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Cavanaugh Lake Report
Skagit County, WA

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02/05/2011
Trolling
Cutthroat Trout
Morning
02/05/2011
4
5529

We fished Lake Cavanaugh for a few hours again this morning. We went armed with the usual stuff, a large assortment of kokanee gear and other trout temptations. I also tied up a number of rigs intended to specifically target the cutthroat. We were running the downriggers at 12’ to 48’ with no depth pattern evident. For the most part I chased meter marks for the fish. We also ran two lead line rigs at ½ to 2 colors and again no pattern developed. At the business end we were running a variety of mini-squids, wedding band type spinners, brined anchovy’s and my new favorite cutthroat lures. I am still developing the lure and method of setting it up so mums the word for now. Once I have it dialed in I’ll share the info.

As said earlier there was no real pattern to the bites or fish caught but when our trolling speed would hit about 1.8 going up or down it seemed to trigger a bite. I don’t think that 1.8 was the magic number. I think that the change in speed triggered the bite. We fished between the south shore and the east end of the smaller east island. Although 3 of the rods were targeting cutthroat we did run a fourth rig set up to catch kokanee. The kokanee rod had one good take down but the fish did not stick and no mini salmon made it into the fish box.

The water temperature was still cold at 37 point something degrees and the defined thermocline we saw a couple weeks ago was nowhere to be found. We had lots of meter marks and did find a couple large schools of kokanee. We worked various depths and presentations when a school of kokanee was located but for the most part nobody wanted to come out and play. All in all it was a great few hours on the water, no rain or wind and we caught dinner. We did talk to a couple guys in a nice Crestliner that had a kokanee.


Comments

Thor
2/5/2011 5:59:00 PM
Thanks for the report, can't wait until you get it "dialed in". It's always nice to see pics with kids that apparently had a blast fishing with you.
blufin loui
2/5/2011 6:03:00 PM
Thanks for sharing the trip rseas. Looks like a fine dinner in the makin
seaark
2/5/2011 6:31:00 PM
nice report! Those cutts are tasty.
37 degrees, still a little chilly.
The Quadfather
2/5/2011 6:48:00 PM
Nice to hear from you on the website Randy. Curious what is the biggest cutt. that you have pulled out of there? Anything over 16" ?
Idstud
2/6/2011 12:03:00 PM
Nice catch! and great report. Glad too see someone is getting out there. I was thinking about it this weekend but need to work on my projects at home.
orangefeet
2/6/2011 8:11:00 PM
Rseas I think you talked to us - camo crestliner? I was sick at the tiller but still fishing and not talking... Learned a lot on this site for Baker lake from you (via this web site) and never once left without a limit. That being said ( my first post) - we slammed the kokes after you last talked with us. The kokes wanted the apex today - varied between 10' and 16' about 1.5 and bump the depth up or down a foot if no action within 10-15 min. S turns helped to speed or slow the presentation. Good luck all.
Jimbo
2/7/2011 6:22:00 AM
Good to hear, thanks...
rseas
2/7/2011 6:25:00 AM
Orangefeet, glad to hear that you stuck it out and got some kokanee. We were metering some large schools of kokanee but they didn’t want to bite our offerings. I threw everything but apex lures at them. I have not had much luck with the Apex type lures but I have to admit that they are usually the last thing out of the box. How do you run them? Do you run them, straight off the downrigger or behind a flasher? How far back from the downrigger or flasher? Which hole do you run the line through when fishing for kokanee? Also were you tipping the apex with worms or corn? Thanks upfront for the info. It is funny with the water being as cold as it was I was thinking that the kokanee would turn on later in the day. On any given day those fish have to get active and eat. Sometimes a rise of just one degree is enough to put the fish on the bite. Either way we had other obligations on Saturday afternoon and had to get going. Even it we didn’t the girls were cold (don’t understand, I was in shorts and flip-flops LOL) and I try to accommodate their comfort needs this time of the year. We had a fun trip and I am looking forward to putting some kokanee in the fish box.
rseas
2/7/2011 6:46:00 AM
Hey Quad, the last quarter of the year is always a zoo around here and it is hard to find the time to go fishing. I'll try to make up for it as we move through the first part of 2011... When I was a kid we used to catch some huge trout in Cavanaugh. At the time they were just trout but now as an adult I figure that they were large cutthroat. Somewhere around here I have an old fishing in Washington State book and it talks of 10# plus cutthroat in Cavanaugh. While fishing the lake these last couple years we have had some huge solitaire meter marks on bait schools. But so far our largest was around 18”. We did loose a very nice fish last spring. I know there are larger cutts in the lake and am working on finding a trophy Cavanaugh cutthroat that is interested in posing for pictures.
orangefeet
2/7/2011 8:08:00 PM
Rseas, I was running a multicolor apex with chip (green,yellow,orange with black streaks across back with scales and eyes) 36" behind a 4 1/2" tear drop purple haze with one eye, plain silver on the other side. Feed the line into the top on first hole then up thru second hole over the back and thru the tail - two really small red beads and two larger glow beads with tandem in line red hooks. Yellow apex worked too. When targeting kokes I use shoepeg soaked in red koke fuel or smear with krill gel. Ran off downrigger at 7' and 14' clipped 30 yards back (guess). If you want cutts to KEEP use spinner/wedding ring tandem red hooks tipped with just a thumbnail of worm. This is only the second time fishing this lake. Using bait on first trip was like fishing Baker - we had limits before we even got to enjoy the fishing. We had triples and doubles (I have two pole endorsement - so double stack mine...) We were fishing top, 7 and 14. Spinners or woolys (no bait) with split shots worked fine too (just to get them under the surface). If you really want kokes wait till lake stevens heats up - I was pulling limits last year and you can keep your five trout too. Now that duck hunting is over I will focus on fish.... If you see me out - lets talk - I would like to see your electronics - I have a fish/depth finder but rely more on depth than fish - as it usually only sees the downrigger ball anyway? By the way - the kokes we caught were out from a large group of dead looking trees on the left side from the launch about two hundred yards short of the islands.
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Available Guide

Available Fishing Guide:
Website: Darrell & Dads Family Guide Service

Phone: (509) 687-0709