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Well, it has come to an end... My last report of the winter as i am going back to college in smoggy and congested ol California.

SHORT REPORT:
after an omelette breakfast my buddy and i headed with lines in around 9:00. ran up to the north end and trolled down into bass cove. picked one up right away, then action was pretty slow until we got into the cove around 10:00. after that we averaged a fish every 10 mins. fished til 1 and caught about 20 on the day including a Hatchery Chinook (Safely released and kept in the water...) I fished a Kedka Tackle mini trolling fly for lots of the day, my buddy fished a self-tied wedding ring, and we both tipped with worm. reached our limits with lots of fish in the 17" range. great fishing.

LONG REPORT:
MAN WHAT A DAY... I could not ask for a better last day of fishing on this wonderful lake. the plan for the day was to meet at 8:00 and have wafisherman20 specials for breakfast and then hit the water around 9:00 and hopefully hit some big fish.

my buddy rang the doorbell just before 8:00, and i had just started cooking our wafisherman20 specials... (so he got to sit with a cup coffee watching me cook because i was running behind schedule... but thats ok... he at least had coffee)... In my opinion, a good breakfast is the start to a great day of fishing, you gotta fuel up! So, the wafisherman20 special was born (i like cooking almost as much as i like fishing). the components of the special is: 3 egg omelette, sausage, toast/english muffin, side of seasonal berries, and coffee or juice. if you are feeling extra hungry (as i often am) you can also have a side of breakfast potatoes. its pretty good if i do say so myself. IF YOU WANT THE OMELETTE RECIPE READ NEXT PARAGRAPH... IF NOT SKIP IT AND GO STRAIGHT TO THE FISHING.

here is an in depth look at the wafisherman20 omelette: Dice up bell pepper, onion, cooked bacon, and mushrooms. heavily buttered pan and mix ingredients in with salt and pepper. sauté until onions, mushrooms, and peppers are nicely caramelized. in bowl, mix 3 eggs with a dash of milk and beat heavily. in a second heavily buttered pan, pour eggs and monitor until bottom side is properly cooked (maintain fluffiness of egg, but don't over cook!) flip egg and cook for 20-45 seconds longer. then put egg halfway on the plate, put veggies on, add cheddar cheese, cover the veggies with the other half to make omelette then garnish with parsley for color...WALLAH!

After breakfast, we hopped in the boat and headed up to the north end of the lake. my plan was to troll down covering as much water as possible to find the fish. The past couple trips out with Rmrauscher and Petdawg we found the fish in pretty small windows of water. We had the lines in just after 9:00.
buddy's rod: pink wedding ring with a clown dodger
my rod: green Kedkla Tacke Company mini trolling fly and a watermelon dodger.

right away, my buddy had a fish on! a beautiful 15" trout in the boat. he was a little smaller than i like to keep, but i usually keep the first fish that way you don't go home skunked and dinner-less. after that fish, the rods went silent for the whole ride down to bass cove. during the troll, i switch up to a pink fly with an added smile blade and a pink sling blade. right as we entered the cove, my rod got slammed! after a great fight i was shocked to find the fish was a 9" DINK! oh well, safely released for next winter.

before i could get another worm on the hook, fish on for my buddy! this was a 17.5" beauty.. fantastic fish. there's the second keeper. I knocked and bled the fish for him while he got back to fishing, and 30 seconds later, he had another one! i still didn't have my rod in the water and he introduced another big fish to the boat. 3 keepers! i finally got my rod in the water, and then fish on again for my buddy! this fish was about 15" and we let him go for next year. my buddy got fishing again, and 10 minutes later he brought another big fish to the boat.

For the rest of the day, i did circles around this one area until we kept our limits of fish and caught 20 in total. I ended up taking the fly off as it liked to troll faster than the wedding ring to impart a little more action it and the wedding ring was having lots of success on a slower speed. off the water at just after 1:00

I also caught one of my coolest catches on Sammamish this trip: a hatchery chinook! thought he was a kokanee at first, but upon further inspection and the realization of no adipose fin and a black mouth it was apparent he was in fact a king. that was super cool to see a 9" chinook coming from the Issaquah Hatchery on its way to the ocean! he was kept in the water and released safely with minimal stress.

Kedka tackle makes great custom-made trolling flies! if you like to pull flies, you should check them out. they sponsor NWFR and go by the name "kedkatackleco". they have their website linked, and dave is a great guy. I caught fish on them!

if you haven't already, check out the NWFR lake sammamish cutthroat video! Mike Carey made a simply fantastic video filled with Sammamish action, tips, and great information about the fishery, cutthroat trout, and Lake sammamish kokanee. thank you mike, rseas, and Salmonbarry for such a fantastic video!

well, this December has truly been incredible. I have caught lots of fish, fished alongside some awesome fisherman from NWFR, and gained some truly fantastic friends/fishing buddies. Yes, its going to be hard to go back to college now.... i will ride the memories i have made this winter all the way until summer when i can come back and catch some more fish.

thank you to all who have read my posts and left such great comments, I love posting on this site and i hope my reports could entertain you a bit while still be useful.

for the last time in a good while, tight lines and good fishing to all :)

Mike Carey

1/8/2017 9:07:00 AM

Paul you had yourself an epic break! Thanks for sharing the fishery with our members. I didn't see any other boats in your pictures - how have the crowds been since you started posting? Did you notice a big difference?

wafisherman20

1/8/2017 10:03:00 AM

The day of this report I only saw 2 others out on the water, but on some other days I have seen as many as 12. I have also PM'd a few people from the site who have said they are going out on days I wasn't... so I think maybe there was a difference, as I did notice more boats later than I did when I started fishing this winter... but who knows if that is a coincidence or not. I think your video is going to bring some people out there!
Thanks again mike.

billyl

1/8/2017 11:47:00 AM

Nice Fish! Great video you guys.

