June 6, 2018
Fishing Time: 6:30 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.
Rating: 7
Weather Conditions: Sunny with Clear Skies
Bait: Lucky Craft Flash Pointer Chartreuse Shad 115 Jerkbait; Gary Yamamoto 5″ Green Pumpkin/Watermelon Senko with 1/0 Gamakatsu Wacky Worm Hook
Rod: Abu Garcia Veritas Winch Crankbait Rod; G-Loomis GX2 Jig and Worm Rod
Reel: Shimano Curado Casting Reel; Quantum Catalyst PT
Line: 12-pound Yo-Zuri Hybrid Fishing Line; 8-pound Seaguar InvizX Fluorocarbon
Total Bass Caught: 4
Final Weigh in Weight: 5.78 pounds
With a wet and rainy weekend in the forecast, I decided to take advantage of the last good day of weather and hit Lake Sammamish for the evening bite. I got to the lake at around 6:30 p.m. and started by fishing the rocky flats by the first point on the right. However, there were a lot of people out on their docks, so after a few casts I was forced to move spots. Since I had located a school of bass by rock dock last time, I decided to head over and fish the cove over there. I alternated between my jerkbait and my drop shot, using my drop shot to work the docks and my jerkbait to work the rocky flats in between each dock. I didn’t have any success on the first dock, but on the second dock I felt something hammer my drop shot worm. I gave a solid hookset, but was unable to hook into the bass. A few casts later, I had a big bass follow my jerkbait all the way back to the boat. It was inches from biting and I estimate it to be a 3 pound smallmouth. I worked that dock for a while, trying to get that bass to bite, but eventually I decided to move on. When I got to rock dock, I made the exact same cast as I did on my last outing and cast my jerkbait to the corner of the dock. I worked my jerkbait back to the boat and as soon as I ripped it past the corner piling, something hit hard. I gave a quick hookset and was able to bring in a dink 0.5 pounder. I continued working my way down the rocky shoreline and a few casts later I had another fish on. I managed to get it halfway back to the boat before it shook off. Judging from the bite and the fight it put up, I would estimate it to be a 1.5 pounder that got away. After that the bite went quiet, so I decided to motor around and try to find some new spots. As I was motoring north, I spotted a shallow area filled with logs and lay-downs. It reminded me a lot of Lake Washington, so I decided to give it a try. I worked each lay-down with my wacky worm and when I cast to the pocket in between three logs, I saw my line jump. I quickly set the hook and after a great fight I was able to bring in a solid 1.67 pound bass. I fished the rest of the area without success and then headed to another cove on the right hand side of the lake. When I arrived at the cove, I saw a ton of baitfish jumping, which I took as a good sign. However, once I saw how infested the cove had become with weeds, I realized that I probably wouldn’t be able to catch anything in there. At this point, the wind started to pick up, so I headed over to the west side of the lake to fish calmer water. I pulled up on a rocky point that was picture perfect for bass. The water was glass and there were grass beds that led to rocky drop offs. I worked my jerkbait right along the grass line and on my sixth cast, was rewarded with an aggressive bite. I gave a hard hookset, but about 3/4 of the way back to the boat I realized that the bass wasn’t hooked well. I did everything in my power to keep the bass from jumping and, fortunately, I was able to get the bass into the boat before the hook fell out. I fished the rest of the point, but didn’t get anymore bites. In an effort to duplicate my success fishing the weed lines, I decided to finish the day up at the state park. Just as I did at the previous spot, I cast right to the edge of the weed line and began retrieving my jerkbait. After a few twitches, I felt my jerkbait hit some weeds. I gave one hard rip and immediately something slammed my bait. I gave a huge hookset and was able to land another solid bass. This one came in at 1.50 pounds. After that, I realized how dark it was, so I decided to call it a day.
Observations: The water temperature ranged from 70-73 degrees, which is way warmer than it was the last time I fished the lake. As a result of the warmer water, the bigger bass seemed to be more active and more willing to chase a moving lure.The bass were pretty shallow today and all of the bass I caught came in less than 10 feet of water. The bass are definitely in the post spawn, as all of my bass were very skinny. I noticed today that the bass were holding really tight to cover, making casting accuracy very important. I believe that most of the larger bass are deep in the weeds and that working the weed lines is the key to catching more quality bass. All in all, it was nice to get some bigger bass on Sammamish today. My next goal will be to locate some smallmouth over 3 pounds and to find out where the largemouth hang out.
This is sick