Well another Lake Washington Cutthroat derby is in the books. I fished the morning hours and knocked off around 10:00 run in and help setup the reception and weigh-in at Coulon Park. The morning bite was a bit slow, but that was to be expected with the nearly full moon and the change in conditions we experienced. Focusing mainly on the north end, especially around Kirkland and Juanita, we kept our gear fairly close to the deck in 25 to 50 feet of water. We had three fish on and brought two to the boat, all on different gear. Our large fish was heavy enough (2lbs 12 oz) for second place and hit in 45’ of water with my mini Howie fly but a few feet off the bottom.

Examining her stomach contents (the neighbors kids are still talking about it) confirmed my suspicions that these fish were rummaging around in the weeds during the cool, wee hours of the morning. It’s not every day you find a rock bass in the stomach of a trout. This girl was doing her part to clear out invasive species and I felt bad for removing her from the lake especially given she was also the survivor of what looked to be an eagle attack.

Big fish for the tournament weighed in a 3lbs 3 ozs and was caught in the “I-90 area.” Seems every year the winning fish gets smaller. I’m thinking we can put a bullet in the theory that the cutts are to blame for the decline in the Sockeye population.

Just a couple of notes: The perch have finished spawning and are not in eating shape, it will probably be a month or so before they put on enough weight to look normal again. The stickleback die off during the spawn was very minimal this year or, it has just started. We only saw a few floaters on Saturday and those were the first of the season that I have seen.

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