Lake Washington Cutthroat Fishing

Fished Lake Washington over the weekend twice.  Yaktrap and I had little luck but a couple of Pikeminnow on Saturday while jigging. 

Sunday proved to be quite a different story.  I trolled about an hour and had a strong take down.  Big cutty jumped 3 times before I could get her to the boat then peeled the drag under my kayak for a better fight.  Almost 21".  I landed another right after that was 17 inches.

Beautiful fish! The sound of drag peeling is one of my all time favorite sounds.


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Gorgeous fish!! A 21" cutt is a tasty meal for 2!

Congrats! A 21" cutty out of lake Wash. is a real fatty. Heck that's big regardless.

Thanks. Yaktrap and I hit it again Saturday.  Landed a nice 22.5 inch rainbow and an 18 inch cutty.  Beautiful day on the water .

Nice. Care to share how you raised them? You gonna smoke some?

Btw, you made the right choice. The vedder was low and clear and seems to be offering up only the dirtiest of dogs at this point.

Hey Rory.  Got them trolling the south end of the lake using a Needlefish.  Got the big rainbow jigging a Krocodile in 50 feet of water.  They are both headed for the smoker tonight.

re: Chilliwack - The Vedder is probably close to being done. The steelhead will start coming in in December.  Hope to get up there then.  Cheers.

Like seward park area?

Lake WA is heating up again, and the fish know it. They are starting to get very aggressive (too bad for them). The water temps are starting to climb out of the basement, there's loads of bait around and there's plenty of trout for the taking. If your around Seattle area get some before they scatter to the depths or have to compete with the smallies for the near-shore bait later this month.

Time to fire up the smoker!

Nice feeshies.

I'm too lazy to look it up, but is a 20+ inch rainbow out of Lake WA considered a steelhead?  Thinking AOTY here ...   

-Allen

Nice feeshies.

I'm too lazy to look it up, but is a 20+ inch rainbow out of Lake WA considered a steelhead?  Thinking AOTY here ...   

-Allen

Lake WA and Sammamish: Release Rainbow and Steelhead 20+ inches, Dec - June (double check my dates, but it release season now). 

Any salmon <15 inches is a Kok in Lake WA and legal to take, release all Kok in Sammamish.

Never heard of anyone getting a Steelhead in Lake WA. Plenty of resident salmon being caught this year...aka Koks over 15 inches.

If it is interesting... from the Rules...

WASHINGTON, LAKE (King Co.)
including that portion of Sammamish
River from 68th Ave. NE Bridge
downstream (762) NO
In all waters of Lake Washington, KOKANEE/SOCKEYE less than 15" in length are KOKANEE while those
15" and over are SOCKEYE SALMON.
CLOSED to fishing from a floating device within 100 yards on either side of floating bridges.
ALL SPECIES - chumming permitted.
TROUT Mar. 1-June 30 Min. size 12". Daily limit 5. Release all STEELHEAD and RAINBOW
TROUT over 20".
TROUT July 1-Nov. 30 Statewide min. size/daily limit.
TROUT Dec. 1-Last day
in Feb.
No. min. size. Daily limit 5. Release all STEELHEAD and RAINBOW
TROUT over 20".
Other Game Fish Year-round Statewide min. size/daily limit.

Nice! How deep are you finding the fish right now? If you are using weight to get down there, about how much on an easy troll?

Putting in at Kirkland is an easy afternoon for me...I was already thinking about trying it...you got me a little more pumped. Thanks for the report.

Nice! How deep are you finding the fish right now? If you are using weight to get down there, about how much on an easy troll?

Putting in at Kirkland is an easy afternoon for me...I was already thinking about trying it...you got me a little more pumped. Thanks for the report.

Working drop-offs, steeper the better, that top off about 25 to 35 feet and go down sharp. I use leadcore 15#, about 4 to 5 colors (10 yds/color) and a whole herring, Brad's mini cut-plug lures, or even needlefish spoons and kwikfish lures. Trolling 1.2 to 1.8 mph usually does it, lots of turns seems to help too. Snap weights or DR will work, just put out 100' + of line before any weight.  Natural presentation is what it's about. they are very leader/gear shy fish with excellent eyesight. I often go down to 4# test leader if they are shy. Use your FF, find the bait schools and the big marks.

Had a great day with Fungunnin today. Two fish for each of us. They were boiling on the surface for a while there, got my heart rate up there, I live for this sort of thrill.

Damn nice reports boys!  I usually don't get too worked up about trout but you guys are getting some pigs.

-Spot-