Lake Sammamish 6/7/2015

June 7, 2015

Fishing Time: 6:00 a.m. – 9:00 a.m.

Rating: 7

Weather Conditions: Sunny with clear skies

Bait: Drop Shot with Poor Boy’s Baits 4″ Green Pumpkin Erie Darter 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: 3

Final Weigh in Weight: 4.2 pounds

 

Poor Boy’s Baits recently sent me some of their baits to try out. This included four packs of Erie Darters and 3 packs of Darter Jig heads. With this said, I would like to start out by thanking them for being so kind and giving me the opportunity to review their baits. For days, I have been dying to get out onto the water and give these baits a try and today I finally found some free time to get out onto the water. I started bright and early and was one of the first boats to launch. The sun was still low in the sky and only the left hand side of the lake was illuminated by the sun’s rays. I figured that the bass would be basking in the sun, so I decided to give the left hand side of the lake a try and start by fishing at Eagle Point. This point was up near the north end of the lake and had been extremely productive for me in the past, so I was optimistic that I would catch some nice bass around there. On about the third dock that we came to, I made a picture perfect cast between two pillars of a dock. After twitching the worm for a while, I felt my line get heavy, so I set the hook and was able to land a nice smallmouth bass. I put it on the scale and it ended up weighing 1.2 pounds. Unfortunately, the bite went cold after that and after another hour or so of fishing Eagle Point, I noticed that the right hand side of the lake was beginning to get some sunlight, so I packed up and headed over to the rock dock. I cast a jig and drop shot around the rock dock, but once again came up empty handed. It’s been quite a while since I’ve caught a bass at the rock dock and my confidence in the spot is starting to falter. After that I just continued to work my way down the right side of the lake. I worked my way by the v-shaped dock and still wasn’t able to get a bite. I then came to a dock that was filled with the aroma of fish. I was extremely surprised that the dock smelled so fishy, but took this as a good omen and decided to fish it. On my fifth cast, I saw my pole begin to load up, so I set the hook and the fight was on. The bass swam all over, taking line and swimming under the boat, but eventually I was able to bring in the monster smallmouth. I put him on the scale and he came out to be 2.5 pounds, which is great sized bass for Lake Sammamish. After this, I went over to the area with my favorite two tiered dock and was able to land a small 0.5 pound smallmouth. I then noticed that a lot of recreational boaters were beginning to come out, so I decided to call it quits and head in.

 

 

Observations: The water temperature ranged from 69-71 degrees, which is colder than I expected given the nice weather we have been having and the previous water temperature of 71-73 degrees. The bass that I caught seemed to be in 20 feet of water and they were all extremely feisty and fought well for their size. In regards to the Erie Darter, I have to say that I’m thoroughly impressed. I do admit that I originally thought that the Erie Darter was a little chunky, but the smallmouth seem to absolutely love it. In fact, I have come to appreciate the bulkiness of the Darter because other than the one brave 0.5 smallmouth, all of my bites were coming from pretty decent sized fish. All in all, it was a great day on the water and I look forward to fishing the Erie Darter more in the future.