Lake Merwin Reports 2002
August 6, 2002
Finally got a chance to get back to Merwin last Tuesday (8/6/02). This was only our third fishing trip of the season (due to getting landscaping around our new home complete!) needless to say we have been suffering from "Kokanee withdrawal" big time! Still had not had time to get my fish finders repaired so we had to go it the old fashioned way again. My daughter, and son-in-law were visiting, so we decided to drop the shovels and rakes and take them to the Lake. (All we needed was a good excuse!) Fished for about 6 hours on downriggers at about 55 to 65 feet and had fairly consistent action! Landed 17, and kept 8. The ones we kept ranged in size from 13 to 16 inches. Still a little smaller on average than last year, but not bad! The day was beautiful, with few boats. The only eagle we saw could not be coaxed from his tree to the squawfish offerings we threw out, so no picture opportunities were to be had. We used the same lures and techniques as in previous reports. There was a "hint" of spawning color on a couple of males we caught, but all the fish were in excellent shape. Hope to get out at least a couple more times this year. The seemingly endless yard work is nearly complete.
This report submitted
by Scott & Shirley
June 9, 2002
Since Shirley had to work Sunday, I took a good friend of
mine to Merwin for the first time. I was worried we would experience the same
slow fishing as the previous trip, with my Father and his Wife, last Monday.
Adding to my concern was the fact that neither of my fish finders were working!
I think I must have a fuse blown or something. It's amazing how dependent you
become on electronics! This day however, we were going to have to do it the
"old fashioned way" and, as luck would have it, we
were able to limit out in about 5 hours. Still not as "hot" as last year and
still catching more squaw fish, but not bad considering the circumstances! The
10 fish we kept were all between 12-1/2" and 15", with most running about
13-1/2". All fish were caught fishing on the downriggers at 37 to 40 feet
deep. Used the same home made lures which we used last season, with the usual 2
pcs. of white corn, marinated in Smelly Jelly Sticky Liquid "Crawfish Anise"
scent. The day was beautiful, the lake was calm (almost too calm for best
fishing) and there were quite a few boats out (probably more than usual because
of free fishing weekend). Most boats seemed to be catching fish. From a
distance however, it's hard to tell if they were catching Kokanee or Squawfish
(believe it or not, some people actually use their nets to bring in a
Squawfish). A man at the boat ramp said he had caught a 17" and an 18-1/2"
Kokanee on Saturday. He was back for more but didn't catch anything over 14" on
Sunday.
This report submitted
by Scott & Shirley
June 3, 2002
Fished Merwin on 6/3/02 slow going at first. 2&half hours fishing only produced 4 Kokes. Moved around the lake and found a good spot . 8 fish to the boat in the next hour plus other hits that didn't stick. If you get into the squaw fish at Merwin move. We had easy limits in April, but now you will have to work for them. Ford Fender and red Wedding Ring with a silver or chrome blade seemed to work best, 3 ounces with 40 pulls.
This report submitted
by "Smokercraft"
June 2, 2002
Got out for our first fishing trip since last September on
Monday (6/2/02)! We built a new home recently and have been spending all our
spare time working instead of fishing! My father and his wife have been
visiting from Montana and we took them to Merwin hoping to expose them to the
great fishing we experienced last year. As usual, when you want to show someone
great fishing, it never works out! We caught 7 kokes ranging from 12" to 14"
(somewhat smaller than last years average) and lost at least that many.
However, it was not near as "hot and heavy" as last year and we caught a lot
more squawfish than last year (great for feeding and
observing the eagles, but frustrating to catch). The lake is full, clear and
mostly free of debris. There were about 8 or 10 other boats within sight and it
appeared none were "killing" them. I guess we will need to scout out a few new
"hot spots". We were trolling on downriggers at depths ranging from 25 feet to
60 feet. The most productive depth seemed to be around 40 feet. Glad to see
your great web site is still up and running and providing us Kokeheads a source
for sharing. Hope to provide some more reports before long.
This report submitted
by Scott & Shirley
April 22, 2002
Fished for a couple to hours to get the limit for the two of us. Fishing two to three feet down yielded small fish that we turned back. At eighteen feet we were into 12" to 13" fish. The last time there, we fished with the fleet against the far shore and did well, however this time we S-turned right down the middle of the lake to get our fish.
This report submitted by
Mike
April 22, 2002
Dad such a good time on 4/21/02 went out again on 04/22/02. Both poles fished with one ounce and 35 pulls . ford fenders on both poles ;one pole with green wedding ring the other with a red wedding ring. Got our limit in about 3hours, plus lost a dozen. At one point I lost 5 in a row . That's Kokanee fishing.
This report submitted
by "Smokercraft"
April 21, 2002
Fished merwin 4/21/02 . A little bit of work but we
got our limits . 1 to 1&
half ounces and 30 to 35 pulls. Fish were in 11 to 14 inch range.
This report submitted
by "Smokercraft"
March 26, 2002
Here's our Lake Merwin report from this morning. Son
Dan was kind enough to provide the transportation for both land and water and
our experience was about the same as the 3-4 report. We were on the water
around 8:30 and did nothing until we joined the fleet around 9:45. Action was
then fast and the fish hard hitting on both a slow or fast troll. The to
keys for us seemed to be no weight and an s-pattern troll. We were back to
Woodland around 12:00 PM with our limits. Mike
This report submitted by
Mike
March 3, 2002
My dad and I fished and ended up catching our limit
. The limit at Merwin is 5 a piece. Slow going at first, using one and a half
ounces.
Only 3 fish in 4hrs. Then we noticed another boat catching fish so we watched
and low and behold they weren't using any weight at all. So we took of the
weight and caught 7 fish in an hour plus lost a few others. Used the usual Ford
Fender and a Wedding Ring with white corn; 30 pulls.
This report submitted by
Paul
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