Went to Sammamish today to see if I could catch a good Smallmouth or 2. I went close to 2:00pm and got started fishing at the SouthWest end of the lake. I dropshotted a cinnamon w/smoke flake cuttail worm for about 10 minutes in about 25 ft of water when I had a slow steady grab. I gave the fish an arm length of line by reaching out. When the slack was gone, I set the hook and was shocked at the weight of the fish at the end of my line. I couldn't move it for a second even though I was laying into it. It was a good fish. This fish must have just put his nose down to the gravel. All I could do was feel his head shake like a bully. It was a fun fish. After about 5 minutes he came up and did a big jump for me. The fish wasn't as big as his fight. I'd say it was about a 3-1/2 lber - 4lbs but you can make your mind up. It was a beautiful hard fighting smallmouth.

I fished another 4 hours and didn't get a nibble.....the lake has been a bit weird this year for me. I especially don't know where all the great trout fishing has gone. It must be me. In any case, I decided to troll for cutthroat around 5:00 - 7:00. I caught 4 fish. 3 cutthroat and 1 huge Kokanee... about 18". The Kokanee are "Endangered" in this lake and must be released. The cutthroat were all smaller than 12" which I was shocked at. I caught all the fish suspended at 31ft in around 65-80ft. of water at the NorthEast end of the lake using nickel plated needlefish spoons trolled at about 2 mph.

All in All, it was a pretty slow day, but Sammamish did end up yielding me a good bass which I released in the same area I caught after the picture.

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