Another trip to Martha!

I am really starting to love this lake. It is so much unlike any other lowland lake I've fished, yet still shares that "W. Washington lake" feel that our other bodies of water have. Woody, rocky shorelines, with docks and vegetation intermixed, create a variety of habitats for this lake.

For the summer angler, the targeting of finicky, roving Browns can be quite a task. I have found techniques that work, but must still be refined. Lots of casting and moving around are required to hone in on the fish.

The day started with an early hit, which resulted in a absolutely gorgeous carry-over rainbow, around 16" or so. Dark, grey-silver sides, heavily spotted with big blotchy spots, and a near crimson stripe. Super healthy. Unfortunately, the fish jumped out of the net after unhooking; and I had to settle for a mental snapshot. An hour passed, and nothing more. No browns following, or even surface activity, despite an abundance of small insects hatching.

While rowing to a new spot, a swirl on the surface indicated a trout sipping bugs. I cast at him, thinking it was unlikely that a keyed in, summer-experienced trout would turn on my hardware. To my surprise, the fish streaked to the disturbance at the side of my boat, and was nearly brought to the net before shaking the barbless hook. 13-14" or so, and pretty again. Didn't look like a typical stocker fish, even though that's undoubtably what he was.

Moving yielded nothing major (or minor) and I was left staring at my possibilities. I couldn't believe that I hadn't turned a single brownie in all my efforts under cloudy skies. I decided to return to my first location, which quickly paid off.

Within two casts, A fish picked up my offering on the sink. Hookset, smaller fish. Another rainbow? Very uncharacteristic of this lake (and lure). Sure enough, a 13" stocker fish came to net. This one looked more like the fish I'm used to seeing come out of these lakes. More plain, sure, but a hard fighter for his size.

Then it got real interesting. Moving along, first cast to a new area. Right off the bottom, I get smacked by a heavy fish. These fish never disappoint. They fight hard, and test my tackle every time. I won this battle and brought a sparsely spotted, but beautiful and bright (for W. WA Brownies) fish to the boat, measuring just 20". Back in she went, all 3-4lbs of solid muscle.

Then in a time span of 20 minutes, I hooked and lost another smaller brown (relatively speaking) of around 16" or so, had another 20"ish hit three times and follow to the boat, and got swiped at by a literal monster of a fish. From what I saw, nothing shy of 24-25" with freaking shoulders. I had found a squadron of these guys, but the action tapered off as quick as it started. One more follow ended the spree of excitement. Oddly enough, the one sun break was when all of this happened... the opposite of what I would assume this time of year. I tried to re-locate these fish, but rain, wind, and chills ushered me off of the water, and I called it quit as the bite fell silent.

Some notes:

-Presentations close to or on the bottom generated strikes.
-Fish were found in deep water
-The bite coincided with a sun break
-No bait (selective gear) and barbless hooks were used
-All fish revived until strong and released

A good day for sure.

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