May 22, 2018
Fishing Time: 5:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
Rating: 8
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: 5.74 pounds
I’ve been having some fantastic fishing outings over these last couple of weeks, so in order to keep the streak going, I decided to go back to Lake Washington to see if I could land some more monster bass. I got to the lake at around 5:00 p.m. and started fishing the point just right of the Newport Shores Canals. I worked the docks with my wacky worm and the rocky drop offs with my jerkbait, but wasn’t able to get anything to bite. I wanted to try some areas that I missed during my last trip to Washington, so I motored all the way up to the VMAC to fish the pilings around there. I started at the far point and worked my way down towards the Seahawks training facility. When I got to the Seahawks training facility, I noticed that there were a lot of old wooden walls and pilings left over from where the old lumber yard used to be. I cast my wacky worm around the pilings and on my fifth cast, I felt something pick up my worm. I set the hook and managed to get a 1 pound smallmouth into the boat. After releasing the fish, I noticed that there was another wooden wall positioned on the edge of a brush pile. Knowing that there would probably be a bass there, I cast right in between the wall and the brush pile to see if I could get something to bite. Nothing bit on the fall, but after I gave my worm a few twitches, I felt something knock by worm. I gave a huge hookset and knew that I was into a quality bass. The bass put up a great fight and when I got it into the boat I saw that it had a huge gut on it. I put it on the scale and it came out to be a solid 3.24 pound smallmouth. I worked the rest of the shoreline by the Seahawks training facility, but didn’t get anymore bites. Once I was done there, I motored back down to fish a rocky point near Newport Shores Beach. The point set up perfectly for a jerkbait, but I was only able to pull a 0.5 pound dink from the spot. After that the wind really started to pick up, so I headed over to fish the gravel flats under the I-90 bridge. It took a few casts with my jerkbait, but eventually I was able to trigger a bass to bite. It ended up being another 1 pound smallmouth. I made that my last bass of the day and headed back in once I released the fish.
Observations: The water temperature ranged from 65-69 degrees, which is a lot warmer than it was during my last outing on Lake Washington. Once again, the bass seemed to be really shallow, with all of my bass coming in less than 10 feet of water. I caught my biggest bass of the day in less than 2 feet of water, which leads me to believe that all of the big bass are hiding in thick vegetation in shallow water. The bass seem to be just about done with the spawn, as all of the beds I spotted were vacated. One thing that I noticed today was that the bass were all actively feeding. Every bass that I caught swallowed my bait, which shows me that they are most likely recovering from the spawn. With another bass over 3 pounds, Lake Washington once again made its case for the top lake in Washington State.