Angling Report - Lake Washington - 03/30/21
The morning started out with very cold temps at or just above freezing with frost on the docks. Because of the very cold temps due to the clear skies overnight I decided to target smallmouth in the morning. I targeted bridge pilings West of Mercer Island and long rocky points West of Mercer Island. I found a school of fish just off the first set of pilings but I am guessing they were not smallmouth or that's what I will tell myself. I could see them moving around on the Humminbird 360. There must have been 10-15 fish. Not a single bite so I abandoned the pilings and went to fish some areas that look good but that had never produced in the past. I guess I'm too stubborn and I keep trying the same things over and over thinking at some point in time they have got to work. Plan failed. I abandoned ship before the sun peaked above the trees and decided I had to go all in on finding largemouth. I ran the back of every single pocket and bay on the Lake or just about from South to North pitching/skipping a senko, flick shake and drop shot, to docks and threw a bladed jig or flat side crankbait in between docks. I didn't get my first bite until 2:30PM.. This fish came in an area that I had practiced in for the tournament a few days before. I never got bit in the area during the tournament but during practice I shook a couple off. It's the only area I could get the greenies to show their selves. I guess that it was around 2.5-3lbs and you could tell it hadn't just moved up recently. The fish came off a laydown in about 1' of water and ate the Advantage Bladed Jig which is my go to after I trim the skirt up a little bit. This largie was actually the smallest largemouth I have caught on Lake Washington. Typically I target the Smallmouth on Lake Washington but not always and when I go after the green ones they tend to be 4+ so this fish was a bit disappointing but it got the Lake Washington largemouth skunk out of the boat for the season. I still have no idea where the largemouth honey hole is this time of year. Soon more largemouth will be pushing shallow but in general I think many are still stuck to the bottom out deep or in the 1 million scattered weed patches throughout the lake. On another note there was active netting of bass going on today. They were netting in 0-20 or 30' targeting bass. There was maybe 50 nets out I didn't count but I could see them everywhere. Netting damages the ecosystem, kills bass, kills other fish species and other wildlife such as birds, beavers, turtles, otters etc.
- Tow Vehicle: Ford F-150 FX4
- Boat: BassCat Pantera Classic
- Motor: Mercury ProXs 200hp
- Trolling Motor: MinnKota Ultrex 80lb.
- Electronics: Humminbird Helix 12" x 2, Humminbird Mega 360, Hydrowave
- Rods: Dobyns DC 736CB GLASS
- Reels:6.3:1 Dawa Tatula SV TW
- Line: 30 lb Cortland Master Braid - Moss Green – Cortland Line North America with a 20lb. Shooter leader
- Lures used: Advantage Bladed Jig w/ Zoom Speed Craw
- Pressure: no clue but we were post frontal.
- Moon Phase: Few days past full
- Weather: Sunny
- Air Temp: 33-52
- Water Temp: 46-52.2
- Water Clarity: Stained to Muddy. Overall the visibility was probably a few inches to 4' depending on the area. The water clarity varied greatly all over the lake and even within a general area the water clarity could be 6" or 3'.
- Areas targeted: bridge pilings , main lake tapering points and backs of pockets/bays in the afternoon