Just backed the boat into the driveway and nobody is home. In other words nothing to do for a bit so thought I would get this posted. I fished lake Samish this morning. It started out as a testing morning but once I got tired of the test mode and got to fishing I ended up with quick limits. I had installed planer board reels, pullies and put together a set of planer boards. I figured that I would test the set up before I debut them at Roosevelt. More on all that later and on to the fishing.

After messing around with the planer boards for a couple hours I put it all away I started fishing around 9:30-10:00. Being a bit familiar with the fishery I started with my standby Orange Crush Arrow Flash dodger and one of my orange kokanee flies off one downrigger. On the other side of the boat I ran a pink and white Swing Blade and one of my pink Kokanee flies. Both were assassins and I was catching one fish after the other. Problem is they were all perch. It was very strange I was on kokanee meter marks but catching perch…

Although I love catching anything, I figured that I would step it up a and try to fill the box with kokanee. I started cycling through different dodger and lure combinations when suddenly, the deep rigger just explodes and 100 feet or so behind the boat a beautiful kokanee clears the water by 2 or 3 feet. It was one scrappy beast but in the end, I was able to slide the net under a very plump kokanee. From that point on it was fast action with multiple doubles keeping me hopping. I ended up with my 5-fish limit, had a number of drive-bys and lost a few before noon.

Once I sorted things out the magic depth was 38-43’, the preferred trolling speed was 1.0-1.2 MPH and the water temperature hovered around 69-71 degrees. The setups that closed the deal were a small silver and moonglow Arrow Flash dodger trailing a green mini squid. The other rig was a pink Swing Blade with a purple home tied spinner set up. In both cases the leader was about 8” and the hooks were tipped with my tuna corn and a small piece of playdough maggot. I was running 60’ setbacks from the release clip. The kokanee were all very fat and in prime condition. For a day where I didn’t really expect to catch anything I had a blast.

Now the planer boards; after a lengthy procurement process and an easy-peazy installation I was very excited to give the planer boards a whirl. I ended up forgetting the release clips at home so I was not able to test them with actual gear but after messing around with the various attachment adjustments, different speeds and seeing how the react during turns they work as expected. My only negative comment would be that I need to mount them higher. Although any higher and my usual crew will not be able to deploy and retrieve the boards. I have also decided that you need to stop the boat to wind them in. It is practically impossible at 2+ MPH and a struggle at 1.0-1.2 MPH.

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