You're making me jealous KC. I'm off until Aug 15 and I've only made it out 4 times. I almost went today, but the wind and rain talked me out of it.
You're making me jealous KC. I'm off until Aug 15 and I've only made it out 4 times. I almost went today, but the wind and rain talked me out of it.
Take a kid fishing make some reel memories!
Well, today didn't feel anything like the end of July. My daughter and I headed north at around 7:00 in the drizzle and decided to explore the NF Lewis instead of heading right for the lake to try and avoid some rain.
On the river I was a bonified greenhorn but had two drive by's with the steelhead. My girl was having fun wandering and finding "treasures" as a gentleman who was sitting nearby walked up and said "Is this the spot" with a smirk. I jokingly said "I guess so." He was fishing a similar set-up and joined in the casting. On his second cast his float was about 15 ft. behind mine in the same swirl and he shouted the fomous "fish on!" It was fun watching him land an 8-10lb steelie.
We fished there a little longer and then headed to Merwin. Between 12-12:40 we went 2-4 and then packed up to come home. All in all it was a wonderful daddy and me day for the two of us.
[homemade set-up on one rod and a watermelon Vances dodger and hoochie on the other]
Last edited by MackPrince; 07-22-2011 at 08:24 PM.
Take a kid fishing make some reel memories!
Sounds like a real nice morning. Glad you got a couple of Merwin chromers.
Made it up there on Sunday. What a spectacular day! Weather was beautiful! Water temp at the surface was 67 degrees. Took us a while to get started and to find the right spot, but we were able to limit out before 1:00. The fish are nice and fat this year! A couple of 14 inchers and the smaller ones actually measure over 11 inches. We got most on chartreuse spinners and Shasta sling blades, and a couple on a special custom spinner with a Sep's dodger between 40 and 50 feet. Speed was 1.2 to 1.8 on the GPS.
Tight lines!
When you hear hoof beats, think horses, not zebras...
I fished Merwin Friday morning. It took about 4 1/2 hours to get my five. The fish have moved from where I was catching them and I had to find where they were. I caught my fish between 30-40 feet . The wedding rings and sling blades that I had been using for the past month did not work. I caught all my fish on the 1.0 silver scale apex and a fire tiger spinner that I make. Before I processed the fish they were all 13 3/4 to 14 1/4 inches. I talked to several boats at the dock and the were not doing well. Three boats with five fisherman had 0. It is important to find some fish and stay in that area. If the bite goes off I keep working a small area until the bite comes back. Too many people catch a fish and keep going down the lake, often into water that has no fish. Sometimes it is hard but I try to follow a simple rule: DON'T LEAVE FISH TO FIND FISH!
My kids are away on vacation so I took a couple of guys from work, one of them I had fished with a few times last fall and another had fished before but never for Kokanee. From what I saw he hadn't fished much a all. All things considered we actually didn't that bad and the green horn got a few fish under his belt after loosing his first 4. It took us all day to come up with 9 (8 in the pic we landed 1 more just after I got done cleaning the fish). There were quite a few boats out first thing, but after about 10 most disappeared. It took all morning to get the first 3 and between 11 and 12:30 we managed 4! The bite was on! Then another boat that I had seen in the morning showed back up and was like a mosquito, where ever I tried to go he was in the way or cutting across our lines and tangling us up. I just don't understand Its a HUGE lake! Not even so much as a "sorry" from him. Not more than 20 minutes later he did it AGAIN! I managed to speed up enough to get clear but still!!! By the time we recovered from that the bite was off. And it took the rest of the day to get the last 2. Long day lots of sunburn but I guess its better than getting skunked like most others. I cant thank the people here enough for all the insight and help this year!
MackPrince, Koke-n-a-smile, kokecatcher, Mudinchev. Looks like everyone did fairly well on Merwin this past week congrats and great pics. I hope sometime to make another trip. I didn't fish at all this weekend my wife couldn't believe it, I told her I left it for the skiers.
Yimmee and also made it up to Merwin on sunday and caught a few 13-14" and forgot to take pic's of them we were having so much fun catching fish and watching my kids drive his wife bonkers
Anyone planning on fishing in the am? Haven't been up in a while, and was thinking about an early am trip....
I'll be flying solo out of Cresup in a white northriver. I'll look for you out there!
good luck fella's yimmee will be out there in a tan and cream smoker out of spelie witth a buddy @ odark thirty.
I fished Merwin on Friday, July 29. For me it was slow. I started at 0545 and caught my fifth kokanee at 1100. All my fish were caught at 50-55 feet. I marked fish at 35, 25-28, and 18-20 but they would not bite what I was offering. The fish were 13 3/4 to 14 1/2. I usually fish west of Woodland Park. When I got back to Speelyai there was a good hatch of water vermin! This time of year it is best to fish early.
Fished from 6:30 - 10:00 this am and managed 4. Tried to scratch out a limit, but didn't want to deal with the fiberglass hatch at the ramp. Most hookups were between 40-45ft on pink hootchies and spinners. Best fish was pushing 15" and fat! Had a quick conversation with Kokonuts & southside, hope they managed to put some fish in the boat.
