Lake Washington winter smallies.

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Tim Vreeburg on February 4, 2010 at 8:13am

From what I have read Winter fish are typically found deep, should I also be looking in shallower water as well then? Just trying to figure out a Seasonal pattern.

Permalink Reply by Tag Watson on February 4, 2010 at 8:39am

6 or 7 years ago a friend of mine and I were scouting Lake Washington in early/mid February. It was an unseasonably warm day and we were doing some electronics and camera work just to learn. In all the areas we checked, we weren't seeing any fish to speak of in the typical winter depths. We pulled up on an area in the afternoon and my friend decided to fish as I got the Aqua-Vu ready. He threw out a Flashtrix on a dropshot and immediately caught a 3-1/2 pounder out of about 14 ft. of water. I decided to ditch the camera and fish myself. I pitched out and caught a fish around 5 pounds out of roughly 15-17 ft. Definitely check shallower during the winter on occasion. The shallow fish are typically aggressive and the right quality.

Please refer back to Sessler's post: they are where you find them.

Tim Vreeburg said:

From what I have read Winter fish are typically found deep, should I also be looking in shallower water as well then? Just trying to figure out a Seasonal pattern.

Permalink Reply by Randall J DeFreese on February 4, 2010 at 8:49am

I had an interesting experience 2 weeks ago. I was fishing on Lake Goodwin were the water temp was 41 degrees. My partner had a drop down tool that showed 38' down the temp was 6 degrees warmer than the surface. Not sure if this is the norm but it was that day. Learned something new about winter fishing.

Tim Vreeburg said:

Hi Mark,

Thank you for your reply. I guess my question is why are the fish so deep this time of year, I thought maybe the water was a bit warmer at this depth than the surface. They may also be eating and staying near what is available this time of year, sculpin and crayfish?

Tim

Mark Maderos said:

Tim,
I have had my underwater camera down in the winter and found water temps as low as 37 and high as 41. Surface temps yesterday were 44.5 to 46.9. I think that it has very little to do with the bite. They eat when they get hungry. Just in the winter it's not as often.
Mark

Tim Vreeburg said:

I was out on Lake Sammamish on Monday and caught three smallies in 50-55 feet of water. The waters surface temp was 46 degrees, curious if anyone would know what the water temp is on the bottom where these fish were caught at the 50 foot depth?

Tim

Permalink Reply by Mark Maderos on February 4, 2010 at 9:30am

Tag,
Dead on with this also. A classic spot for this is the old log mill flat area of Washington. Normally the fish in that area spread out from 35 to 60ft either right on the break off of the flat to where it bottoms out. When you do get a "pineapple express storm" with a warming trend and sunshine after that, that's when I look for those shallower smallies, my winter time personal best for shallow was 22ft. Great hookup to get them from 15ft.

Mark

Tag Watson said:

6 or 7 years ago a friend of mine and I were scouting Lake Washington in early/mid February. It was an unseasonably warm day and we were doing some electronics and camera work just to learn. In all the areas we checked, we weren't seeing any fish to speak of in the typical winter depths. We pulled up on an area in the afternoon and my friend decided to fish as I got the Aqua-Vu ready. He threw out a Flashtrix on a dropshot and immediately caught a 3-1/2 pounder out of about 14 ft. of water. I decided to ditch the camera and fish myself. I pitched out and caught a fish around 5 pounds out of roughly 15-17 ft. Definitely check shallower during the winter on occasion. The shallow fish are typically aggressive and the right quality.

Please refer back to Sessler's post: they are where you find them.

Tim Vreeburg said:

From what I have read Winter fish are typically found deep, should I also be looking in shallower water as well then? Just trying to figure out a Seasonal pattern.

Permalink Reply by Mark Maderos on February 4, 2010 at 3:40pm

WTF

SPARKY said:

"pineapple express storm"...Is this when DEZ is fishing with you?


Mark Maderos said:

Tag,
Dead on with this also. A classic spot for this is the old log mill flat area of Washington. Normally the fish in that area spread out from 35 to 60ft either right on the break off of the flat to where it bottoms out. When you do get a "pineapple express storm" with a warming trend and sunshine after that, that's when I look for those shallower smallies, my winter time personal best for shallow was 22ft. Great hookup to get them from 15ft.

Mark

Tag Watson said:

6 or 7 years ago a friend of mine and I were scouting Lake Washington in early/mid February. It was an unseasonably warm day and we were doing some electronics and camera work just to learn. In all the areas we checked, we weren't seeing any fish to speak of in the typical winter depths. We pulled up on an area in the afternoon and my friend decided to fish as I got the Aqua-Vu ready. He threw out a Flashtrix on a dropshot and immediately caught a 3-1/2 pounder out of about 14 ft. of water. I decided to ditch the camera and fish myself. I pitched out and caught a fish around 5 pounds out of roughly 15-17 ft. Definitely check shallower during the winter on occasion. The shallow fish are typically aggressive and the right quality.

Please refer back to Sessler's post: they are where you find them.

Tim Vreeburg said:

From what I have read Winter fish are typically found deep, should I also be looking in shallower water as well then? Just trying to figure out a Seasonal pattern.

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