Previous Next

We fished Lake Shannon today. As usual we got a late start so it was 10:00 or so before we had the boat wet. We metered around the dam area and didn’t see more than the occasional fish on the meter so boat on plane we headed up towards the loon sanctuary. Just short of the area I saw fish on the meter so over the side went all the gear. Almost immediately we were into fish and a very consistent bite, until... The game department was patrolling the lake, checking licenses, doing safety checks and supporting a request by PSE to enhance their enforcement at Lake Shannon and at Baker. At our end the enhanced enforcement is welcome; being somewhat out of the way I think that boater safety is that much more important. Anyway, after being rafted to the WDFW boat for about 20 minutes and getting a clean bill of health we got back to fishing. Unfortunately it was just fishing and not catching. We searched all over the place but could not relocate the school. After our visit with the WDFW officers we did catch the occasional fish including a very nice native cutthroat and a sizable dolly that were both released but the hot action we had been experiencing was now just a memory. We explored for a while and then headed back down to the dam. We caught a few more fish in the dam area but over all the action was slow.

Running two rods off the downriggers and two lead line rigs we fished various depths. Most of our fish were caught between 18’ and 22’ or 1 to 1 ½ colors on the lead line rigs. We were running small dodgers followed by a variety of custom tied spinners, mini-squids and spin-n-glow set-ups tipped with shrimp. Although we tried every color under the rainbow two colors stood out, chartreuse green and purple were the hot colors for the day. As with most outings lately we were battling gusty winds so our trolling speed varied quite but generally we were running 0.8-1.7 mph with 1.4 being our target speed. The water temperature varied quite a bit between 58.3 degrees and 60.1 degrees.

It was a beautiful afternoon on the water with very little boat traffic and incredible mountain views. One of the pictures is looking up the lake towards Mount Shuksan and the other is a picture of our big kokanee for the day, a fat 15 incher. We hit Cascade Burgers on the way home again and that place is just plain yummy, it is a good thing that it is not closer to home!

Jungle Jim

6/6/2011 3:15:00 PM

Nice report and great picture. Thanks for sharing the info.

capnhook

6/6/2011 5:12:00 PM

That is one chubby Koke! Looks like "Larry" from the Stooges! Great report and thanks for sharing the picture. I wanted to ask you if you are still in love with the new boat? I'm toying with the idea of getting Lunds new 16'. Narrower beam than yours but flat decks at least. Not as nimble as I once was and climbing over seats is just plain dangerous now.

rseas

6/6/2011 6:30:00 PM

We love the boat and in fact, not sure when but I am planning to update my blog with some thoughts on the subject. Even though we have had big boats, for us the flat floor in a smaller boat is like night and day difference. From a comfort and safety point of view we wouldn’t go back. Over all we love the boat. It is very stable at rest, while trolling and on plane. Our fuel economy is stellar, even with all the running around up at Lake Shannon on Sunday we used less than 1 gallon of gas. Our motor has a “Precise Trolling Control” feature that allows us to troll down to about 1.4 mph. With-in reason, the boat tracks well in the wind and has a very comfortable ride in the chop. We do have some customization that we will be doing. We need storage and will be adding a raised bow platform of some sort but wanted to use the boat for a while before we design, fabricate and install it the bow deck. While I wouldn’t call the boat a fish magnet yet, it met all of our expectations and we are very pleased with our Lund experience.

Toni

6/6/2011 7:40:00 PM

Great report and picture! I look forward to your blog. I liked the looks of your boat and your thoughts you had before buying it.

Idstud

6/6/2011 10:52:00 PM

Thanks again for another top knotch report. Ive very glad to hear you are doing great in your new boat. I took the little one and the wife out saturday to try a small lake for some pan fish only 2 perch to show for lunch. First trip with the new top and it worked nice keeping the shade. I also bought a porta potty which came very handy with the little one. Im getting greared up for some kok fishing this weekend. Free fishing weekend and the little sis wants to go fishing so Im going to be hitting Samish or Whatcom havent desided yet. Never fished Whatcom.

Dave

6/7/2011 12:42:00 AM

Great trip!!

Leave a Comment:

Login

Flag

×

Why is this comment inappropriate?

Close Submit

Delete this comment? Provide reason.

No Yes

Edit

×

Cancel Save