I got to the lake around 6 and it was daylight. Not quite O dark thirty. I tried around the corner from Speelyai over by the private launch and managed to boat some osprey food. Headed past the waterfall to a waypoint that I have and ran into Get"nGiggy. Thanks for the info on the depth. I dropped a sling blade with an orange UV hoochie with corn down to 42ft and got slammed by a very fiesty 14" fat koke. I managed 4 fish too. The wind and the wave runners made for a very crappy troll.
Tons of fotsam on the water early.
Peace, Tom
fished from 5:30 to 1:00 managed 10.lost a frew,tried to lose a downriger ball.weather was nice ,company was better, got a freind to go out with us that never gets a chance to go. was a good day. the color was green. green w/brass blade in morning, and green with silver blade in afternoon.
I fished Merwin yesterday, Tuesday, August 2. Fishing for me remains slow. I got my line in the water at 0550 and caught my fifth fish at 1055. During the last several trips I have only been catching a fish per hour . I did have a double and caught both of them, two large squaw fish! For some reason I do not ever lose those. I again caught all my fish at 50 ft. I marked fish from about 18 to 38 ft. but they did not bite my offerings. I caught three on my fire tiger spinner and two on the 1.0 silver scale apex. The fish are just starting to lose some scales and are a bit more slimy than they were. They are , however, fat and firm. The smallest was 13 1/4 and the other four were 14 1/2 to 14 3/4.
Fishing was good at Merwin this morning. I got my line in the water at 0550 and had my five at 0705. I caught four at 42 ft and one at 47 ft. The 1.0 silver scale apex was hot today. It caught four and had two additional hits. I actually should have had my limit in about 45 minutes. The wind was blowing my boat around and I spent 20-30 minutes dealing with tangled lines. One fish measured 11 1/2 inches and the others were 13 1/2 to 14 1/2. When I left there were about a dozen trailers in the lot.
Very nice Kokecatcher! You've been doing very well up there. I appreciate the reports. My nephew is in town next week so I'm debating the "bigger but less fish at Merwin" or "smaller but more fish at Yale".
By the way - what kind of boat do you run? That looks alot like my Hewescraft seats.
Thanks again for the reports!
I run a Hewescraft Sportsman 16 with Honda engines.I really like my boat. This is my sixth season with this boat. I read in the Columbian a couple of days ago that Hewescraft almost went out of business. A trusted manager stole over a half million dollars of aluminum over a couple of years and sold it for scrap for over $200,00! He and his wife have won a free trip to the BIG HOUSE!
We got our limits again today. I agree with kokecatcher, the fishing is a bit slow. We saw quite a lot on the ff and couldn't get them to bite. It took forever, but we finally got into some fish in a different area. The hot ticket today was a green wedding ring at around 36 ft. The wind kept the fiberglass hatch at bay, so that was a bonus. We only got one fish to feed the seagulls with so we had a great day. On a side note, a sporting goods retail shop up in Longview has Tica DJ150's on sale for only $69 (retail is $169) The reels work really nice!
When you hear hoof beats, think horses, not zebras...
I fished Merwin this morning. I had my limit at 0820, 2 1/2 hours. I would of had it earlier were it not for three guys who snuck on my boat. I lost fish, had doubles on squaw fish and several no hook hits. It took me about an hour to throw Larry, Moe and Curly over the side! The fish were all 13 1/2 to 14 1/2 inches and were nice and fat. I caught three at 50 ft on a 1.0 silver scale apex behind a small silver troll and two at 45 ft on a white and gold wedding ring behind a UV sling blade. I got back to the dock a little after 0900. I know of at least three boats that got back before me. Fishing was good this morning. It was cool all morning and that kept the water vermin off the lake. Sorry no picture today. Curley left the camera at home!
Fished Monday, noon to 8 PM, 30' to 70', nary a bite. These fish are just too fussy for me, back to the Columbia for some bass!
I fished Merwin on August 12, 16 and 19. On my last trip I fished 3 1/2 hours before I caught my first kookanee and then I had my limit 1 1/2 hour later. some of the fish were 15 inches. Some of next year's fish are starting to bite. They are now 10-11 inches. I have caught all my fish between 40 and 55 feet. The fish have been moving. Where I fished Tuesday I got nothing on Friday. I will fish another 2-3 weeks and then it will be a long winter until next spring. Does anybody know what happened to this site. On a number of occasions I could not open the site. My anti virus program said that it was infected. Any information would be appreciated.
08/18: On the water at 0600 with my son. We limited by 1300, fishing two rods - one with an orange Apex and the other with orange/glow Stuart Angling spinner w/copper blade. All fish were caught at 53-61 feet, and all were 14" or so. SUPER slimy!
08/19: On the water at 0800. Tangled lines, lost a ball troll, broke my kicker tiller and only caught two fish! They were nice fish, but all in all it was a frustrating day. I guess we gotta have those now and then.
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