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Normally we’d be fishing coho but with the closures this year we are exploring other fishing options. I’ve fished Cavanaugh before but not in a while. The lake is close to our home, but it always seems far away because of the long drive through winding county roads to get there. Anyway, we arrived and had the boat in the water and fishing by 7:55, a bit later than I would like but that’s OK. We had the lake to ourselves today.

The launch is shallow and flat and JoAnn was dubious we’d be able to launch our boat. Well, I didn’t drive all the way to not even try! I actually managed to launch without getting my feet wet, although retrieving was a different story.

My plan was to explore the lake today and shot some video footage. We started about a quarter mile from the launch and had a nice early fishing bite, and landed a couple really dandy kokanee in spawning blush color. 15” and 14.5”, caught one deep (48 feet on the rigger, 56 feet of water) and the second on the stacker line at around 35 feet deep. We ran four rods today, using standard kokanee gear.

In addition to the two nice koks we hit a couple nice cutthroat that we released.

I continued our course down to the islands but except for another cutthroat and losing a smaller, brighter kokanee at the island area the bite died off. Having gotten the video footage I wanted I pulled gear and ran us back to our starting point, but not before first doing a pit stop for the dogs. This is actually easier said than done on Cavanaugh, as the lake is fully developed and all private property. We did find a stretch of non-posted land on the north side of the lake where the county road comes right up to the lake. I nudged the boat on to shore and let the dogs do their thing. Sure is nice having a boat that is easy to get in and out of from the bow!

Back to our starting point and I noted immediately the meter marks of kokanee showing. They were still biting and we picked off a couple big kokanee, and lost one besides. These fish came on the deep downrigger lines, at 43 and 48 feet in 53 feet of water.

I’m thinking that the fish are staging on the east side of the lake prior to running up a stream that flows into the lake on that end. That’s my theory, anyway. I sure didn’t find them on the far end of the lake. The other thing of interest today – unscented corn did way better than scented. You just never know with kokanee!

We called it a day at 11:30am as rain started increasing and we had things to do. It took a couple tries get the boat on the trailer straight but managed and off we went having enjoyed a new fall fishing adventure thanks to the coho fishing closure. When WDFW gives you lemons make lemonaide!

reynoldsj

9/7/2016 5:09:00 PM

Love Lake Cavanaugh, what speed were you trolling at? I'm planning on hitting the lake this weekend. Got tired of Big Lake and the catfish. Lol

reynoldsj

9/7/2016 5:09:00 PM

Love Lake Cavanaugh, what speed were you trolling at? I'm planning on hitting the lake this weekend. Got tired of Big Lake and the catfish. Lol

Mike Carey

9/7/2016 6:30:00 PM

Opps, forgot that detail. 1.2 mph

Sideburns

9/7/2016 11:11:00 PM

Hope yours cook up better than mine. My kokes from merwin that had that less shiny grey look were kinda soft and mushy when baked..... The smoked version turned out good. Nice fish, they sure are fun to catch at this stage, very aggressive hits and high catch ratio.

Mike Carey

9/8/2016 6:30:00 AM

they looked fine and firm flesh. I only smoke my kokanee. 3 of 4 were full of eggs.

eddiebishop

9/8/2016 11:58:00 AM

Mike, is that a WDFW launch or did you have to pay something? I got it mapped at 80 miles from me in Renton. Not bad! Thanks!

Mike Carey

9/8/2016 12:28:00 PM

It's a wdfw access but also requires a discovery pass.

The Quadfather

9/8/2016 7:49:00 PM

I find the fishing is always poor at the far island end of the lake. Always great straight out from launch, and cruising center of the lake.

Mike Carey

9/8/2016 7:52:00 PM

ya, next time that will be my "go to" spot, especially end of the season. Do you think those kokanee are heading up that creek? I noticed about a quarter mile of so the creek comes from a couple ponds. I wonder if the kokanee get up into them? It would be a crazy sight to see!

soggy toed angler

9/25/2018 12:03:10 AM

My dad passed this past Feb. He was 96. The last place I took him fishing was Cavanaugh. He was probably about 88. We cast out right at the boat ramp. He caught a cut about 10 or 11". We had it on a stringer in the water. We were getting ready to leave and he said, "That's a nice fish, isn't it?" I said, "Yeah." And he said,"Why don't we just let it go? (This was quite out of character for him.)" I unfastened the metal safety snap on the stringer and the trout swam off no worse for wear. We were both partial to cuts for some reason, and this all just seemed very fitting. Really a great last fishing memory. His love for the Lord comforts me and I cherish this and many other memories of him, fishing and otherwise. tight lines all.

Mike Carey

9/25/2018 6:39:42 AM

soggy toed angler - Your dad sounds like my kind of guy. that's a nice memory, thanks for sharing.

soggy toed angler

9/12/2020 7:58:17 PM

Addendum to my previous comment: I went fishing with a friend who just got his first boat today. He was so excited to get out today he lost sleep last night. We actually fished Goodwin but this ties into my comment about my dad. On the way back home after a fun first trip on his new used smokercraft, I told him about my first fish and how I caught it at Silver Lake in Everett. I was about 6. The fish pulled my pole in the water because I was sleeping or nearly asleep. Being a brave 6-year old. I started crying. Then the 14 incher got tangled in the line of the person fishing next to me. When he reeled his in, I got my pole and my fish back. So today when I told my friend about this and about my dad's last fish from the boat launch at Cavanaugh, he said my dad was there for my first fish, and I was there for Dad's last one. I never thought of it like that before. Perfect.

Mike Carey

9/13/2020 1:01:08 PM

Beautiful

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