So with the upcoming Lake WA cutthroat derby approaching that I will not be participating in this year, I wanted to at least get out and see if the lake has finally come to life in time for the derby. Not withstanding DJ Butlers continuous success up on the north end that is- but wanted to see if the south end was getting better. Decided to call it a morning work day from the boat today so went to bed with hopeful anticipation!

Got to the Atlantic city boat launch at 5:30 am and was on the water before 6 heading over to the west side of Mercer to start my usual troll by the big white house. Got into about 120 feet of water so fired up the trolling motor and decided to start again with my lead core set up this time using a radical glow dodger set up with the Hollywood mini cut plug with a piece of herring on it. Water temp was a steady 66 degrees and very mild winds to start the day with just a touch of cloud cover. After one troll north and south changed things up to a 5.5" sling blade rocky mountain tackle with the watermelon specked brads cut plug but with pink gulp maggots this time and kokanee dipping sauce.

Set it back 4 colors again with 110 on the line counter and put the clicker on just in case I wasn't paying attention when I got a strike- sure enough as I was working on my laptop I hear the clicker singing and it's fish on!! What fun to catch fish with no weight and not having to deal with a down rigger! Soon a very nice 16+ inch cutty was getting close to the boat but went ballistic and was all over the place before I could finally net it! Whew that was close! Set it back again after some fresh maggots and dipping sauce when WHAM! Another takes it screaming! This one was not as big size wise but boy was it scrappy as it made 3 or 4 jumps before I was able to net it so number 2 in the boat before 8 am!

Worked my way around the point with no more love so changed to the pink and white assassin spinner tipped with maggots and boom! Fish on again! This one was really tough as I would gain 30 feet and it would take 20 but finally wrangled it in and turned out to be a rainbow! First one I have every caught on the lake in all my time fishing out here! Pretty cool! Well that turned out to be the winning combo as by 9:30 I had my 5 fish limit with 4 cutts and 1 rainbow! Got back to the launch by 9:45 and was home by 10:30 to get cleaned up to go to work after I filleted the fish for tonight's meal and to put in the smoker!

Got home from work around 5:30 and fired up the smoker and bbq- put 2 of the fillets on a cedar plank and as i dump my burnt chips into it from the smoker as it makes a great way to heat up the bbq with left over coals from the last time used. Tasty! See you on the water!

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