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It had been a while since I last fished the lake, or wet a line for that matter. Finally with some good weather forecast and the remnants of my lingering cold all but gone, I headed out this morning to try my luck. I was prepared for a slow day, the lake had recently turned over and the pressure was on a steady upwards climb. I concentrated my efforts for cutts on the South end of the lake between Mercer Island and the mouth of the Cedar river. Although I marked a few fish and managed a takedown, the skunk was still on the boat mid afternoon. I decided to target perch for a half hour and did find some in the 65' to 75' range. The fish weren't in their typical large schools so staying right on top of them once located was key. For some reason I lost more on the way up than I managed to get into the boat, I think it may have been due to the size of the fish. I did not hook into any over 9” and I hope it was simply me not spending time to locate more schools. Last season was pretty poor for large perch and I'd hate for that to be the case this season as well.

As I mentioned, the lake has recently turned over, the temps are pretty much the same throughout the entire water column. Surface temps ranged from 47 to 50 degrees and there was evidence of a recent algae bloom. Given the rain we had, the lake is fairly clear except near the mouth of the creeks. I suspect the fishing will get better as the fish adjust to the new conditions.

I stuck with dragging around a mini hoochie behind a 6” Abe and Al flasher while I was targeting cutts, varying my depths from on the deck to just under the surface. My takedown occurred at 25' on the rigger in 45' of water. For the perch, I went with a miniaturized bottom fishing rig. I used a white glow grub on a dropshot rig that utilized a ½ ounce jig for a weight. Both lures I tipped with perch meat and kept it in contact with the bottom while watching the sonar. The sonar image I included shows perch hugging the bottom, my jigging action and a fish being brought to the surface.

Good luck out there, be safe and regardless of how nice the weather is this time of year, wear your life vest.

ballardbrad

12/14/2014 6:53:00 PM

Nice to hear I'm not the only one. Got out on the kayak Weds around Mercer Island/I90 just before the storm hit. The lake went from glass to 15mph winds and white caps to flat again. Saw many fish breaking water going after bait. Marked several good sized fish on my fish finder. I changed up lures 4 times with no luck.

Fished again on Saturday and nothing again. Lots of little guys feeding on insects on the surface.

slabman

12/15/2014 7:53:00 AM

G-man, I hit the south end and the areas around Mercer Island for perch several times this fall. Massive schools of perch like I have not seen over the last 4 years. 3 years ago we did not have to keep any that were under 10" and caught many that measured 12+ inches. You could fill a 5 gal bucket with the 10 to 12 inchers if you so desired. This year have to settle for the small guys to eat between 7 to 9 inches. Out of several hundred only measured 5 that were over 11 inches. Perch size will cycle like this as I have seen in many lakes in Eastern Wash when I lived over there. But since they are some of the best eaters I get out the electric knife and make short order for the fillets.

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