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This was more of a break-in and shakedown outing than a fishing expedition, as I had recently purchased a new T9.9. I was putting out of the Newport Launch by 11:00am in the midst of snow flurries that persisted through the first hour and into the second of my break-in period. By the time I had finished with the initial couple of hours, the weather had cleared-up, winds died down and the sun made an appearance. Time to get down to some serious fishing! I initially targeted the fish in the 45’ to 60’ range, just south of Seward Park, with my standard array of gear, but was having no luck. I then decided to run over to the south end of Mercer and try some slow surface trolling to see if the kokes were active. No kokes today but I did pick up a nice 20” sea-run cutt that was just too nice of a fish to take home. She needed to come on board for some quick de-hooking work before I let her go, hopefully to spawn in the not so distant future. I also picked up a 14” hatchery blackmouth, that I swore was a nice sized cutt until it made its way to the boat. I still can’t grasp the concept of why we need to toss these fish back, but back into the lake it went. The water surface temps are right at the 44 degree mark over most of the lake and the south end is slightly stained, with the visibility decreasing the closer you get to the mouth of the Cedar River. So far between the weather and the flow control out of Chester Morse Lake, the Cedar has not turned into a river of Mocha colored water, spewing leaves, grass and other debris into Lake Washington.
PS – The orange mark just below the jaw on the cutt pictured is a one that I haven’t seen before. As there was matching mark on the opposite side of the fish, I know it wasn’t a healed wound. It will be interesting to see if there are any more like her caught in the system.
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from G-Man.
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