I decided to drive up to Lake Samish this morning and see how the AIS enforcement effort was going. But wait, I might as well haul the boat along just in case the program hasn’t quite made it to the lake yet. Boat in tow I arrived at the WDFW launch around 8:00 and there were 5 or 6 other rigs already in the water. I did a quick walk-about and did not see any indication that there was or had been an active AIS inspection station setup. Somewhat relieved I prepped for launch and was floating shortly thereafter. Immediately after launching the boat and getting underway some underwater movement caught my eye. My jaw just about landed on the deck when I realized that there were maybe hundreds of bass swimming back and forth along the shoreline just outside the ramp. It was an awesome sight and after 10 minutes or so they just disappeared. Even though I am not necessarily a bass fisherman it was a sight to behold but I was there to catch kokanee so I pushed the tiller around and headed out to deeper water.

Fishing solo, I started just outside the speed limit buoy and had two rods in the zone when both riggers pop for what turned out to be drive-bys. Gear back down I get to business and about 5 minutes later the shallow rod goes off but again it is a drive-by. Scratching my head I try moving the bait from the trailing hook to the lead hook and sent the gear back down. This time I’m running one rod at 18’ and a flat lined rig at 30 pulls. A few minutes later the surface line gets bit and the kokanee dance was on. The fish turned out to be the big kokanee of the day. The next fish was a 15"+ cutthroat that I pulled off a meter mark at 34’. The next few fish were smallish cuts and were released full of vinegar. As I worked my way north I found a small pocket of kokanee and went 6 or 7 for 2 nice kokanee. Gear back down, a surface rod and one off the downrigger running at 12’ when the downrigger rod pops and the rod is buried with line just screaming off the reel. I fought the fish for about ½ hour before it surfaced 150’ feet or so behind the boat. It was not shiny and in fact looked to be yellowish brown but I am not sure what it was. I’m thinking a large carp or something. I fought the fish for another 15 minutes or so and finally broke it off without ever getting a good look at it. The rest of my coffee and gear back down I get back to work. Closely monitoring my fish finder I spot a meter mark at 32’ and drop one of the riggers to intercept. Bingo the last fish of the day, a 14” cutthroat was in the box.

Today I was running custom tied wedding band type spinners in chartreuse, pink or bug green and a variety of mini squids. The dodger of the day was the Skagit Tackle Wonder Bread pattern. I varied my trolling speed often and it seemed that the fish would hit as I was dropping to about 1.2 mph. I used Gulp maggots in pink, chartreuse and natural to tip my offerings. The water temperature was as follows: Surface/54.0°, 5’/54.0°, 10’/53.6°, 15’/52.5°, 20’/51.6°, 25’/50.8°, 30’/50.2°, 35’/49.0°, 40’/48.6°, 45’/47.3° and 50’/46.6°. The morning was windy with the occasional squall line moving through but it was a much needed morning on the water. I was back in the driveway by noon with my limit including 2 cutts and three kokanee to just over 15”

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