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With the lack of a consistent bite out in the Sound, we decided to target cutthroats North of the 520 bridge in between Kirkland and Juanita. The action wasn’t fast but it was regular and in the morning the Brads’ Mini Cutplug seemed to be working best. After noon, I switched over to a mini hoochie and squid rig and that seemed to be the ticket. Stayed in 50’ to 70’ of water and hugged the bottom as best we could. This kept us away from the sockeye for the most part, we did manage an unintentional hookup while making a turn, predictably the inside rod was hit. We kept a few fish, including one hatchery coho that hit around the start of the Seahawks game. Bright as a dime and weighing in a 6.5lbs. It slammed a mini hoochie right near the bottom in 60’ of water, and immediately started ripping off line. Glad I had a larger net on board for this fish. It was a hot day, 85+ out on the water and included quite a bit of pleasure boat traffic. Also was stopped by the local Sherriff working out of the WDFW enforcement boat, he checked for licenses and inspected our catch. The coho run to the Issaquah hatchery is expected to be fairly strong this season, so perhaps along with a late run, the lake will host a fair number of fresh, biting fish.

jpjames14

9/23/2014 4:27:00 PM

Awesome! Living in Bothell I was looking to get out and do this. I do however need to get my downrigger set up on my Sportcat because I know bottom is key with this salmon fishery. Were you tipping your hoochie with herring?

G-Man

9/23/2014 4:39:00 PM

No, that one had shrimp and some concoction of smelly jelly and anise oil.

salmonbarry

9/23/2014 6:49:00 PM

Nice catch! I will have to get up there to try that area sometime! So it is shallower then the south end by Mercer? I am always marking areas 100 feet or more but sounds like the north end may be a little shallower. Thanks for the report!

G-Man

9/23/2014 7:47:00 PM

Actually it is a bit deeper than the south end. The section of the lake between the north tip of Seward Park on up to Arrowhead Point gets deep pretty darn fast as you move away from shore. Think Puget Sound blackmouth fishing and you'll do fine. That's not to say you can't catch fish in the open water, you just need to locate the bait and hammer the thermocline.

SeattleBum

9/24/2014 1:47:00 PM

Glad to see someone got some fish last wknd. I tried for Coho both Friday and Saturday mornings (~6am-noon) with no hook ups. Kids got bored so we went over to Magnuson and caught a bunch of perch and sunfish. Boys didn't seem to care as long as they were catching fish!

aquaking

9/25/2014 8:14:00 PM

I wen out of Redondo 6-12 last Saturday and the Friday the week before. Both time whitecaps and nothing but shakers. Saw quite a few bait schools thumping between Robinson point and the first house to the west.
I hear squid are biting? Wouldn't mind catching those for the tampura and deep fryer! Anyone k ow a good place to take a couple 4yr olds to catch anything consistent? They need to get out thanks in advance! BTW thanks for the report is love to try N. LK WA but usually I'm the only one tending to everything and no one can keep an eye on headway and keep depths where I want :( lots of snags and lost gear. Buddy told me wiggle warts on the estuary duwamish is killing them right now?

G-Man

9/26/2014 11:24:00 AM

Best bet for kids would be to target the perch in the lake. Anchor on the lake side of the weedline and drop down something white. I normally use a dropshot setup with a small white grub and tip it with perch meat/skin. I suggest a dropshot rig as it makes it more difficult for the perch to swallow the hook, as so often happens when kids are fishing.

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