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This is an odd report, the initial plan was to explore the possibility that there is walleye in Lake Samish. I know, I know NOT… That said the WDFW thinks otherwise and per the regulations walleye are actively managed in the lake. Secondly over the years we have hooked and lost a couple fish that could have been walleye while kokanee fishing.

Saturday night went to sleep with thoughts of walleye fritters on the brain and an alarm set for 3:00 Sunday morning. Up before the alarm I had the boat loaded with both the kokanee gear, the warm water tackle bag and a bucket of nightcrawlers. Ready to go I went to wake the wife up and it was a no go. As I was wondering if she was alive or not, she finally grumbles that she would meet me at the lake later in the morning. With that, I was rolling…

The launch was uneventful and in no time, I was motoring across the lake. Although the original plan was to focus on walleye the kokanee side of my brain took over and out came the kokanee gear. For the first hour it was a koke-a-polusa, non-stop action with numerous doubles. Even though I was losing more than hooked in no time I put 5 or 6 in the box. Knowing that the an appropriately caffeinated wife would want to fish kokanee I stowed the kokanee gear and got to the business of hunting walleye.

Before I go further it should be noted that either I am not the world’s most accomplished walleye fisherman or my timing sucks. Maybe it is a combination of the two and the fact that I rarely target walleye… While trolling for kokanee I had marked a few areas where a predator seemed to be feeding on a school of perch. I had decided that they would be a good starting point so I got to the business of catching a bug-eyed phantom.

Using my 2-pole endorsement I deployed a nightcrawler threaded on a slow death hook, pill float and a smiley blade behind a 2 oz bottom walker on one rod. The other rod was rigged with a bottom walker, a 36” leader and a perch crankbait. It seemed that the schools of perch were holding in about 60’ of water so that’s where I started.

I would like to say that I enjoyed red-hot walleye fishing but it was not meant to be. Trolling at about 1 MPH I had 2 solid takedowns both on the nightcrawler rig but that was it. I don’t think that either were walleye and were probably a smallmouth or a bullhead that had latched on to the nightcrawler. Walleye are eating machines and will swim up behind a crawler rig, mouth wide open and try to swallow everything. Will I try again? I think so, but will most likely continue to concentrate on the abundance of kokanee swimming around in Lake Samish.

Somebody say kokanee? About 10:00 the wife had texted that she was about 10 minutes out so I stowed the gear and headed for the beach. Wife and the strangest tasting peanut butter coffee drink onboard we headed back out and got to work. On our kokanee game we were enjoying a slow pick but losing more than otherwise. With 10 or 12 onboard we decided to head for the little lake. Arch folded down and just barely squeezing under the bridge in no time we were fishing again. In short order we finished off out boat limit. I won’t say lights out fishing but considering the swirling winds we enjoyed some solid fishing. We had numerous doubles and even a triple or 2 before the clicker read 20.

Aside from my walleye experiment throughout the day we were in our usual kokanee mode. Arrow Flash dodgers, custom tied kokanee flies and some flavor of scented corn. To plug my new iTroll and the optional hunt mode I had it programmed to cycle between 4 and 7% throttle (1.0-1.4 MPH), a 1% step with 2-minute hold between steps. I noticed that most fish hit as we went from 5 to 6% throttle or about 1.3 MPH. The hot depth range 23-26 feet. Colors of the day were pink and purple behind a black dodger.

Although no walleye fritters for dinner we ended up with limits of 8 ½” to almost 13” kokanee. Going to fire up the Trager tomorrow and do a load of kokanee. As long as it is out of the garage, I see a couple of smoked meatloaves coming on… Walleye or no walleye it was a great day on the water. A quick tip; with most of our local lakes going to a 10 fish kokanee limit keeping track of your catch can be a challenge. Get a clicker, click away and when you hit 10, 20 or 10 times the number of fisher people onboard your day is over. No more cold fingers and a slimy deck while you count fish!

FJohn

6/1/2021 6:52:37 AM

60 Feet is really, really deep for Walleye. Big adjustment for me (from the midwest) to get used to people fishing that deep. Sounds like a good trip.

Elsea

6/1/2021 8:38:47 PM

so 15 years ago a guy brought a Walleye in to the store saying it was a perch and the biggest one he had ever caught, I told him it wasn't a perch but a Walleye and he told me it caught iy up at Samish. And that was the one and only Walleye i have ever seen come out of there

rseas

6/1/2021 8:43:17 PM

The store, Holiday Sports?

Toni

6/3/2021 8:09:16 AM

Thanks Randy! Great report. I need a clicker. I have trouble after 3 of anything.

Bad knot

6/5/2021 5:38:07 PM

There's big pike minnows in samish lake that could confuse some people thinking there are walleye in the lake

rseas

6/5/2021 5:44:04 PM

True, and over the years we have caught a few healthy size specimens.

ampfish

6/5/2021 6:49:31 PM

I worked at a local tackle shop in the early 2000s had 2 different people come in claiming theyed caught a walleye one said his was 10lb he had caught it under the bridge never saw any pics ive spent lots of time smallmouth fishing out there if there were any numbers of them i would caught one while bass fishing have in other lakes i always chalked it up to pike minnows being mis identifed ive caught a couple out there pushing 5 lbs its always intrigued me been wanting to try and at h some did some reserch on line a fewyears ago found something saying they tried planting them in there but didn’t really take but wasnt much info on when

rseas

6/5/2021 7:04:10 PM

I did the same, very limited information but it does appear that the WDFW had issued a permit back in the late 80s to study walleye in Samish.

It sure would be nice if they could identify a westside lake to populate with walleye. It couldn't have any access to a body of water hosting a salmon population so who knows...

ifightnerdz

6/8/2021 8:48:45 AM

It's very rare that you will catch a suspended walleye. I know you see it back east, but in those lakes they have millions of walleye. If they are in your lake target the outer edges if weed beds or rock points.

I love going outside your box though. I've recently started doing it myself and there is nothing cooler than getting it all figured out. Props to you!

Tpofishing

6/12/2021 8:13:02 PM

I wish! I love Walleye but never caught one in Samish. I did notice that the 2021 has a walleye limit in most westside lakes this year. I called WDFW and asked why? They said the people that make the pamphlet made an error. Really??? WDFW does not proof read the regs before they go out? Maybe I am missing something?

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