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Well didn’t know it at the when we got up but we were due for an interesting day on the water and at the fish cleaning table. First we had planned to fish Lake Whatcom but due to a late night we didn’t exactly get up early and Whatcom is a bit further up the road we decided to fish Lake Samish. Boat in the water and gear down around 8:00 Sunday morning we started the hunt. Through some brief networking it became apparent that we had missed the early am bite but still confident that we could scratch out a fish or two.
We started out running the same gear I ran on Saturday, a Wonder Bread Skagit Tackle dodger and a similar size dodger in silver prism/purple followed by a green mini squid 8” behind one of the dodgers and a custom tied silver/purples spinner 14” behind the other dodger. The pointy end of things was tipped with maggots and anise scented corn. Although we were able to get one fish in fairly short order it was apparent that we had to make some changes. First we tried varying our speed, then the distance above or below the meter marks, the gear we were pulling and finally our location. We never did settle in on a specific gear combination but the location shift seemed to do the trick we started getting regular hits. With two more kokanee in the boat we caught a very nice 16” cutthroat, some perch and the surprise fish of the day (more on that later). We had to make a comfort stop so we headed for the luxury of a flush toilet at the park. When done and back in fishing mode we trolled Rapalas around the small lake before heading back under the bridge to the big lake to look for kokanee again.
Back on the big lake, while running alongside and talking with Mike and his wife (as in WL Mike) one of Mike’s rods goes off and they boat a very nice kokanee. Mike’s Seaswirl is a nice looking boat and appears to be a comfortable kokanee catching machine. After talking with Mike we ran a little further and set the gear out across the lake from the WDFW ramp. Although we had some nice meter marks we couldn’t get anything to come out and play so we called it a day and headed back to the ramp.
Oh that’s right the mystery fish, We were pulling a Skagit tackle dodger followed by one of my custom tied spinners at 38’ in 70’ of water when something hits the rig. As I go to pop it form the clip it releases and something is headed for parts unknown. It was heavy but not fighting like a kokanee. Awhile later we slide the net under a sizable bullhead. After posing for a few pictures I was going to release it but one of the kids is fascinated with “catfish” so in the ice chest it went. After we arrived at home and had the boat safely tucked into the garage I loaded all the fish on the cleaning board for a few pictures when I realize that the bullhead is still alive (after sitting on ice for 5 or 6 hours). So instead of turning it into catfish nuggets we put it in the dog trough to see if it would fully recover. It did and now it has a name, Whiskers. Although my vote was for Hunter, as in Catfish Hunter but I was out voted. Now I have to set up some sort of suitable home for Whiskers our pet bullhead.
The day on the lake was a blast, as was nice visiting with Mike and his wife. The day got even better because for dinner I made kokanee fish tacos for the Grandma and the gang, a great ending to an already spectacular day.
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