The Quadfather

1/8/2017 12:14:00 PM

I could not find anything on Google for Kedkatackle. You spelled it two different ways in your report, but I kinda searched around.
Do you have a working link to them?

wafisherman20

1/8/2017 12:55:00 PM

I apologize I actually had 2 different misspellings. The correct way is KEKEDA TACKLE

Their host for their website is etsy.

JoshH

1/8/2017 12:57:00 PM

Quadfather its Kekeda tackle. He sells on etsy. Ive used some of his trolling flies on Goodwin with success, mainly in the cold winter months when the fish arent as active feeding and I need something big and flashy to get their attention.

Great report again, and good luck i school!

TMBob

1/8/2017 5:52:00 PM

It was great reading your reports since your return home. I just got into trout fishing again the past two months and am total addicted. I grew up on Lake Wa. near Stan Sayers and did plenty of dock/bank fishing, but little boat fishing. Right now I am on foot, but your reports and how close Lake Sammy is to my current home makes me think about B.O.A.T. Of some sort. Any suggestions where to throw out a line on Sammamish, like a Kastmaster or a lure before bait fishing?

Thanks again

TMBob

G-Man

1/8/2017 6:36:00 PM

The dock at Idlywood Park is popular and so is wading off the bank at the mouth of Issaquah creek.

wafisherman20

1/8/2017 6:49:00 PM

TMbob thank you for the kind words and I am glad you enjoyed them! Getting a boat for sammamish is certainly helpful. I fished it in a 8' plastic boat do you certainly don't need to drop too much money if you want a boat. (Craigslist was my best friend). As far as throwing a lure from Shore, it is certainly possible! I have actually caught a few really nice trout in the summertime throwing senko's on a Carolina rig and a Texas rig for bass. This time of year I think your best bet would be a fast retrieve on a spoon (Kastmaster like you said). Idylwood park on the north end has some good docks for fishing. You can shore fish at the state park, right off the issaquah creek often holds some big fish feeding on salmon smolts. The mouth of the creek actually is pretty good all year, but will be especially good as the fish are starting to head upstream to spawn. You can't fish within 100 yards of the creek at certain times due to the salmon run but that is in the fall. I'd also try floating a night crawler and marshmallow off the bottom. On your spoons try some pro cure scent. If you can find a place to throw lures near Kelsey creek do that! According to the WDFW, the strongest run of fish goes up that stream.

Interested to see how you do! Good luck and tight lines

wafisherman20

1/8/2017 7:09:00 PM

GMAN! Ya beat me to it haha. Glad you think the same spots are worth a trip :). (Sorry, this posted twice so I had to delete 1)

Dave M

1/8/2017 9:52:00 PM

Wafisherman, Good luck back in school. I don't know exactly where you will be down there, but I believe you can fish at Irvine lake down by Santa Ana. And up towards Palmdale/Littlerock is the littlerock reservoir. And that same general area has a few small rivers and streams that do hold trout, Or at least 15-20 years ago they did.

tcorrado16

1/8/2017 11:01:00 PM

Wafisherman20, thanks for all the great reports, and the videos are great too. Hoping to get out and try this fishery soon. How long does this winter fishery last? Also, is it necessary to fish early in the morning, or does the bite continue throughout the day? I'd like to take the kids out with me, but they don't like getting up to early.

Thanks again,

"The Tug is the Drug"

wafisherman20

1/8/2017 11:40:00 PM

hey tcorrado16 I'm glad you liked the reports and thank you! this fishery will be great i think until around late january. by february lots of the fish are headed up steam to spawn and it will pick up again in april. as far as the bite, early morning does not seem to make a difference. in fact, i have had some of my best success around 10:00. the bite for me has seemed to die from around 3:00. the first day i went out this season i didn't get out until 10:00 or 11 and limited fast. the action has been consistent all day and potentially better in the late morning.

good luck and tight lines!

wafisherman20

1/8/2017 11:47:00 PM

Thanks Dave M! I will look at those and hopefully find a few trout tugging on the line. :) I also might try Malibu canyon lakes... I have seen some good trout come Out of there

FishingTenor

1/11/2017 12:08:00 AM

Great report again. Quite inspiring, and brings hope when most fisheries are slowing down.
2017 is going to be another great year of fishing! Anyone know when the NWFR gathering will be at Lake Chelan this year? That was such an awesome event.

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