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Merwin Lake Report
Cowlitz County, WA

Photos

Details

03/30/2016
66° - 70°
Trolling
Kokanee
Sunny
Afternoon
46° - 50°
03/31/2016
3
1622

Busted out the Kokanee gear and drove down to Merwin to enjoy the beautiful day. Dropped in at Speelyai Bay and the reservoir is a murky torquoise shade with a lot of floating wood debris, some quite large. Watch your props!

Fish were scattered about and bite reports from other boats were slow. We managed to land all 3 keepers that bit in the 12 in range. Released 3 babies and 4 pike minnow safely. Had a few other little strikes here and there. Trolled anywhere from 15-80 ft. The 3 caught were in the 35-40 ft depth range. Typical assortment of wedding ring and hoochie variations with shoepeg cured in bloody tuna scent the night prior. Never really marked "big schools". Water temp ranged from 48-52. Trolling speed 1.0-1.2 but did speed it up here and there to no avail.

Had fun navigating the driftwood and finally spent a day on the boat in a t-shirt. Favorite moment came when the girlfriend splashed fish guts in her eye when a beheaded koke still had some reflexes left and flipped his body. She tossed the chrome beauty across the boat, but I netted it before a loss. When flushing her eye with a water bottle was suggested she refused because "I'm not wearing waterproof mascara!" Gotta love it! She's actually a pretty good angler and great company! :-)


Comments

flyfisherguy
4/1/2016 7:45:00 AM
Thanks for the report Rocketvet. I was actually thinking about going there tomorrow but with all that debris in the water I'm having second thoughts. Nice fish though, congrats!
Sideburns
4/1/2016 2:30:00 PM
is that really a crooked rod in the 4th pic? must be goofy picture?
Rocketvet
4/1/2016 11:22:00 PM
The crooked pole is a motion artifact from taking one of those panorama cell phone pics. :-)
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Available Guide

Available Fishing Guide:
Website: Upper Columbia Guide Service

Phone: (509) 470-9255