Northwest Fishing Reports

Question and anyone can answer this one:

If I were to fish cutthroat trout here, where would I start? Is the east shore better than the west? Can you fish in front of Issaquah Creek? I'm going to look at my rules phamplet, but if anyone knows where to fish it right now for cutthroat let me know via this forum or by PM cause I want to go there tomorrow.

All the best,

Rut

Stay 100 yards away from the mouth of Issy Creek at all times. I don't know about the shores, but the helicopter pad house is a good place to be.

Fishing in front of the creek, or the whole area (south end??) of the lake near the creek seems to produce. Last time I was there I was marking fish ALL OVER the south end...Hooking them as a different story...

iPodrodder wrote:Stay 100 yards away from the mouth of Issy Creek at all times. I don't know about the shores, but the helicopter pad house is a good place to be.

FYI the 100-yard closure at the mouth of the creek is only when salmon fishing. When you are fishing for gamefish, like trout, bass, panfish, etc., you can fish right up to the mouth (but not inside the mouth).

iPodrodder wrote:Stay 100 yards away from the mouth of Issy Creek at all times. I don't know about the shores, but the helicopter pad house is a good place to be.

Where is the helicopter pad house in relation to where the creek is? Have you done well in this area for the cutts? How deep is it around that (south end of the lake)?

South end is 50+ feet deep. The heli pad house (about halfway from either end of the lake), I've never fished for cutts at but I know a bunch of people have done well there.

iPodrodder wrote:South end is 50+ feet deep. The heli pad house (about halfway from either end of the lake), I've never fished for cutts at but I know a bunch of people have done well there.

Thanks iPod. I'll give it a try and experiment over time. I appreciate the input.

Anytime. You'll probably find the cutts in five seconds and make me scratch my head once again, wondering why Lake Sammamish has it's huge personal vendetta against me.

iPodrodder wrote:Anytime. You'll probably find the cutts in five seconds and make me scratch my head once again, wondering why Lake Sammamish has it's huge personal vendetta against me.

Ahh, no worries. Some lakes always have a personal vendatta against one. Beaver Lake in Issauqah has never been good to me, never, where I go out on Washington and always find my cutts. It's something I just scratch my head and move on. I'd probably do well at Sammamish if I went...Washington's just so close to home, right now anyway.

cutthroatkiller wrote:

iPodrodder wrote:Anytime. You'll probably find the cutts in five seconds and make me scratch my head once again, wondering why Lake Sammamish has it's huge personal vendetta against me.

Ahh, no worries. Some lakes always have a personal vendatta against one. Beaver Lake in Issauqah has never been good to me, never, where I go out on Washington and always find my cutts. It's something I just scratch my head and move on. I'd probably do well at Sammamish if I went...Washington's just so close to home, right now anyway.

Sammamish isn't much more then a 15 minutes drive from Kirkland depending on where you live. South on 405, eastbound on 90 then head off the interstate and then go to the launch. It's not much of a drive. I believe launch fee's are $5. Pretty good for a big lake.

I agree with you on Beaver Lake. I never have done too well there (except that one day I spent 3 hours rowing in 38 degree weather, but got rewarded with a fat 7lber) and overall I think the trout fishing is a bit overrated there. I know it's a darn convenient lake for most folk and they frequently stock it, but between fishing pressure and the quality of the fish in there, I don't exactly follow the hype. Who knows, maybe you just gotta know the "spots" and I presume there are some BIG fish in the one bigger lake that is connected to it. And it is year round. That seems like somewhere were a few FAT trout are mulling around and a few HUGE bass are sulking around.

However, if I had the opportunity, I'd be fishing Beaver right now in search of some of those triploids that have lasted a little while longer and may be a bit bigger. Late February is when I caught that pig 7lber and it's still swimming (provided someone else hasn't caught it)