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I was really tempted to run over to Samammish and meet fellow washingtonlakes.com member Matt, however the lure of chunkier cutts and keeper kokes won out and I headed down to the Newport launch. I was on the water around 9:30am and while running down towards South Point I spotted a flock of grebes north of Coleman Point just inside the East Channel. Sure enough the grebes were over some bait that was sitting 40’ down in 70’ to 90’ of water. I worked this area over with a dodger and mini squid and picked up two cutts in the 18” range. Both fish were hens that had spawned and looked to be putting on the weight once again and both were released unharmed. Around 11:00am I got a call from the wife to meet her at Luther Burbank so we could take our new adopted dog out for a cruise on the water. It was a good day for it, with calm waters, slightly overcast skies and minimal boat traffic. After about an hour cruise, I dropped the wife and new dog back off at Luther Burbank and decided to troll the area a bit to see if anything was in the biting mood. The waters nearest Mercer Island didn’t produce any fish for me, but the area along the shore south of Meydenbauer bay yielded a couple of kokanee just shy of the 12” minimum size limit that went into effect the 1st of March. There were some massive schools of fish in the area and I picked up the kokanee 60’ down using a mini Apex lure. I also worked the area over with a mini cutt plug lure in hopes of enticing a cutt, but it was not to be. For you bass folks, the surface temps were around 43 degrees near South Point and a bit warmer at 45+ degrees around the north side of Mercer Island. The sonar pic came from the area in which I picked up the kokanee. I can’t believe that a cutt wasn’t in the area, perhaps it was to stuffed to take my lure.

Matt

3/8/2011 11:44:00 AM

Thanks for the report! You didn't miss much over at Samm.... I actually wished I woulda gone over to washington! Haha

Wishbone

3/8/2011 12:27:00 PM

Hi G
wondering how long a leader should be with the mini squid and dodger?

G-Man

3/8/2011 12:56:00 PM

The same rule of thumb applies for the mini versions as it does to the standard sized dodgers. Go with 3 to 4 times the length of the dodger/flasher you are using and check it next to the boat at the speed you want to troll. If you feel you are getting too much action, slow down the troll or lengthen the leader, not enough, slow down or shorten the leader.

kzoo

3/8/2011 5:16:00 PM

Cool looking electronics! I'm jealous. Need to get out on the lake.

Lundegard

3/9/2011 6:32:00 AM

G-man...just an observation of something I've seen a couple times now in your sonar photos. It would appaear that your downrigger ball is running near the bottom of the bait, which means your lure, depending on distance back from the ball, is well below the bait. In my experience, and in literature I've read, the preferred method is to have your lure run at the top of, or above, the bait ball. This places your lure in the same zone as the bait. Trout, in particular cutthroat, feed upward. Kokanee hold deep below bait. In your photo above, for example, I'd have my downrigger set at 25 or 30. If your experience has taught you differently, my apologies...not trying to be a know-it-all. Nice kokanee by the way....yum.

G-Man

3/9/2011 8:35:00 AM

I've found that the cutts act very much like salmon do out in the salt. When I find bait I try and keep my downrigger ball just below the bait as that is where the predators will be and they then have an unrestricted view my gear. I've found that when I drag my gear above or through bait, like what is shown, the majority of hookups will be with kokanee.

MotoBoat

3/9/2011 10:32:00 AM

G-man, which transducer do you have matched with your Lowrance unit and does it have the structure scan feature? Pretty nifty pictures. At what depth is the Thermocline ? Is that the wide band from surface to say...........15ft down?

G-Man

3/9/2011 12:14:00 PM

I just have the standard 50/200 KHz dual band transducer. I'm still debating on picking up the structure scan. Right now there really isn't much of a thermocline to speak of until you drop down below 100' and even then it looks like there is only a degree or two of change. The heavy band at the top of the water column is a result of a couple of things, first being the really high sensitivity of the unit. Things like prop wash, disturbances from wind/waves and even diving birds will contribute to the band you see. The other reason it is there is that I keep my "surface clutter" setting at low of off as I really rather see everything that the sonar picks up. If I had it set a medium or high, all that would pretty much disappear. For a future blog post, I'll try and remember to take a pic of a sonar image at my current settings and one with the surface clutter setting up high to show what the differences are. You'll find that even though the setting is for surface clutter, it effects the image throughout the entire water column.

BARCHASER10

3/9/2011 3:47:00 PM

G Man, are you using full sized Herring Dodgers or the small ones? I have both.
What color mini squid do you use?
Thanks

G-Man

3/9/2011 5:05:00 PM

Right now I'm using the 4" (0000) dodger. I will also use a 5 1/2"" Sling Blade, 000 dodger or a 6" Abe and Al style flasher once the water warms up and the number of boats on the water increases. It's funny, the colors that seem to work best on the cutts for me are also the most popular for Puget Sound blackmouth, white and green. Have a look back to my post on February 20th and check out the pic with the gutted fish and stickelback. You should see the mini squid that was used to bag the fish in the lower right hand corner of the pic.

rephresh

3/11/2011 12:25:00 PM

Anyone planning to go out on Lake Washington Sat? Wondering how bad the waves might be? Does anyone have a reliable website to predict the wind and chop. If its bad tomorrow, maybe Lake Sammamish might be a better bet.

rephresh

3/11/2011 2:10:00 PM

Sorry about the multiple posts. Computers acting wacky today?

G-Man

3/11/2011 3:13:00 PM

I deleted the multiple postings, it happens at times. Probably better to post your question on the forum, more folks will see it there and are more likely to respond. I may head out on Saturday, one can almost always find a break in the wind to fish on Lake Washington because of Mercer Island. There will likely be a bunch of Eastside PSA members fishing for cutts Saturday as they have a get-togther planned. So if you see a small armada, wave and say high.

rephresh

3/11/2011 4:18:00 PM

Thanks G-Man for the advice. Always appreciate your reports/posts as they're dead on with lots and lots of good information. I'll look towards Mercer Island for some fishing or I just might try Sammamish again. Haven't made up my mind yet. But I'll be in the unpainted Alumaweld Stryker without tags if you see me. Just picked her up and I'm trying to break her in early for the summer.

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