Generally, I am a creature of habit and when I find something I like, such as go to fishing holes, it's hard to pull away. With that said, I do love exploring new lakes but sometimes find it a little daunting. One of the lakes I've had on my short list near the Portland area has been Lake Merwin. The beautiful reservoir located on Southwest Washington's Lewis River is packed full of Kokanee. To add to the angling fun, a few Tiger Musky were introduced there in the mid 90's.
From what I've read (and viewed on a few fishing shows), Merwin tends to be more popular and productive in the spring. However, Papa Dave was in town for the 4th of July this year and we wanted to do a Kokanee warm up trip before we headed to East Lake a bit later in the month. Well, that was just an excuse to pull away from the norm, try out some new water and just spend time in the outdoors with my two boys.
After a fun filled night of eating (& drinking) too much while staying up* too late trying to impress the neighborhood kids with fireworks, we trailered the boat at the crack of 7am on the 5th and headed to Merwin.
Despite only fishing for a few hours (not consecutive), we were able to put a few fish in the boat. I let Gavin work the downriggers for the first time on this trip and in 120' of water, he made the rookie mistake of sending the 8lb ball down instead of up. The result was 200' of cable backlash and 45 minutes of idle time while we got the rigger fixed. That's fishing!
After fishing for a bit, we headed to shore so the boys could play in the water and have a smoked salmon lunch. It was a quick 4 hours on the water but just enough to wet the appetite for heading back up there next spring when the springer salmon bite slows.
*Next time, the boys will get a bit more sleep. Fishing takes patience... and the only remote chance a 5 and 3 year old have a shot at patience is when they are a.)well rested and b.)well fed.
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