Lake Washington 8/19-21

Got my new PA outfitted with a depth finder and hit lake washington the last few evenings for my first kayak fishing experience.  Now im totally hooked!

Caught a lot of perch including a handful of 12 inch jumbos on deep weedlines.  Thursday night I caught about a dozen big pikeminnows which i origonally thought were smallies until i got them to the boat, dissappointing.  At the end of that night i hooked what I thought was another pikeminnow and then it jumped.  It turned out to be a 3 lb+ small mouth.  Caught a few other bass largemouth and small but nothing over a pound.

I did have a question?  Friday and Saturday night when I was coming back in I noticed some birds causing a comotion out in the lake so I went to check it out.  When I got there bait was jumping all over the place and I was marking big schools under me.  Is this cutts chasing bait?  Ive never seen this kind of thing in freshwater before but Im also new to fishing Lake Washington.  How would somebody target these fish?

Zack

Here is the biggest smallie i caught, 18 inches

BigZ,

Nice job. I got into kayak fishing last fall and just rigged my tarpon with a FF. I live by Lake Washington in Kirkland and lately I've had the finder on even while going for casual paddles (ok, I drag a line too) with the wife in the evening. I've seen cutts chasing bait around out there, but I also wonder if some of the big hooks that show up on the flasher this time of year couldn't be kings moving through?

Last fall, Sept into October, I ran into cohos several times. It was cool to see them porpoising here and there. I don't remember the regs, but I believe you can fish for them starting October 1 or so. I gave it a shot several mornings, but with no luck. I plan to fish them a bit harder this fall. They are supposedly tight-lipped, but I did see a couple boats land fish close to me.

If anyone has any tips on fishing cohos in Lake Washington, I'd love to hear them. I can portage my kayak down to the lake from home, so I like the idea of rolling the 'yak down the street with a salmon slung over the shoulder.

By the way, were you fishing jigs for the perch and bass?

John

I mostly drop shot small plastics, I seem to pick up bigger perch with the bass.  Ive been sticking close to the north end of Magnusen Park and out in front of NOAA.

Nice Report and Smb! Thanks for sharing