I woke up at 3:15 AM and was fishing West Medical Lake's western shoreline at 4:30 AM (~45 minutes before sunrise). From the parking lot at the north end (near the WA State Veterans Cemetery), it was a WET hike through the thigh-high grass that was wicking moisture upwards from the damp ground. My shoes and pants got soaked, but the air was quite warm. The lake was like glass, and the ducks and geese were just waking up. Small trout were rising to insects starting at about 4:35 AM.

I fished off of the northwest shoreline, near the first clump of ~8 Ponderosa Pine trees. I had no strikes after 45 minutes of casting/retrieving my 3/8-oz. silver Kastmaster slab jig. I was "counting down" the lure about 8 seconds before twitching it sideways on my retrieve. I would jerk the lure laterally about 2 feet, reeling in the slack with one turn of the Spinning Reel handle, and repeating. The up-and-down fluttering of the lure USUALLY is successful here at West Medical Lake, but not today. The only thing that hit my line was a Dragonfly! :)

I hiked southwards some more to midway along the western shoreline, near a bit whtie cardboard square nailed to a Ponderosa Pine tree. I fished there from 5:30 AM to 6:45 AM -- no luck there either. There were no boats on the lake. On my way back to the parking lot, I saw two bait fishermen on the point at the north end of the lake; I don't know if they caught anything.

I have a feeling that the trout here are DEEP, out of reach of bank fishermen. The surface water may be too warm for Rainbow Trout's liking. I drove over to nearby Clear Lake and had better luck with warmwater species there.

---