Despite the freezing temperatures, it was a very pleasant day on the water. I didn’t have much time to spend so I decided to make one pass from the Luther Burbank to the center of I-90 and back. On the first leg, I was dragging a mini hoochie behind a 4/0 dodger. This proved to be what the salmon in the lake were keyed on and accounted for all the fish I caught for the day. The first fish I picked up was a, near Puget Sound legal sized, blackmouth which was quite fun fight on light tackle. I picked up 3 more fish, all juvenile coho, with the last one right around the center span. Evidently one of the local eagles had been watching me as the last fish I released spent just a moment too long near the surface and was picked off not more than 20 feet from my boat. I decided to motor mooch a Brad’s mini cutplug for my return trip and had just one drive by before reaching Luther Burbank and calling it a day. I marked plenty of bait anywhere between 30’ and 50’ down in the water column.

romanfishing

1/14/2013 2:40:00 PM

I would be glad to have such action on Lk WA :)

MotoBoat

1/15/2013 3:15:00 PM

What size were the Coho, this time of year? How long are they in the lake, before making the journey through the locks?

G-Man

1/16/2013 1:21:00 PM

The coho I caught were all in the 9" to 12" range and clipped. I'm not certain if these fish were going to become residents to the lake or continue on their way out to the Sound. I know that the hatcheries rear coho for much longer than they do chinook, it's at least a year. Coho naturally spend a significant amount of time rearing in their home waters, like 18 months, so it in entirely possible that they were slowly working their way out to the salt.

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