I find it kind of funny that a lake that is the size of Sammamish has its best action right up against the shoreline in less than 10 feet of water. But, I guess that is the way it is when you are fishing for small mouth bass. My father and I fished two separate areas:

First was a steep shoreline off of the "Mint Grove" area. We took a small bass and a decent sized fish in less than two feet of water, fishing over and through submerged brush.

Then we moved over to a submerged forest near the "South Cove" neighborhood and tied onto an old tree trunk in 30 feet of water. There were plenty of schools of big fish going through, but we really couldn't figure out how to give a good presentation to them. Most of the fish were passing through the middle levels of the 30 feet, but not many fish were satisfied with staying put. We tried various sizes of jigs pulled through different horizons in fleeting retrieves, slow retrieves... No luck. So we got into that classic Sammamish 7 feet of water with gravel and old timber and picked up some smaller fish on some "smolt" colored jigs. It was great, though it feels a little bit odd to be in such close proximity to the Lake Sammamish residents, and their docks, etc..

By the way, a jig with the "curly Q" tail pulled straight back to you seems to be fairly effective in the shallows. Good luck!

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