I brought it up to take a reading here is what I found:

surface 73 degrees
20 feet 66 degrees
30 feet 62 degrees
45 to 55 feet 55 degrees
55 to 65 feet 52-49 degrees
70 feet and below 47 degrees

We were marking big schools anywhere from 65 feet to 100 feet so set one rod at 60 and one at 90 feet- Wanted to try out my new colored Brad's mini cut plug so set that out tipped with corn and the other with a orange wiggle hootchie with twinkle skirt. Put both back just 50 feet behind the boat since we were fishing so deep and kept speed at 1.5 mph. Not too long into the troll south towards the mouth of the Cedar I see the rod with cut plug doing a fish dance so pulled it off the clip, set the hook and it fish on for Scott as I handed the rod off to him to reel in his first fish in Pacific Northwest after moving here from Hawaii!

Got it close to the boat and saw it was about a 5 lb male sockeye so eased it into the net and did a quick release with a torpedo shot down to finish his business later in the Cedar. High fives followed then set that rod back down again at 90 feet and as we were heading back north this one rips it off the clip and does a nice run- hand the rod off again to Scott and he fights it like a pro as he has never used level line reels or light gear like this with all the game fish he was used to catching in Maui! As it gets closer to the boat see it's another little smaller but brighter female sockeye so once again we net it gently and send back on it's way.

I decide to make the run over to the west side of Mercer to get away from the sockeye and still saw lots of marks from the 65 to 100 foot range so set the rods back down to the same depth because I have discovered in the past that these kokanee and cutthroat like hanging out down by the sockeye schools.. I tell Scott that usually when I pass the big white house I catch fish and no sooner do I say that when the rod ( once again) with cut plug does the dance and when I pull off the clip has a different feel to it as it makes a run and starts heading to the surface! I instruct Scott to keep his rod tip low to the water to keep that fish from jumping and soon it's getting close and see it's a nice fat kokanee! He expertly guides it into my waiting net and it's fish on board as a fat fiesty 16 1/2" kokanee is doing cartwheels on the deck of the boat!

Just as we are getting ready to set the rod down again we hear a lady shouting to us that there is a boat out in the middle of the lake that has been signaling he is in trouble- we look over and sure enough he is waving his arms frantically so we quickly pull up all the gear and head over that way. Turns out he said he has run out of gas and has been out there for hours trying to get someones attention but there just haven't been any boats that got close enough. I asked where was his horn and all he had was this week little whistle- so I asked him to toss me his tow rope and he looked around and started untying the little rope that was on one of his bumpers! So I went over and hooked up my tow rope to the front of his boat and proceeded to tow him to safety back at the Atlantic city boat launch swinging him in as I made a swoop by the docks and put him right on the dock! Pretty good for someone that has never had to tow anyone before and the Tin Cup lived up to the task! Always good to help out a boater in distress and happy to get Scott onto his first kokanee! See you on the water!

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