Waking up at 4 am may not seem like a good time for most, but for me, I knew I headed out fishing. When I arrived at 7 am I could feel that it was going to be a great day out at Riffe Lake with some slight overcast conditions.

I had my rod setup with a Silver/Green Sling Blade Dodger from Mack’s Lure with a small chartreuse fly tipped with a piece of shrimp that I had brined the night before. Started trolling with this setup as I set my second rod up with a similar combination but in pink. Instantly out of the corner of my eye I could see my rod just get hammered! I knew today was going to be a great day. Landed this nice 18” Landlocked Coho Salmon, a species I have been wanting to check off my bucket list for some time now. The rest of the day was just hit after hit with some nice sized Coho Salmon.

I am glad that I made the trip a couple of days prior to Outdoor Emporium and picked up some more tackle for this trip. Something about new tackle always attracting fish. My go-to setup was a 4oz dropper, green/silver Sling Blade dodger, and a chartreuse fly. The troll speed was about 1.7-1.9 mph with about 120ft of line behind me. They key here was to vary the speed to entice the fish to bit, so making some sudden stops and acceleration really triggered the fish to just hammer the lure.

All the fish caught was right by the Dam. Leaving the boat launch at Mossyrock campgrounds. Up against the back wall on the opposite side of the lake. Fishing in 180-200 FOW going about 80-100 feet deep.

My video can be seen here: https://youtu.be/oaUw1rAD2Qw

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