Lake Sammamish Cutthroat

With the beautiful weather we've been having, I spent the past couple of days fishing the south end of the lake from my inflatable yak.   I trolled a worm tipped wedding ring about 40" behind either a small Worden's flasher or Macks flash light gang trolls.   I had success with both rigs, but I think I prefer the gang trolls better as the stiff wire helps keep the rig from getting tangled.   I used 2 oz weight about 80 pulls out trolling at a light paddle which I estimate to be around 1 mph.  I'm guessing the rig is about 20 feet deep but have no way of knowing for sure.

I tried using 3oz weight but felt it was too much and didn't allow me to feel the fish on the retrieve;  whereas with 2oz I do.  1 oz isn't enough to get the rig down.

On Tuesday afternoon I landed 2 cutthroat:  the first was about 10 inches which I released and the second a really nice 2.5 lb 18" which fought pretty hard but came right to the net after a few line stripping runs.  Definitely got my adrenaline going.

Yesterday I lost my first 2 fish at the kayak.  Once close to the yak, both jumped from the water and self-released.  One almost landed right in the kayak.   With the flasher and long leader, it's a little tricky to control the fish from the yak to direct it in the net.  I figured the next fish I'd try to tire out a bit before landing it. 

The next two were successfully landed.  Both were 12".    So 4 take downs in about 4 hrs 1:30 - 6 pm.  Beautiful day out there, water was glassy with the exception of the few waterski boats.

Getting ready to smoke them this afternoon.

I have to admit it's a little tough paddling around with no fish finder, just hoping you're fishing at the right depth and where the fish are, but for now I want to keep it as simple as possible. 

I spent some time last night re-tying my wedding rings with new 8 lb leader and some larger #4 Brad's hooks which I've had good success with.

If anyone would like to join me again on the lake, let me know.  The next few days look sunny. 

tight lines!

You might want to check your regs. Cuts are usually catch and release!

Photosenior,

Cutts are C&R only in saltwater. In freshwater they are legal to keep in lakes or rivers. It's in the regs.

Wolvy is right on that. Lots of great cutty fishing in Sammamish and Lk Wash.


Z

WALakes.com has a ton of reports right now for Sammamish.  All good reports too.  http://www.washingtonlakes.com/ReportComment.aspx?id=58150&lid=466&t=1

On Friday, I launched on the north end from Idylwood and trolled the west side down to the first point.  Had 4 hookups in the first 90 minutes, lost the first three, but then landed a nice 15" rainbow.

Still good fishing.  I'm heading out again this afternoon.

went out today from 1pm till about 5.  Only had 2 take downs and both got off.  I spoke to another person trolling with downriggers and he said the fishing was slow as well.  He had caught just 1 cut at about 40ft depth.  I think at best I'm fishing around 25 ft depth with 2oz of weight and about 100 ft of line.  I put on a 3oz weight to try to get deeper, but got nothing. 

I did catch one 9" perch with the wedding ring/worm set up just outside the buoys south of idylwood, but that was it for the day.   I hope there's more good cut fishing to be had before the water temp drops.   I'm curious to see what others report for today on washington lakes.

hope you've got a cart to get you to and from the water from the parking lot at Idylwood. last time i was there, had to drag both up and down the grass cause i didn't have a cart. fish there seem really moody. but, maybe that's cause of the bald eagles hanging out at the north end by Marymoor park.

 This time of year, with the salmon heading for the hatchery on Issaquah creek, the cutties hang out more in the south end of the lake.

thanks for the advice wolverine,

i had success both on the north and south end last week, but after todays slow action I'll drive the extra 15 minutes to the south end of the lake.   lake sam state park has an easier launch and i wont have to drag the kayak up that hill at the end of the day like at idylwood. 

the regs say you can't fish within 100 yds of the mouth of the issaquah creek, so i'll be sure to stay outside that.

good luck to you all.   

........  lake sam state park has an easier launch and i wont have to drag the kayak up that hill at the end of the day like at idylwood. 

not a fan of the 1/4 mile uphill drag event either, i see...

I hope there's more good cut fishing to be had before the water temp drops.

I actually think the cutt fishing in Lake Sammamish (and Washington) is better in the winter.  The fish are shallower too!

-Allen

I agree with PP. I lived near Lake WA in the mid/late 60's, near Clyde Beach. Some of my friends and i would often fish from the dock there.  The cutthroat fishing seemed to always pick up in Oct and Nov, and wasn't bad the few times we'd hit it mid-winter.
 We'd also catch Kokanee from that dock back then, in the Spring. We'd chum them in close and use a single egg on a #14 hook and 3' of 2# leader on a long, light rod, and a small bullet-shaped slip sinker above the swivel. I used a small closed-face spinning reel with 4# mainline on an 8' flyrod for fishing from the dock. We'd cast out, let it sink to the bottom, retrieve it slowly up, often using a hand-twist retrieve that an old fly angler showed us.
If there were any cutts around, we'd often use two leaders, and have a worm on the other hook.

CHM/PP:
that's great to hear that cutt fishing can be good thru the fall and into winter.  I was out on lake sam again on Thursday afternoon with a friend so we had a couple of rods trolling the south end of the lake.  We picked up 3 cutts, 2 at 14" and one about 11" which we released, in about 3 hrs of fishing.  The winds were a little strong out of the south so the conditions were a little more challenging than the past couple of weeks, but still no problems with boat control, etc.   caught them using wedding rings and also a frog needlefish.

The filet meat is a deep orange/red and I'm getting ready to smoke them today now that they've been cured and dried in the refrigerator.   the others have been delicious, very much like smoked salmon.

I just started fishing last year and kayak fishing this spring and I've certainly experienced quite a learning curve both fishing the rivers and also still fishing and trolling from the kayak on lakes.  I hope to get out in the salt next year with other kayakers  as I now have confidence in my skills and equipment.  Safety in numbers.

tight lines everyone!

Fished Lake Samamish tonight with a buddy.  Wish I had read this post earlier.  That was a haul having to wheel two Pro Anglers back up the path to the parking lot.

We trolled small Quickfish lures from downriggers. We each went to check our lines after about 45 minutes and both of us had small salmon on the line - neither tripped the down rigger.  Are these kokanee?