Met Nick at 5:30 am ( ok, that is when I told him to be there) I was tired and didn't get there until 5:45 so we were on the water at 6 am and with 2 rods to work with and Nick wanting some fish take to his parents and grandparents, went with the Brad's mini cut plug stuffed with herring on one line and set the wire at 30 feet as that was where I was marking them the evening before and used the 2 1/2 ounce weight on the other and starting with some cured herring in a helmet on the other.

Now what a difference a day can make as the water was like glass and not too many boats out yet so really made fishing more pleasurable and we trolled north and started marking fish right away between 25 and 35 feet. Suddenly Nick mentions that the rod on the rigger is starting to dance a little and I say grab it! He pulls it off the clip and starts to bring it in and figure it is a small one but as we get close realize it is a kokanee! on a cut plug? what? Cool! So into the cooler it goes and we set back out for another run and not too long I change out the herring on mine to the hootchie set up but Nick's goes off again but this time pulls off the clip and he brings in a little guy that we set back to grow bigger.

We got over by Seward Park and then trolled across the lake to the big blue boat on the West side of Mercer so started trolling south and right away had one pull it off the clip and it was fish on! Nick played it in and it was nice sized cutty so into the cooler it went for his folks! I kept trying new things but it wasn't long before he had another one take it off the clip but fought differently and turned out to be another kokanee! So now it was about 10 am but realized I had forgot to bring anything to eat ( unusual for a food guy, huh?) so called my daughter to bring us some snacks and headed across to the launch to stretch our legs and potty break. After she arrived with our snacks we had a quick bite and cup of coffee and it was back to business so chose to head across as that was where we were getting more hits.

After arriving at the big beige house started trolling north and got a hit right away off the cut plug AGAIN! What the heck was the deal! No matter, as I was happy Nick was getting lots of action since I knew after I dropped him off later I would get my licks in since did not need to be home for anything. Had another nice cutt so now the count was 2+2 for him. Got another smaller one we threw back but then got a weird one and realized it was a white fish ( I think) Took a picture and released it.

It was noon and traffic was picking up so made our way back across the lake to finish up our troll back to the launch~ on our way got a text from buddy Brandon (fisherman20) and he asked me for any suggestions for American Lake as he was on his way. I told him would be surrounded by about 100 of his favorite friends out there on an 80 degree day so suggested he come down and give Lake WA a whirl. After dropping off Nick went back out to troll for some kokanee and it within a few minutes had a tug tug and pulled it off the clip and slowly brought my first fish of the day, a fat little 12" koke! Soon Brandon showed up and did circles around me proceeding to put me to shame with 2 nice 20" inchers and losing another before we called it a day around 6pm. Had a nice visit back at the launch before going on our way and am home getting ready to soak my bones after a fishing filled weekend and now it's back to work tomorrow! But still plan on hitting American this week before heading down Friday to Longview for some Saturday fishing the Columbia for steelhead and salmon with buddy Craig!

See you on the water!

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