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First one at the lake this morning as I continue to make the rounds to all of my local haunts now that I'm past the 2018 County Challenge.

I tried topwater first as there were fish rising but pretty sure they were trout. Topwater blanked, so I moved to reaction baits and docks. Man there are some funky weeds in this lake now! Made anything under five feet deep a mess to try and fish. I caught the first fish on a spinnerbait, a little sub-pounder. Then nothing for about an hour. I moved from the shallow water to a deeper point with some pilings and encountered something I have been hoping to encounter on this lake for over 15 years...a LARGEMOUTH!! I have only ever physically seen three since I started fishing this lake back in the late 90's and two of those were just last year! Small one but that made my day, so the rest was cake. The next four hours consisted of running from spot to spot catching one here and one there on crankbaits and grubs mainly. I fished from two to sixty feet in some places and just kept encountering fish up to 1.5 pounds.

Finally I ran back up to the north end and with the wind picking up targeted deep pilings. Drop shot in 20-35 feet of water absorbed the next three hours of my day and was the most consistent bite of the day. I caught over twenty including the two larger fish in the pics. The really striped one was beautiful in person and I lost one about a pound bigger that that at the boat.

Wet feet and whitecaps ended the day as did a growling tummy. Hopefully I will make it up one more time before it closes? Found a super cool hump I want to explore more...it's where "Tony the Tigerbass" came from ;)

The Quadfather

10/14/2018 8:31:08 AM

Very nice stripes on Tony, there.

bob johansen

10/16/2018 8:04:07 AM

Hey B8 where ya been? Haven't seen a report for some time. I have been wondering how you was doing on the County Challenge. Anyway, nice report and nice pics. Last time I fished Whatcom was June 3, 1995. My best smallie that day was 17 3/4 inches, 2 pounds and 12 ounces. She hit a White Power Grub. I even won a buck from my son that day - his best was 16 1/2 incher.

8theB8

10/16/2018 8:11:42 AM

Hey Bob!! Geez, where haven't I been? Ha ha. I assumed you were keeping tabs on the challenge through the forum? Was a great summer!! I love fishing grubs on Whatcom, very overlooked at times, especially using them as my weight for the drop shot :)

que

10/16/2018 8:47:25 AM

Nice Smallies 8theB8! ;)

bob johansen

10/16/2018 6:05:02 PM

Never thought to check the forum - will do now.

bob johansen

10/17/2018 7:35:56 AM

B8 - I checked out the forum and read every thing. Absolutely a great read. It brought back so many memories of the lakes I have fished. Your easy catch at Ozette was one. I never got a Clallum County record. I did fish Ozette a couple of times and caught lots of perch and Squawfish but no bass. A couple of big Squawfish smacked top water Rapalas and gave me a brief thrill. One Squawfish was over 19 inches long. I will look forward to reading your book.

8theB8

10/17/2018 8:20:45 AM

I appreciate it Bob, can't help but say I felt I was retracing a few of your footsteps along the way! Squawfish in Ozette might water down my desire to pull all the way back over there? Those are some crazy roads!

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