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Washington Lake Report
King County, WA

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02/23/2013
41° - 45°
Trolling
Cutthroat Trout
Other
Cloudy
Other
Noon
41° - 45°
02/23/2013
4
1729

After struggling the past few weeks on Lake Washington, today proved to be an epic day on the water. I got on the water about 11am; fishing just south of the I-90 bridge off Mercer Island. There was a SE wind blowing and there was some chop on the water for the first hour or so. It eventually flattened out but the odd weather pattern of sun, rain and even hail made for an interesting trip.

Tesla and I had some luck using whole anchovies while fishing on Thursday; landing three nice fish. I decided to try trolling whole herring with a hood. I was marking bait 25 -30 feet down and trolled at that depth throughout the afternoon. I hooked 5 cutthroat trout and landed 2 over the course of 3 hours on the water. Two fish I had close to the boat but they broke the 6lb leader I was using. The two I did manage to land were 18" and 19". Not huge but they are fat. Guessing they are gorging themselves having just spawned. Both fish were released unharmed after a couple of photos.


Comments

The Quadfather
2/23/2013 7:44:00 PM
Wow! Glad you guys found your sweet spot. Those are solid looking fish, and you hooked up plenty of times. Thanks for the report.
When you were using the anchovies, were they pieces of anchovie that you stuffed inside a Brad's cutt plug? Or did you run your own cut plug version of an anchovie?
Steelheadin360
2/23/2013 8:20:00 PM
hawgs!
ballardbrad
2/23/2013 11:10:00 PM
Hey Quad. I was using whole anchovies and red label herring with a glow hood while trolling. Similar set up to salmon fishing in the Sound. We switched over from the Brad's mini cut plugs to try something different. The water is really clear and our thought was to try to better "match the hatch". Guess it's working. :)
salmonbarry
2/24/2013 2:08:00 PM
Great job BB! that is funny because before I went out last week I talked with a guide friend of mine who fishes La WA and all he uses is herring cut plug or whole and I was debating whether to use the helmets I have for coho's for them with the herring I have cured in my freezer so will give it a shot next time!
Thanks for helping us keep the faith!!
romanfishing
2/24/2013 5:00:00 PM
Nice try. Thanks for the report!
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Available Guide

Available Fishing Guide:
Website: Washington Guide Services

Phone: (509) 881-9052