Merwin 2013 post it here

[Mudinchev]

Thought I would kick off the Merwin 2013 thread, looking back at all the different posts from last year on Merwin I was thinking it might be a good thing if we tried to keep a continuing thread threw out the year. That way when people are looking for information the bulk of it is in one place. It could also be useful in the years to come if we had some kind of progressive changes threw out the year. Kind of like keeping a personal log only its information from every one, at least those that are willing to share some of their knowledge.

 

[Mudinchev]

Our first "real' trip of the year

Our first real trip of the year was January 27, the weather wasn't too bad, mostly just cloudy but no wind to speak of and only had rain just as we were finishing up. Water temp was 39-40 degrees. We fished the area east of Speelyai, running everything everything very shallow mostly in the top 10' of water. It was slow fishing but for January I think it was exceptional! Shawn (Wild Child) had his best friend/fishing buddy with him so it was even more fun to get out. I will let Shawn fill in our February trips. One of the videos we posted on Youtube is of this trip.

 

[kokaguy1]

Cabin fever has got the best of me so I'm going to kick off my season by heading to Merwin this weekend, fish or no fish it will be good to be out on the water again!

 

[plugs]

I'll be up there this weekend but it'll be a break in the new motor trip more than fishing. So the nut you see in the white drift boat trolling for 30 mins, then running around 1/2 throttle than trolling than 1/2 throttle trolling then full throttle all day "That BE ME" LOL

 

[eenakoK]

I'll be up there this weekend but it'll be a break in the new motor trip more than fishing. So the nut you see in the white drift boat trolling for 30 mins, then running around 1/2 throttle than trolling than 1/2 throttle trolling then full throttle all day "That BE ME" LOL

laugh hystlaugh hyst

been there done that

 

[kokanee-lou]

Thought I would kick off the Merwin 2013 thread, looking back at all the different posts from last year on Merwin I was thinking it might be a good thing if we tried to keep a continuing thread threw out the year. That way when people are looking for information the bulk of it is in one place. It could also be useful in the years to come if we had some kind of progressive changes threw out the year. Kind of like keeping a personal log only its information from every one, at least those that are willing to share some of their knowledge.

Thought I would share some info on Merwin, Yale, and Swift. I located some old pre-lake USGS contour maps and converted the elevation contours to "depth-of-water" bathymetric contours. I then constructed new bathymetric lake maps. They are available exclusively on WashingtonLakes.com for anyone to print. Washington Lakes is a free forum, just sign up as you did for KFF. You could use your same login name so we who use both forums will know who you are.

 

[xplorz]

Lou, thanks for posting the maps up. Good to print and study.

Another great source requires spending around $10 for the Navionics smart phone app. I have it on my android phone and with the built in GPS, it works great on Merwin/Yale/Swift even though there is no cell reception, as maps are pre-cached. I have GPS on my Lowrance, but I run the smartphone app and that lets me run full screen for the fishfinder.

 

[kokanee-lou]

Great idea, xplorz. Thanks. I have the first Droid that came out about four years ago, but it does have real GPS through satelites. It should work. With the GPS turned on, I have been able to use Google Maps on Alder Lake, but the Navionics should be much better and work anywhere.

 

[westy661]

But did you get any bites? Anyone think March will be good or still too early?

 

[plugs]

After spending the last few weeks putting new floor in boat, new motor, mounting new downriggers and getting new Kokanee rods at the sportsmen shows I hit the water at the crack of 9:30 to start the 5 hour marathon of idle, 1/2 throttle, ilel, 1/2 throttle,idle full throttle for most the day got down to business actually fishing about 2:30. By 4 it was starting to rain so headed to the ramp. Broke in the new rods, motor, floor and new downriggers with a lil blood on the 1st trip out on my birthday. Here's the 2 I got in the boat and lost 2. The parking lot was packed with me getting the last spot to park a trailer when I got there. Evidently there was no bite during the early part of the day as I kept seeing everyone head for the ramp early. I talked to 6 people with no fish. I was surprised getting a 15 incher this time of year and the other at 11 1/4. Good birthday broke in all the new goodies and got a couple fish!!
View attachment 5947

 

[eenakoK]

Plugs -
Congrats on being able to break in all your new stuff!

 

[_kokanee]

View attachment 5949

Two kokanee from saturday in the smoker, probably 8 & 10 inches after i lopped off the tails. Caught using a wedding ring & flasher setup w/ shoepeg. We had four people, four poles for 2-3 hours saturday & sunday running west of speelyai, staying on the north side of the lake near the two waterfalls.

