Merwin 2013 post it here

[Kokecatcher]

Merwin 7/29/13

I fished Merwin yesterday morning. I caught a koke here and there. I had five in the cooler by 0800 and then my rod bent over , poped out of the release and line started going out. My first thought was that I caught bottom or a tree. I checked the sonar and I was in 135 ft. of water and only down 55. As soon as I picked up the rod I knew that it was a fish. I use ultra light rods with 8# line and 6# leaders. It took about twenty minutes to get the fish to the surface next to the boat. Fortunately I had put a larger net in the boat last week along with my kokanee net. As I netted the fish I saw the bright red stripe. Not counting steelhead, this is the largest rainbow that I have ever caught. It measured 24 inches and weighed seven pounds. The fish was very thick. The meat is a bright orange like that of an ocean salmon. We plan to bbq some tonight.

 

[KnotWorkin]

Nice fish kokecatcher, what type of lure were you using? I'll bet that fish eats real good!

 

[Kokecatcher]

Nice fish kokecatcher, what type of lure were you using? I'll bet that fish eats real good!

I was fishing with a glow white wedding ring that I assemble. This one had a silver wedding ring with a #2 hammerd nickle Indiana blade. This lure has been very effective for me in the early morning hours and when fishing deep. I do not know what this rainbow ate but it did not tast like any other trout that I have eaten. It was full of oil and just melted in your mouth like spring chinook.

 

[washingtonlakes]

Wow, nice fish and good job catching it!

 

[redosprey]

Merwin still "Hot"

Quick report on Merwin. My wife and I have been there for the past couple of weeks staying in the Cougar RV Park. Have fished all weekdays (avoid the weekends due to the "circus") and have averaged 17 fish per day. The last two days (Wed. & Thurs.) we limited before noon. Most fish in the 13 to 15 inch range with a few at 16 or a7 inches. Lost more than we caught and have only hooked 4 pike minnows so far! Running Rocky Mountain Tackle Co. 5" dodgers in the "Hyperplaid", "Glow in the dark" and "Bahama Mamma" patterns, trailed by a 12" leader with pink hoochies or, better yet, a small bead lure that we string up ourselves, made from a white, glow-in-the-dark corkie with a red wedding ring segment below it. That's been the killer lately! Most of the time we've fished both downriggers at 55 to 65 feet, behind the boat from 25 to 30 feet. Trolling at between 1.25 and 1.50 MPH (or close to it). We'll be back on the lake on Monday the 19th and I'll provide an update. Judged by what we've done, and what I've been seeing others do, I would classify the fishing as "hot". I've attached a couple photos, including one showing the entry to Speelyai Bay I took about a week ago. Hope to see you on the lake. Stop by and say "hello". We'll be in the red Alumaweld with the black top. Name on the boat same as our Forum name "Red Osprey"

P.S. Don't seem to be able to use the "Manage Attachments" link below, so can't send photos until later. Will do though.

 

[Mudinchev]

Had to check and make sure the boat was running ok after some repairs so we went up to Merwin on the 21st for a shake down run, turns out the boat was running good and I happen to see some fish looking like they might want to play we caught a couple on our way back to the dock, but the sunset was more picture worthy than anything, I thinking maybe we should take more evening runs on the lake! thumbsup

 

[downriggeral]

Nice pic. Evening as the sun goes down is always wonderful. We night fish at Loon in Eastern WA for kokanee and get to see the sun set and the moon rise....really cool! And we get to catch fish too. Caught 20 last night for three of us; a little slow but the fish were fat , scrappy 12 inchers.

 

[Mudinchev]

Ok so its been a while since we have been here and updated things, I need to get after Shawn to get it done 101juggle101 . Anyway he had kind of a cool opportunity pop up last month that I wanted to share. A friend of ours called and wanted to know if we could go out for a day of fishing and film with Angler West TV. Unfortunately I had to work but Shawn had the day off from school so he was able to go! Lucky bugger! 101ok101

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIIVFWoZiQY

 

[Kokanee-Toni]

Fun to watch

 

[Strike Zone]

Merwin

Ok so its been a while since we have been here and updated things, I need to get after Shawn to get it done 101juggle101 . Anyway he had kind of a cool opportunity pop up last month that I wanted to share. A friend of ours called and wanted to know if we could go out for a day of fishing and film with Angler West TV. Unfortunately I had to work but Shawn had the day off from school so he was able to go! Lucky bugger! 101ok101

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIIVFWoZiQY

Mudinchev:
What a great video! Looks like it was a super day up there. It was also great fishing up at Swift during that same time. We used some different slingblades and a fly and a slingblade- worm/corn combo with great success. Had about 70 fish a day to the net, but we released everything after our three limits. It has been some great fishing up there this year. Life is good.

GET THE NET

 

[Mudinchev]

Ok so I am kidding my self if I think Shawn is going to have time to do a recap of even the month of November, with all his home work and sports he doesn't seem to have much for spare time , we spent the majority of September and October chasing Salmon so not really much to report on Merwin anyway. November how ever turned out to be STELLAR! Just for size comparison I am adding a picture of one our last trips in August these were from a trip we took on August 10th. The next picture is one from November 11th. We were out on the 10th as well with similar success, the water temp on the surface was averaging 54-55 degrees. We were marking fish from the surface down to 60 plus feet but the active fish that wanted to play were in the 20-30 range. We have never targeted these fish this late in the year but it turns out they still want to play! 101ok101

 

[Mudinchev]

November 24th: The fishing was as hot as spring time! We had our limit of Kokanee and 1 3lb trout by 10am! It was such a nice day we decided to target trout for a couple of hours to see if we could find any of the big ones that got put in this summer, and sure enough we found one of those too. Same drill, 20-30 feet deep, sling blades and hoochies, pink being the hottest color but orange and a multi-colored one were hitting pretty good as well. The 5 1/2 pound trout came on a lime green wedding ring trolling close to shore and only 10 feet deep.

 

[Mudinchev]

November 29th: Some friends of ours had Black Friday off as well and they were able to join us, no real changes in gear/depth or speed, the only change to note was the surface temp had dropped to 49-50 degrees. We actually set a new boat record for Merwin 40 Kokanee and 1 trout! This was Jake's (pictured with Shawn) second ever Kokanee trip, see above for his first thumbsup. Only this time his dad was there to join in the fun. I think we hooked another one on this great sport, since this trip his dad has been talking to me about what he needs and how to set his boat up.

 

[Strike Zone]

November 29th: Some friends of ours had Black Friday off as well and they were able to join us, no real changes in gear/depth or speed, the only change to note was the surface temp had dropped to 49-50 degrees. We actually set a new boat record for Merwin 40 Kokanee and 1 trout! This was Jake's (pictured with Shawn) second ever Kokanee trip, see above for his first thumbsup. Only this time his dad was there to join in the fun. I think we hooked another one on this great sport, since this trip his dad has been talking to me about what he needs and how to set his boat up.

Mudinchev:

Awesome pictures and great job on the fishing. It's nice to see the fish are still willing to bite up there. I think I may have to head up that way next week if we ever get a little warmer/drier day. Maybe we'll see you there. Also thinking about Coldwater Lake too.

GET THE NET