I took my daughter Michelle with me for a short, late afternoon trip to Lake Stevens on Father's Day. I was more interested in some bonding than I was in serious fishing. I also needed to flush the motors from the previous day's halibut outing.

It was overcast with a slight drizzle, which got lighter and heavier off and on. Not very many jet skis on the lake. Nice, flat water.

We blasted up to the middle of the lake and fished for kokanee around the aeration stuff. I used a 0000 silver dodger and a Wee Dick Nite spoon, tipped with corn. I started Michelle with a small Apex called a Kokanee Special in chartreuse tipped with corn. Both were fished off downriggers. We did mark lots of fish, but had no takers. I was trolling as slow as I could go, with my kicker just in gear. After a while, I switched Michelle's pole to a wedding ring spinner in red with a hammered silver blade. I also sped up ever so slightly. Michelle hooked an 8 or 9 incher, which we released. No sooner had I gotten her pole back down and she got a bigger hit. After I released the pole from the downrigger and handed her the pole, she had quite a tussle with this fish on her small trout pole. It turned out to be a nice, fat 12 incher.

After that, we had to get home, so we took a quick lap around the lake for fun, then back on the trailer and home. Fairly good for a short trip. I think with more time to fish the school we had found, we probably would have done pretty good.

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