Is this a perch or a salmon report? I’m not sure so you’ll have to decide. Up at 2:30 and after I filled the lunch thermos with hot stew I headed outside to hook the boat up. Apparently one of the 8 legged residents in my garage didn’t want me to take the boat out of the garage. The large wolf spider kept charging at me when I tried to move the boat. I was in flip-flops and yes, I hate spiders… Anyway, arachnophobia incident behind me the boat and I were rolling. After a quick stop for non-ethanol and high-test coffee I was headed south. Arriving at the WDFW launch in Kenmore in the dark I was the third rig in the parking lot.

The launch was routine and after the boat was safely on the beach I figured that I would make use of the loo. It turned out that the bathrooms were locked so beware! After motoring my way out of the slough (Sammamish River) in the dark and entering the deeper water it was a quick run to the area in front of Kirkland. Although I did fish Kirkland for a bit this was more of a scouting trip.

In the interest of providing intel on some alternative Lake Washington coho opportunities my game plan was to meter around at some of the areas that I thought may be holding coho and just note what I found. I would run to each of the areas that I thought may be holding fish slow down and check out the meter then move on. I did fish a few areas but spent a lot of time looking for areas holding salmon. Fishing in front the Kirkland area I had two drive-bys but that was it. I also heard of two fish being caught in the area but overall I think that the Kirkland area was slow. It is my belief that the reduction in the number of fish in the Kirkland area has less to do with the tribal fisheries than the fact that we had a big rain just after they started to stage in the Kirkland area. Growing up in Bothell I have been fishing the north end of Lake Washington off and on since the 70s. Lake Washington salmon, both chinook and coho clear the system very quickly with a rain. You can have an awesome day and with a good afternoon rain it becomes a salmon desert. Following are the areas that I checked out and if I fished the area my results:

Downtown Kirkland –Nothing on the meter but did have two drive-bys. One on a silver and green Hotshot and the other on a green mini hoochie 24” behind a 8” Moon Glow Hotspot flasher. I was running 2.0-2.5 mph and the gear was at 65’.

Evergreen Point – Nothing on the meter.

The drop-off at Webster Point – Nothing on the meter.

Juanita Point - Two large schools of salmon on the meter.

Matthews Beach – Many individual salmon on the meter but no schools.

The underwater hill out in front of Holmes Point – There was a ton of salmon holding at around 70’ all around the underwater feature. I did troll a circle around the mound pulling a flame orange/chartreuse Hotshot at 68’. I had two drive-bys and had one solid hookup but lost it.

Various bays and points on the west side of the lake directly across from Saint Edwards – There were many small schools of salmon but no specific holding area.

Arrowhead Point - There were scattered schools of suspended salmon; suggesting to me that the fish were on the move. This is a holding area, much like Kirkland, if they’re staging they would be hunkered down and oriented on the bottom in 60-70’ of water. I did troll a hot pink/green Hotshot in the area for a while with one each drive by and another solid hookup and lost fish.

The area in front of and to the south of McAleer Creek (One of my late season go-to areas) – I metered around in depths ranging from 40’ to about 90’. There were numerous but scattered suspended schools of Salmon. I did fish the area with two drive-bys and one awesome battle with a nice chinook. I fished various Hotshot sizes and colors but the chinook took a large gold Hotshot running at 48’. I fought the fish for about 20 minutes and finally in a last minute run from the boat, the fish broke my braid to mono top shot knot. I guesstimate that the fish was 16-17 pounds and full of piss and vinegar.

The flats at the north end of Lake Washington – Metering around in 15-30’ of water with the side-scan on I did see a number of fish that I would guess were chinook but may have been coho. I was running out of time so I did not fish the area but pulling large flame orange or gold Hotshots up on the flats may have been productive.

My day was not limited to a quest for salmon. In that we used up the last of our breaded perch for a fish fry recently I was on a honey-do mission. I need a bucket of perch. While metering around looking for salmon in the McAleer creek area I had spotted a large school of perch on the meter and marked it. After a little searching when I returned to the meter mark I was able to find the fish. I would run up on the mark then drift until I was no longer catching fish then repeat until I had a bucket of perch. In an hour or so I ended up with around 50 perch 8-12” throwing back the smaller ones. I was fishing a butterfly rigged kokanee jig baited with salted herring strips.

Unfortunately my adventure was over. I love fishing Lake Washington but it is a long-haul and a whole day fishing commitment, a rarity these days. Growing up fishing the very north end of the lake; as an adult I always step back in time and feel like a kid again when I have the opportunity to fish the area.

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