April 25, 2015
Fishing Time: 11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Rating: 5
Weather Conditions: Sunny with clear skies and occasional wind gusts
Bait: Drop Shot with Strike King Green Pumpkin Dream Shot Worm and Quick Drop 1/4 ounce weight
Rod: Megabass Orochi XX Drop Shot Rod
Reel: Shimano Sustain
Line: 7-pound Sunline Super Sniper FC
Total Bass Caught: 2
Final Weigh in Weight: 2.27 pounds
After having a little bit of success on Lake Sammamish last weekend, I decided to go out and try Lake Meridian because it is a much smaller lake, which I thought would mean warmer water temperatures and more active bass. However, when I got there this was not the case. The water temperature was identical to that of Lake Sammamish, which was discouraging, but I still had hope that I could catch them. Since I had more time to fish, I decided to fish the whole lake counter-clockwise. I decided to start off by fishing my drop shot, just to get a few in the boat, but after the first few docks it became clear that I would not be able to do so on the right hand side of the lake. All of the docks on that side were shallow and weed infested and the weeds continued to 30 feet plus, which made them almost impossible to fish. In order to deal with this, I switched over to a green pumpkin jig and a red crawfish colored crankbait. Unfortunately, the only bites that I got came from trout, which were extremely aggressive and bit my lures on every single cast. After a disappointing run on the right side, I finally made it to the left hand side of the lake. As we came to the first dock on that side, I looked down at the fishfinder and noticed that the temperature was a whole two degrees warmer than on the right hand side. In addition to this, the docks were all in depths of 20 plus feet, which were perfect for the water temperature. Most importantly, the bottom was rocky, which made it a lot easier for me to fish. All of these factors made me almost certain that there were bass on this side. Since the bottom was rocky, I switched back to my drop shot and on my first cast, my worm was hammered by a bass. I set the hook, but unfortunately it shook off. This was a little disappointing, but it gave me hope that there were bass in the area. I moved down a few docks and made a perfect cast right in-between a dock and a boat elevator and instantly my lure was picked up by a bass. I set the hook and this time I was able to bring it into the boat. After weighing it on the scale, it came out as a 1.27 pound smallmouth bass. I then continued my way along the left hand side and after a while I came to a dock positioned right in the sun. I cast to the dock and let it sit for almost two minutes. I was just about to reel it back in, when I felt something hit it. I set the hook and was able to bring in a 1 pound smallmouth. Unfortunately, the weeds came back after that dock and I wasn’t able to catch anymore fish before I headed in.
Observations: The water temperature ranged from 57-59 degrees around the lake, which was much colder than I anticipated because Lake Sammamish currently has the exact same water temperature and Lake Meridian is much smaller. The water on the right hand side was around 57-58 degrees, while the water on the left hand side was 58-59 degrees. Oddly enough, the water on the left hand side was a lot deeper. I caught my two bass in depths of 20 and 25 feet of water, which is what I would expect for this time of the year. Both bass were holding close to cover and wouldn’t bite unless you made a perfect cast down to them. I believe that the trick to this lake right now is just to find the warmest water on the lake and fish the structure around there, as both of my catches fit this mold.