After being unemployed virtually all year since February, I finally got a job in my field working for the Microsoft Windows 7 Mobile Phone Group this week so now I won't have much time to fish.

This report contains two reports put into one because the first part isn't worth posting a full report for.

On wednesday and thursday, I was trying to avoid traffic after work.
So I hit up a dock on Lake Washington at Houghton Beach Park a couple times.
The first time I went, I caught a small Largemouth Bass on my Rapala Clackin Rap the very first cast.
I paid 10 bucks for this lure and was thrilled that I finally got a fish on it even though it was a dink.
Unfortunately, the next day, I had ONE backlash on my baitcaster, and my 30 lb Power Pro Snapped and I saw my 10 dollar lure go flying.
Needless to say, I was FURIOUS!
Because not only did I lose that lure, I lost about 100 + feet of braided line as well.
I also managed to accidentally leave my Rat-L-Trap on the dock when packing up my stuff.
So I lost almost 20 bucks worth from my only 2 lipless crankbaits..
Sigh*

Now to the better stuff :)

After finishing the work week (TGIF), I decided to hit up Lake Union again with my buddy Tyler for some night fishing.

I started off by catching a dink Largemouth Bass on a Rapala Jointed Shad Rap.
I then switched to a drop shot and caught a Rock Bass and a bigger dink Largemouth.

After that, I tossed every crankbait I have, no bites.
I then switched to spinnerbaits.
No bites on my White Booyah Spinnerbait.
But I decided to put on this chartreuse / green Spinnerbait that is available at Walmart for the whopping price of ONE DOLLAR and caught a slightly bigger dink Largemouth than the previous two I caught.
Shows that you can catch fish with cheap lures if you know how and where to fish them :)

My Buddy Tyler caught some Rock Bass, a few dink Largies, a Pumpkinseed Sunfish and a Smallmouth Bass that was a dink but his personal best.
Just FYI, I just got him to start fishing with me within the past month, he never fished for bass or panfish or anything before, just trout.
So Congrats to him :)

Throughout the night both were pestered by the annoying little sculpin.
We were also freezing our butts off because it was super cold even though we were layered up.

Also, when I reeled in one time, I took off my bait and tossed it in the water, rebaited and casted out, and there was a MASSIVE SPLASH behind us where I tossed the bait and the dock was drenched in water.
When we first arrived, someone told us that earlier that day there was a gigantic salmon swimming around that part of the dock in circles.
So was it that same salmon that apparently breached surface and splashed a crazy amount of water everywhere?
We'll never know because we didn't see a darn thing.

A little while later, we saw that Beaver again.
Also, I'm pretty sure I located it's nest because there is a big bundle of sticks near the shore and there are two beavers that go in and out around it.
One is small and the other is HUGE!
We saw both today.

The camera on my phone takes crap pictures at night at this particular spot because of all the street lamps directly above.
But you can clearly see that it's a Beaver.
You can also see that it is eating something.
Guess what that something is?
It was a Rat.
Yes I said it, A RAT.

I looked closely after seeing something dark brown / blackish, and very furry.
But then I saw the unmistakable rat tail and confirmed that this Beaver was indeed eating a rat.
Very.. Very.. Interesting..
I wonder how it caught the rat.
But either way, I congratulate the Beaver on feeding itself and helping control the rodent population.

Also, this Beaver was not shy at all.
It sat close to shore simply floating on the surface, enjoying his rat dinner.
Would swim around a bit but then come back and just float on the surface some more.
It stuck around for a good 10 minutes before swimming off towards it's nest.

The fish are still biting in this cold weather.
It was the coldest today and I thought the fish would be in deeper water.
Nope.. the fish are still holding close to the weed edge, not very far from the shoreline.
As it has been this entire year, the drop shot is producing for me everytime.

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