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I have been itching to get the Tin Cup out on the water lately and Saturday was shaping up to be the day to do it. Weather looked like it was going to be decent, wife was visiting her mother in Wenatchee, chores were done, yea baby!

Got everything set up in the boat ( I thought) Friday night and was not sure if I was going to head down to American lake and try for some kokanees 1st and then hit Lake WA later for cuttys so set the coffee maker for 5:30 am and got up to listen to the outdoor line on 710AM and just as I was half way through my coffee, my phone rang and wouldn't you know it, I had a customer who needed assistance with some food products. Sooo, after heading down to Fife to get some products and delivery to the airport, it was now 11am so realized it was plan B that I would be doing.

Heading down the driveway with the Tin Cup in tow at 11:30 and was on the water at Atlantic City launch by noon. But as I was warming up the big motor realized something was missing~ my fish finder!!! Crap!! Now I have done this troll enough to know depths but was really hoping to chart out some new spots today since I had the whole rest of the day to fish but figured I better stick with what I knew best so headed straight across to the south tip of Mercer Island.

Started trolling north with the my standard go to lure to start with, the Brad's mini cut plug stuffed with chopped up herring but today added a scent bomb I had picked up at the Sportsman show and filled it with a mixture of chopped herring and herring dipping sauce. Thought I would start with long lining and an ounce and a half of lead so let out 100 feet of line and put her in the rod holder. Now I did bring my Garmin GPS that I use in the truck to see if it would work on the boat and sure enough, it did! So set my troll at 1.8mph and sat back to enjoy the day.

Not long into it had a solid take down but by the time I got it out of the rod holder, it didn't come back for a second bite. Worked my way up towards Seward park and then back down to the south tip of the island without another hit so switched over to a set up with a spin 'n glow and 3" gulp smelt with a double hook set up that had a sexy looking spin to it so set it back 100 feet behind the boat but went to the downrigger and set it at 21 feet. Pretty soon I saw the rod dancing and pulled it off the clip and fish on!! Not too big but a nice chrome sea run cutt so got to use my rubber net for the 1st time and put it in the boat.

After a couple hours of no action with a variety of different set ups, went back over by Paul Allen's house and put on 'old faithful' and was rewarded right away by a fish that ripped the line off the clip and started to peel line off my reel! Cool! As I got it back to about 50 feet behind the boat it went airborne and took another run but finally got her to the boat and number 2 was in the box! That was it but not a bad 1st trip of the Spring for me and the Tin Cup with both motors running like tops and even got 2 fish the old fashioned way, without electronics!

Will be back out tomorrow afternoon as my daughter wants to go before she heads out this Friday to back to working on the Disney cruise line for another 5 months so see you on the water!

DjButler

3/22/2014 9:50:00 PM

Nice, I'm glad you got some action. Makes me really feel like I missed out lol. Thanks for the invite, I'll have to check my messages more often.
-Dj

downriggeral

3/22/2014 11:11:00 PM

Hi Barry - Glad to hear the motors are running great; sure nice not to fight that! Great fish, thanks for sharing I always enjoy your reports.
Alan

Lord Of The Fly

3/22/2014 11:51:00 PM

Glad to hear you were able to release that searun cutthroat. Just wanted to clarify that in case someone on the forum thought you kept the searun cutthroat. Washington's Fishing Regulations prohibit the keeping of wild searun cutthroats.
DFW263555- "TCA asks the Commission to simplify and harmonize angling regulations rules as follows: Wild Steelhead, searun cutthroat and bull trout catch and release only state-wide, year round; no exceptions...." Thanks for the report.

gfakkema

3/23/2014 12:23:00 AM

Lord, maybe I'm blind and don't see it, but I cannot find anywhere in the regs that says that you are not allowed to keep sea run cuts from lake wa. I understand that in marine areas, retention is prohibited, but the regs only state that BOWS and STEELIES over 20" are off limjts for lake wa. I may have to do some more research, but what you listed seems to me seems like a request, and not a regulation ("TCA ASKS..."). If I am wrong, feel free to correct me.
Anyway, nice fish barry, my go to on Washington is also a brads cut plug. Not always the most productive, but when they do catch fish, they are usually a nice size.

Toni

3/23/2014 5:48:00 AM

Nice fish!

Mike Carey

3/23/2014 9:53:00 AM

gfakkema is correct, Let's not call people out on reg violations and then misquote the actual regs. It just confuses people and makes you look (fill in the blank)...

Easy Limits

3/23/2014 6:16:00 PM

Nice fish Barry!

Fish Dawg

3/23/2014 6:29:00 PM

Nice catch, Barry! Thanks for another great report. Were they filled with salmon smolts? I heard form Tom Pollock that they caught a few last week @ south end of the lake and they were packed with salmon smolts out-migrating from the Cedar.

salmonbarry

3/23/2014 9:12:00 PM

Thanks all! Yes they belched up a some little white smolts once in the cooler so today went back out and got another on that little set up with the spin 'n glow and 3" gulp shad minnow behind it!

Lord Of The Fly

3/25/2014 6:50:00 PM

I want to publicly apologize to Barry and everyone else on this forum. I was wrong about the searun cutt rule in Lake WA and it was very foolish and arrogant for me to post what I did. I'm sorry for offending Barry and confusing others in the forum. I ask for all of your forgiveness for my carelessness. Thank you. -LOTF

salmonbarry

3/25/2014 8:14:00 PM

No worries and good for you to send that reply~ I was not offended and always want to stay within the rules of fishing in our great state but was pretty confident I was okay with keeping them so didn't get too upset about it. Take care and sleep well as you are forgiven!!

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