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JoAnn and I went on our much anticipated trip to lake Merwin. We left early Saturday (arrived and boat on the water by 9:30am) and stayed until Monday 5pm. I was running numbers in my head, making grandiose hopes/predications, and talking about hitting Yale to catch the additional fish allowed there. JoAnn listened to my excited fishing talk with patience and told me to just wait and see how it goes. Considering last year’s success I figured two day possession limit of 40 kokanee was practically already in the cooler. Maybe I’m getting ahead of myself…

We fished four rods, stacked and staggered depths. I started out with wedding rings and hoochie rigs, and used corn on all, plus either shrimp or mealworms. Ultimately as the trip progressed I weeded out the wedding rings and the meal worms, and settled in on hoochie rigs with shrimp. I used small dodgers or sling blades in various colors. I had forgotten my gps handheld and my phone app was so-so, but I would say we trolled 1.0-1.8 for the trip.

Saturday I figured even with the late start we’d get some in the morning, take a break, and catch more in the afternoon. Well, the morning was pretty brutal and discouraging; to the point that I wondered if we would need to go somewhere else. I saw little action around us. We caught one 12” fish and that was it. Ouch! We took our 3 hour siesta and got back at it at 3pm, fishing until 6:30pm. The PM bite was actually better and we caught another four fish, making it five for day one. 35 fish to go, I was feeling better and thinking that the crack of dawn bite would be back to the Merwin lake fishing I knew and loved. I did note, the fish seem to be running a bit smaller, more in the 12” range, a few 14” and a rare 15”. Maybe Chelan spoiled me!

Sunday morning – lines in the water at 5:20am, fishing hard. Lot’s of fish on the fish finder. And lot’s of pike minnows. Yuck, more than last year that’s for sure. And smaller kokanee. We fished depths ranging from 35 to 70 feet, covering the water column well with our downriggers. Ended up with three fish – are you kidding me? Last year we did 10 by noon and done, gone to Yale. This year the limit is ten each. OK, a nice on the water lunch at our favorite little cover we duck into, take a siesta break, and back on the water from 3-6pm. Wow! Another nice evening bite, especially around 4:3-5pm. I was jumping from rod to rod, handing them off to JoAnn, netting away… we caught another 9 fish – and some good, quality 14”. I found it interesting that these bigger fish, so quiet in the morning, became very active late in the afternoon. The bite totally died off at 6pm and we headed in. Fish count now 17.

Monday, our last day. I now knew the pattern the lake was fishing, and locations that seemed to be a bit better, and where there was little action. I knew the morning would be marginal and that we were waiting on the afternoon to save the day. As expected, Monday morning it was again slow, maybe a bit better, but mostly smaller 10-11” fish. Not keepers, back they went to get bigger. I knew I was waiting for the afternoon bite. We did hit one nice 14” fish up by the Marina at noon- what was he doing biting at that time? Break time and then back at it at 3pm. I should mention a word about weather. We had sunny, pleasant (low 80s) weather the whole trip. It was really nice! But about noon each day, the wind would start coming up and blowing hard, to the point of white caps. About the only easy way to troll at this point would be with the wind at your stern. Which worked out really well as our cove is at the far end of the lake. So we would get back out on the water, point toward the boat launch, and let the wind propel us down lake, using the kicker to keep us on track. I almost at one point decided to put out the sea anchor to slow us, but we never got above 2.0mph so I decided to let us drift/troll. It keeps the stupid pike minnow at bay, but the koks still would hit the gear, even with a bit faster troll. Fishing this way we covered from the upper lake boat marina back to the Speelyai launch in about 3 hours.

For some reason, Monday broke our pattern. We got a couple 12” fish and lost a nice fish, but it was quiet. With a long drive ahead I decided to call it a day at 5pm.

Our final tally for fish caught was 21 keepers, including two very nice 14" trout. We probably caught our limits in released smaller fish. As you can see from the pictures, the hot hoochie color this trip was black. BTW< I also tried an apex and a thin blade needle rainbow colored spoon and got a few that way, just to try to keep of the pike minnows. I don’t know, maybe I was spoiled from last year. We got a nice mess of fish, but I came away somewhat disappointed. My expectations were way too high JoAnn told me.

In summary, Merwin (at least on this trip) is fishing tougher, but still there are quality fish swimming around. Oh, one post note. I spoke with an old-timer lake regular who informed me that he did very well and asked if I had gang trolls, stating the fish wanted more flash. So I did at one point try some smile blade gang trolls I had. And, I did see others using the gang trolls and catching fish. That said, I absolutely HATE the way gang trolls kill the fish fight. It’s like pulling in a bunch of hardware and barely feeling the fish fight. I won’t fish that way. I’d rather catch less and enjoy the fight more.

jd39

7/16/2013 1:06:00 PM

Beautiful kokanee Mike! Delusions of grandeur before going fishing is part of the fun! I catch a limit before going out every time!
I've noticed the morning bite hasn't been as good as the afternoon bite the last few trips as well...have no idea why though.

Mike Carey

7/16/2013 5:34:00 PM

Pretty weird, huh? 3 in the morning and 9 in the late afternoon, all nice fish, strange. Or maybe we kokanee anglers are all conditioned to only fish crack of dawn.

Mike Carey

7/16/2013 5:37:00 PM

BTW, we got a safety check from the sheriff on the water so be sure to have all your stuff (you should anyway)

afk

7/16/2013 8:45:00 PM

Hey Mike, 21 out of 40 possible sounds like the glass is on the half full side.LOL Thanks for the report

downriggeral

7/17/2013 12:04:00 AM

Thanks for the report Mike, Black hoochies hum ....wonder if the lake has black leeches? Have you caught them in other places on black hoochies? I don't even own one...maybe I need to get some. Nice fish even if you didn't bag out. Alan

KIDKOKANEE

7/18/2013 9:35:00 PM

NICE!! SHINNY! Got your message about watching the Videos on Washington Lakes.Com (THANK YOU!!!!) On Fishing Baker Lake Ill be more ready this time !! And hope to do some catching not just fishing a Baker Lake this Sunday going in my fishing Buddys 12Ft Livingston deep hull with lil Scotty Lake downrigger!! Im trying to get my fishing partners interested in Merwin soon also!! We all got this bug for Baker now and want to fish that lake properly!! Thanks for all your help!! Youll make a catcher outa me yet!! Ha!! TY!!!Truely Appreciated!!

Mike Carey

7/21/2013 9:41:00 PM

First time using black patterns. I was pleased with how well they worked. I don't know about the leach thing. I think they just show up nice in the water.

strikezone

7/25/2013 11:14:00 AM

Mike:
Thanks for the tip to try this location. Works great and the pic's showed up fine now. Nice fisheys! Glad you had a nice time up there. I guess I won't be able to get back up there till after we get back from fishing Brewster pool for sockeye and kings. It will be fun either way. Tight Lines.
Denny (Strike Zone)

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