Facing the prospect that trout fishing is largely over until Fall, I headed for Lake Washington to see if I could catch a few Yellow Perch. Probably a bit early for the Perch, as I have found the best fishing for these tasty fish is in mid-Summer to the onset of Fall. Arrived at Magnuson Park at about 12:30 PM and made my way to the docks at the boat launch. Temp at the outset was 64 degrees, with overcast skies. Water temp at 10' depth off the dock was 70 degrees. Began fishing with a piece of worm under a float, bait 3' below the float. Fished for half an hour without a hit, so moved bait to 6' below the float... within ten minutes I landed my first Perch of the day. Caught fish sporadically until the sun broke through about 2:00 and the temp began to rise. Fish began to bite better as the afternoon heated up. Did lower the bait another foot, so I was fishing near the bottom off the docks. Caught at least two dozen Rock Bass, as well as nearly that many Smallmouth Bass. The Smallies were all in the 9" to 10" range, although a couple were 12"+. The Perch were scattered, and I had to fish a lot of territory to finally end up with 11 for the afternoon. Nothing huge, the largest was 8 1/2" and the smallest at 6 1/2". Headed home for dinner, about 6:00 PM.
Lots of people out enjoying an early Summer day, and boat traffic was nearly non-stop, putting in and taking out, through the day. With minimal lake fishing available to me through the Summer, I'll probably try for Perch a few more times before breaking out the salmon gear for a truncated season this year. PTL!

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