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After a few trips with less than optimal conditions on lakes I've never fished and my first skunkings in years, I was ready to catch a bass in Washington. We finally had several warm, sunny days in a row. I thought finding a fairly small and shallow lake would be my best bet. McIntosh fit the bill, so that's where I went.

When I arrived I was excited to see only one small boat on the whole lake and water temps right at the magical 60° mark. Well, to make a long story short, I worked really hard, and I did finally catch a bass in Washington, though 1 bass was it. Still, she was a nice chunky 3lber who fought hard, trying to wrap around some pads and going airborne a couple of times. I caught her from under some floating wood between some flooded brush and some newly emerging pads. The line absolutely shot under the wood when she hit. I was really surprised not to find other active fish with how aggressively she struck the bait. As for the bait, I was using a Grande Bass Rattlesnake fished on a weightless T-Rig in the Trophy Hunter color.

I worked a lot of shoreline as well as pockets in the pads and adjacent flats with swim jigs, chatterbaits, spinnerbaits, swimbaits, lipless cranks and jerkbaits. I also worked some deeper wood cover with a jig, but no other bites.

I do really like this lake though. With not a lot of angling pressure, only partial development and a lot of wildlife, it seems promising. I will for sure be back once it warms some more. The highlight of the day, other than the fish, was watching an osprey with a fish flying along. Suddenly, movement to my left catches my eye. An eagle is making a b-line for the osprey. As the eagle approaches the osprey dumps the fish and the eagle snatches it as it tumbles back towards the lake. I also saw my first western pond turtle, a swimming mink, some cottontails, a goose nesting on a log out in the lake, and what I'm pretty sure was an otter. All in all an enjoyable afternoon.

Amx

4/30/2018 12:44:44 PM

Sounds like a great day, and not just the fishing and catching part. Wildlife is great to watch.

grubowski

5/1/2018 1:19:31 AM

For sure, it can really make the day. While I'm still figuring out the fish here in Washington, I have to say I'm quite impressed with all the wildlife. I've made a few trips up to the Hood Canal to try fly fishing for sea run cutthroat, and while I've had a lot of strikes, I've yet to actually hook up. That being said, those trips have been a lot of fun watching the harbor seals, loons, eagles and elk. Hopefully I'll get the catching part figured out better, but I'm having a good time either way.

barbarossa13

4/30/2018 9:28:08 PM

Sounds like a good day, congrats!

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