It’s been over a month since I last had the boat out on the Lake and I couldn’t take it any longer. I was expecting ice at the launch but it seems that no one had been there in quite some time and all was clear. As I motored out of the launch I noted that the Coal Creek delta project was just about finished. I took a few pictures and attached them to the report for the bass guys. Once the water level is back up, this should be a great spot to bag a few fish. Part of the project was to dredge the area to a depth of around 10 feet all the way back to the Club House, so there will be a nice little drop off all around the secured logs guarding the creek’s mouth.
The weather for most of the day was mostly sunny with a falling barometer. Initially the winds were out of the West, changed to Southerly and ended up out of the North. This, predictably, made for a very slow day fishing. I started out working the Southern tip of Mercer Island, trying out a new setup. About 30 minutes into my troll I had takedown that rivaled those of a steelhead taking a plug. By the time I got the rod out of the holder, it was gone and I suspected my leader gave out. However, everything was still intact and it may just have been the fish grabbing the small flasher, and not the needlefish, I was using. I worked the area a bit more and then trolled on down to the mouth of the Cedar to work the shallows. The wind shifted and was now blowing hard out of the North and made working the area a bit dangerous, so back to the open water I went. After a couple of hours without a strike, I headed back to the launch to call it a day.
Again, bait was non-existent, which is odd as the smelt should really be staging in the area to make their run up the Cedar to spawn. My trolling depth was anywhere between 10 and 70 feet and the strike I had was at 30 feet down in 90 feet of water.

---