April 19, 2015
Fishing Time: 11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Rating: 5
Weather Conditions: Sunny with clear skies
Bait: Drop Shot with Roboworm Aaron’s Magic Fat 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: 1
Final Weigh in Weight: 1.25 pounds
After getting a new rod and reel, I had the itch to get out onto the water and after three straight days of nice weather, I decided that today would be the day to try them out. After launching the boat, I decided to try the docks located on the point just right of the boat launch. I headed to this point because the night before I had taken a look at a map and this particular point appeared to have the rockiest bottom. I fished around there for a while and the rocky bottom was exactly what I was looking for. I rotated between my drop shot, a red crawfish colored crankbait, and a orange finesse jig, but couldn’t seem to get any bites. I continued until the bottom turned weedy and then decided to move over to my favorite v-shaped dock. When I arrived I noticed that the water was a whole degree warmer than my previous spot, which was encouraging. I cast my crankbait around the dock for quite some time and only managed one follower. Then I switched to my trusty drop shot rig. At this point, the sun had positioned itself so that it was shining on a small spot of the v-shaped dock. I cast to this spot and after about a minute of twitching my worm, I felt a bite. I quickly set the hook and brought in my first bass of the season. It ended up being a 1.25 pound smallmouth, which isn’t huge, but was definitely better than nothing. After this I worked the docks in that area for a while longer, but couldn’t manage anymore bites. In my final effort, I decided to motor over to the rock dock. I made a few casts and on my fifth cast, my worm was absolutely blasted by a bass. It was such a big strike that it almost took the rod out of my hand. I set the hook, but unfortunately it got away. I tried casting back to the rock, but didn’t get anymore bites. After that I decided to head in, satisfied with my one bass.
Observations: The water temperature ranged from 57-59 degrees around the lake, which is much warmer than I expected it to be at this time of the year. My sole bass came in 25 feet of water, in a water temperature of 58.4 degrees. The bass seemed to holding close to cover that the sun was shining on. I caught my bass on the sunny side of the dock and my second bite also came on the sunny side of the dock, which tells me that this may be the pattern for the next couple of weeks. With the rise in water temperature and the warmer weather, the bass are beginning to get more active and I look forward to getting out onto the water more often.
I came out to lake Sammamish right before you went out. With the water temp rising I decided to try and do some sight fishing for spawning bass. Didn’t get any bites though. I tried the docks right of the boat launch and also the sunken forest. I used a pumpkin football head jig. Just thought i’d mention it because if fished about 2 hours before you did.
The water is extremely clear in Lake Sammamish right now, so sight fishing for spawning bass should heat up soon. I would also suggest fishing a little later in the day because the water doesn’t really warm up until the afternoon and that is when the bass will start to move up towards the docks and the shallows. Otherwise, they will be a little deeper and harder to find. I really appreciate you sharing your outing and hope that you continue to do so in the future.
Thanks a bunch!!!