No bites other than the ones we caught. I binoculared a boat netting 1 fish during that time, also using flashers. Caught one deeper @~50 & the other @~25. The fish finder didn't show nearly as many fish on ( >20 ) top as they did deeper ( 30-50 ). I think the water was 41-42 degrees with a lot of wood floating .

 

[Mudinchev]

View attachment 5949

Two kokanee from saturday in the smoker, probably 8 & 10 inches after i lopped off the tails. Caught using a wedding ring & flasher setup w/ shoepeg. We had four people, four poles for 2-3 hours saturday & sunday running west of speelyai, staying on the north side of the lake near the two waterfalls.

No bites other than the ones we caught. I binoculared a boat netting 1 fish during that time, also using flashers. Caught one deeper @~50 & the other @~25. The fish finder didn't show nearly as many fish on ( >20 ) top as they did deeper ( 30-50 ). I think the water was 41-42 degrees with a lot of wood floating .

Try chasing the ones you cant see on the fish finder, "top 10 feet of water" they are usually the ones that want to play. At least until the water warms up.

 

[Mudinchev]

Who says its to early?!

We have been able to fish every Sunday in February, although we went sturgeon fishing with our friend Cameron Black on the 3rd. On the 10th we were only able to catch 2 fish, I was hoping we would do better because we were planning on taking Gary Miralles (Shasta Tackle) and Justin Wolf (Angler West TV) out on the water on Monday if the fishing was good and shoot some video. (Yes I was going to miss school). February 17th we fished from 7:30 - 2pm. It was a long slow day, we didn't catch our first fish until 10:30, we lost our second fish at 11:30, and then we had a double shortly after 12:30 and a couple more shortly after that. We were sling blades and hoochies and my Kokanee killer lure, running them 5-10 feet deep.(5 fish total) February 24th was a whole different story (sort of) we started about 8 and it was slow like usual, we didn't start catching fish until about 10, we decided to move away from the crowd of boats and find a better spot. We found most of our fish out in the middle of the lake just west of Speelyai Bay, using the same pink hoochies and sling blades as before and my kokanee killer lure, which caught 3 fish that day! We ended up with 8 total but we had to leave at 2 so we didn't make it to our limit. March 3rd, I wasn't feeling very well (getting over the flu) but I cant resist a fishing day. Dad suggested that we go get some fresh air, it was a late start for fishing, we didn't get to the lake until almost 12pm and only fished until 3. We started fishing with the large group of boats across from Speelyai because we saw a boat with a net in the air and a double on. After about an hour with no fish we went down almost to the dam where we usually fish in the summer, our first pass we had a triple and we landed all of them, and we caught two more pretty quickly. We were testing a new lure from KokaneeKid fishing and we got one of our 5 on it, and 2 on the hoochie and sling blade and 2 on my kokanee killer lure with a watermelon sling blade. 101bananna101

 

[eenakoK]

Good work Team Wild Child!!

 

[plugs]

Well just got home from the lake. Put in a LONNNNNGGGG day!!! Beautiful weather. No problems with boat. Great day for fishing poor day for catching LOL. I only manged to get 1 kokanee in the boat. I lost a couple others before they got in the net. It was a real slow day for everyone on the lake. I talked to atleast 10 other boats and they had same results.

 

[Kokonuts]

I was out fri. the 2nd & Fri. the 9th and caught 2 on each day. Merwin is S L O W right now but it will get better soon!

Kokonuts

 

[kokaguy1]

fished Merwin 3/9 and it was slow 3 koks and a rainbow lost 3 others, all hit pink hoochies except one which hit a orange and white. Sling blades seemed to be the flasher of choice, no luck on lake trolls. It was great to out on the lake and the weather was fantastic! The bite will only get better from here.

 

[SuperD]

I watched Angler West last night and the first clip was "Merwin in February". I don't know what year it was shot but the action was non stop! It sure looked like fun. What is the daily limit at Merwin?

 

[Mudinchev]

I watched Angler West last night and the first clip was "Merwin in February". I don't know what year it was shot but the action was non stop! It sure looked like fun. What is the daily limit at Merwin?

If it is the episode I am thinking about it, was filmed with Cameron Black (Goncatchin guide service). We were fishing pretty much right next to them as they were filming. Yes last year in February the fishing was a bit better than this year, right now the limit is 5 but I have heard rumors that it will go to 10 in May. I haven't read that officially yet, that is just what I am hearing.