May 15, 2020
Fishing Time: 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
Rating: 7
Weather Conditions: Sunny with clear skies
Bait: Gary Yamamoto 5″ Green Pumpkin/Watermelon Senko with 1/0 Gamakatsu Wacky Worm Hook; 1/4 ounce Strike King Tour Grade Bluegill Swim Jig with 3.8″ Keitech Pro Blue Red Pearl FAT Swing Impact Swimbait;
Rod: G-Loomis GX2 Jig and Worm Rod; Abu Garcia Veritas Winch Crankbait Rod
Reel: Quantum Catalyst PT; Shimano Curado Casting Reel
Line: 8-pound Seaguar InvizX Fluorocarbon; 12-pound Yo-Zuri Hybrid Fishing Line
Total Bass Caught: 2
Final Weigh in Weight: 2.85 pounds
While managing to set a new season best on each of my last three outings, I decided to hit the lake once again to see if I could keep the hot streak going. I arrived at 6:00 p.m. and, wanting to try the south end of the lake, made the long trek down to the Gene Coulon Park point. Since the bottom was rather weedy there, I started out by using a swim jig to work the edges of the docks. On just my fifth cast of the day, I cast down the left side of a long, narrow dock and began slowly retrieving my lure. Almost instantly, I felt something swallow my bait. I gave a huge hook set and within minutes had my first bass of the day in the boat. When I put it on the scale, it came out to be a 1.82 pound smallmouth.
It’s always nice to catch a bass on your first few casts, so with one already on the board I was looking forward to another big day. However, just as I turned the corner to start fishing the next stretch of docks, I saw that someone was already fishing it. In order to be courteous, I decided to give the other fisherman some space and motor over to the rocky flats by Boeing. When I got there, the area looked extremely promising, but after working the entire shoreline with my swim jig, it became clear that there were no bass there.
Thinking that the answer may be boat docks, I headed over to the southern tip of Mercer Island to try some of the docks around there. I worked the docks with my swim jig and wacky rig, but as was the case with my last spot, was left without a bite.
After back-to-back misses on my last two spots, I decided to try a new area and headed over to the docks east of Newcastle Beach Park. I had never fished there before, but when I saw that the docks were in shallow, weedy water I immediately reached for my wacky rig. I made a long cast over to the sunny side of the first dock that I came to and, before my worm could even hit the bottom, felt something devour my lure. I gave a quick hook set and the fight was one on with my second bass of the day. This one ended up being smaller than the first and weighed in at 1.03 pounds.
With a bass on my first cast in the area, I was hoping that I had found a new hot spot. However, the other docks proved to be less productive and, after going twenty minutes without another bite, I decided to head in and call it a day.
Observations: The water temperature ranged from 61-64 degrees today, showing that the water is starting to heat up. The two bass that I caught both came in less than eight feet of water and were hanging out near the sides of boat docks. This may be a sign that the bass are starting to move towards shady cover and will definitely be something to monitor moving forward. Another thing to note is that the two bass that I caught both came from docks that had a lot of vegetation surrounding them. The two bites that I got were also extremely aggressive and it was encouraging to see that the bass were willing to chase a moving bait. All in all, it was another solid outing that would only have been accentuated by a 2+ pounder.