Rainbow Trout on Lake Goodwin
Fourth of July weekend in Seattle couldn’t have been better. The weather was in the mid 80’s and our thought was to head north to the Seven Lakes area to try our luck for largemouth bass.
We got an early start on Lake Martha Sunday morning. The bass bite just wasn’t happening. We dragged drop shot set ups, diving crank baits and even worms. The largemouth bass we did catch were small with a perch every now and then striking our presentation.
We moved on to a Lake Goodwin which is a much larger lake a couple of miles away. The lake was full of boaters, water skiers, and jet skiers. With all the engine noise I didn’t think we had a chance at catching a fish. The water was turbulent near shore trying to troll for bass. I switched to my lead core line set up and tossed out an Apex “Trout Killer” lure. I hadn’t used this lure but a couple of times but it was already attached to my line so I gave it a try.
One hour into it and no take downs. We switched to a deeper part of the lake and let out more line to get down to 25-30 feet deep to where I was marking bait. I no sooner got my line down and my rod bent over like it hit bottom. I grabbed the rod out of the holder and began reeling. This wasn’t bottom – it was a nice fish. I yelled to my two buddies that I had a fish on. A beautiful twenty inch rainbow trout triploid was nearing my kayak. It took four leaps out of the water before coming to the boat. I missed netting it three times but my fourth scoop and it was mine.
Twenty minutes later, I let my line out again and pulled in a nice 18″ rainbow trout. If this lake was producing fish on one of the busiest holiday weekends, I can only imagine what it would be like on a quiet day.