Merwin 2011

[Kokecatcher]

It has been a week since I last fished Merwin. Today was a beautiful day at the lake. I got my line in the water at 0530 and had my limit at 0720. I had a total of 10 hits. Today all hits came at 35 ft. I again used white and red wedding rings with UV sling blades. Until about six weeks ago I was not a fan of sling blades and wedding rings. With the success I have had, however, I will stay with this combination until it stops working. The fish were 13 3/4 to 15. This is the second trip where I got a 15 inch fish. I thought about going to Yale but I had a lot to do at home like pick my strawberries. This is what summer is all about: good fishing and fresh fruit!

 

[MackPrince]

Great reports KC. awesomereport While I didn't have the same done at 6:30 results as you I was able to make an early morning run yesterday and left at 9:30 with some nice sized fish. Caught some on my green combo some of you have seen, and on a watermelon Vance's dodger with pink squid. I mean... I was using a ford fender with a red wedding ring tipped with a whole night crawler at 60' 101ok101

It was great talking with Splash and Koke Hunter.

See you on the water!
-Mack

 

[Get'nJiggy]

Merwin July 3rd

Little late on the report, but my son and I had a few hours to kill Sunday am, so we hit the lake around 6:30 and managed to scratch out 5 fish before we had to leave. Started out just west of CH, and got two. After not finding many schools we headed down tot he waterfall area and got into a decent bite for 20 min or so and landed 3. Best combo was a SEPP's dodger and pink hootchie. 31- 35 ft seemed to be best.
I was "that" guy when I didn't notice my batteries getting low, and had to limp all the way from the waterfall to Cresup on my kicker to get in. Oh well, it was a fun ride and with all the debris in the water I wouldn't have gone much faster on my main.

(We got our last one as I was taking this picture!)

 

[Mudinchev]

Saw you out there.....I didnt have much luck only ended up with 1 but part way threw the morning my son jumped ship on me and hitched a ride with Richard (kokonuts). At least he reeled in a couple fish that morning. We will have to hook up some time, your boy looks like he is close in age to mine, they can swap fish stories!

 

[TrollNFisher]

Get'nJiggy man I bet your son had a ball, nice looking fish.

 

[Koke-n-a-smile]

Get-n-jiggy, don't feel too bad. I was "that guy" a couple of weeks ago. Except I found out when the kicker motor tank ran out of gas. 101flip101 Then the battery goes dead and I had to pull start the main motor.t4luil At least you weren't out on the Columbia, you might've had a really crappy day!

 

[MackPrince]

Great pic Jiggy.

 

[Kokecatcher]

I had another interesting morning at Merwin. Today it took just under 3 1/2 hours to get my five. I was lucky. I had lots of hits and lost six nice fish, 2 at the boat. I am glad that other boats were not close enough to see how incompetent I was today, like wrapping a fish around the downrigger wire or beating a fish off the hook with the net. At one point I stopped fishing and drank a cup of coffee just to settle down. Oh well, I guess that most of us have a day like this once in a while. No pictures today, I forgot to take the camera!

 

[Kokecatcher]

I started fishing Merwin on April 1. Today was trip #20. It has been a wonderful season for me. Today I started at 0550 and got my fifth fish at 0740. The fish ranged from 13 1/4 to 15. The rain kept most people away. When I left the lake there were only five trailers in the lot. It is so nice to get our lake back from the Mongol Hordes of April and May! I got hits from 35 to 45 feet. I continue to use UV sling blades with white and red wedding rings. My next trip will probably be on Friday. Wishing you all tight lines.

 

[Kokecatcher]

I fished Merwin On Friday. I had lots of action but it took 5 1/2 hours to get my limit. A fellow that I know launched when I did and it took him 5 1/2 hours also. I got all hits between 30-40 feet. I caught three on the white wedding ring with gold ring and gold plated blade and two on the 1.0 silver scale apex. I had a lot of hits that did not hook, lost a couple and five squaw fish. There were not many boats on the lake. When I left around noon there were twelve trailers in the lot including one water vermin that was just launching.

 

[MackPrince]

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.

101goodpost101

 

[MackPrince]

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]

 

[BonkinKokes]

Sounds like a real nice morning. Glad you got a couple of Merwin chromers.

 

[Koke-n-a-smile]

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!

 

[Kokecatcher]

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!

 

[Mudinchev]

Did Ok considering

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. thumbsup 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! 101flip101 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!

 

[TrollNFisher]

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.

101goodpost101

 

[chief]

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 101duh101

 

[Get'nJiggy]

July 30th ?

Anyone planning on fishing in the am? Haven't been up in a while, and was thinking about an early am trip....

 

[southside]

Anyone planning on fishing in the am? Haven't been up in a while, and was thinking about an early am trip....

I'm gonna hit the water at o dark thirty. 14ft. smokercraft alaskan. I'll be by myself. Launching at Speelyi soon after the gate opens.

CYA there!!

Peace, Tom