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Merwin

121K views 485 replies 122 participants last post by  Flyingfool 
#1 ·
Is the Merwin ramp still open?
 
#225 · (Edited)
Sunday.

Two rods at 80' with one ounce, one flatlined at 100'. Dodgers and hootchies mostly. Got a late start so we stayed pretty close to the launch. Only 3 fish to the boat, one was pretty large, they were all tasty.

Saw a lot of boats on the south side of the lake.

Pretty full but folks had already started leaving by the time we got there so there was parking in the lower lot.
 
#229 ·
Another great day on Merwin. Didn't start till 11:00 am and could have had a limit easily within an hour. Not using a net so I get to fish longer. Only keeping Kokanee that flip onto the boat. There must be kokanee all over the lake and they seem to be very hungry. Hope this shallow bite lasts into June. I hate using those dang down riggers (too much work)! The smallest Kokanee caught was 12 inches.
 
#232 ·
Another great day at Merwin. Limit in a couple hours even after starting at 10:30 and many others on. Same set up standard cow bell 1 oz of lead, purple apex and red corn and 27 pulls. The other rig had a beer can 1 oz of lead water mellon apex and red corn 27 pulls. I used the electric trolling motor right from the start so it was a quiet (green) day on the lake. I saw another boat slamming them (on worms) so I know I am not the only one catching fish. Those fish are hungry! Good luck week enders.
 
#233 ·
Fished Merwin Sun and was it slow. Had my brother in town and he wanted to take his grandson out fishing. Well they couldn't seem to get up as early as I had hoped, so we didn't get started fishing until 7. We got one koke and one pikeminnow, fished until 1:30 as his grandson was getting antsy with basically no catching. Tried wedding rings with ford fenders and hoochies with sling blades. Taked to a lot people with the same results, must have been the full moon. Interesting fact that my brother wanted to buy an out of state one day license and couldn't. He was told that between 5/1 and 5/8 you can only buy a season license, seems strange to me. Since we were in Woodland and he had his grandson there he opted to spend the money.
 
#234 ·
Interesting fact that my brother wanted to buy an out of state one day license and couldn't. He was told that between 5/1 and 5/8 you can only buy a season license, seems strange to me. Since we were in Woodland and he had his grandson there he opted to spend the money.

Ran into the same problem! I cant believe that for a number of reasons. Ended up going to Oregon & fishing the MC instead :|
 
#235 ·
Today was a beautiful day on Merwin, but the bite wasn't too hot. Took four hours to catch 4 fish and had about that many on. On the lake at 6:30 and didn't have a fish on till 7:30. There was at bite at 9:00 but it didn't last long. Still using a oz of lead and flashers , but varying depth and speed. Off the lake by 10:30 (don't care to fish in the sun). Might be time to use the down rigger and fish deep (marking fish deeper).
 
#236 ·
I fished Sunday afternoon from 2-6PM - two kokanee, two rainbows all caught close to shore. Both kokanee were caught righ before I ran out of time. I wish I would have been able to stick around on the water longer.

Today (Monday) I fished from around 7:30AM to 5PM, No Kokanee, one rainbow, several pikeminnow, and I think one small bull trout (not sure exactly what it was, but looked closest to a bull.) I tried all the classic lures/trolling setups, changed depths, even setup the down rigger to go through some schools of fish I saw down at 50 feet. Like others stated above it was slow fishing today. But the weather was nice, and the folks I chatted with on the water and at the dock were friendly. So all in all not a bad day.
 
#237 ·
Fished 5/4 in the late afternoon and picked up a quick limit of nice Kokes. Started hot morning of 5/5 but bite died off early. Fished most all day and ended up with a mixed bag. 5 nice kokes and two small Kokes. Three small rainbows and a couple of small LL Chinooks. Biggest Koke was 15 inches on the tape. These are going to be real nice by late July or August. Hope to see some 16 to 17 inch size fish.
 
#238 ·
I'm gonna assume it was someone on the way to fish Merwin for Kokes........

On my morning commute to work along 182nd north of Hockinson there was an aluminum boat and trailer in the middle of the opposing lane, no tow vehicle in sight. It was still dark, but I could see the tongue of the trailer/coupler on the ground. There was a gentleman standing there with coffee mug in hand to direct traffic around and when I said " that doesn't look good" he said the trailer had popped off the ball and dropped. I hope you guys still made it out fishing. I was the dude on the bicycle. Boat had black canvas and Merc kicker and main.
 
#239 ·
"These are going to be real nice by late July or August."

duh, jz
 
#240 · (Edited)
Had a strong West wind all day today. Sure made it hard to make a return troll over a bite. Two of us fished from 9:00 to 2:00 caught 7 fish, two were 9" (recent plants?) and the others were over 12". Didn't have but a couple other fish on and a few other bites. Still fishing 1 oz of lead and 30 - 50 pulls with flashers / watermellon apex (was the lure of choice) and red corn. Another boat reported 4 fish caught and one boy falling overboard (safely retrieved by his dad)

Time to smoke some Kokanee!
 
#241 ·
Today I fished Merwin for the first time since April 27. I started where I got a quick limit on the 27th and after an hour nothing. I fished several of my favorite spots on the west half of the lake and picked up a fish here and there. I fished from 0600 to about noon. I quit when the wind was pushing me 2.4mph with my trolling mortor in neutral. I ended with four kokanee 13-13 3/4, lost a couple and my first squaw fish of the season. All my hits were on a red wedding ring, 1 1/2 oz, back 75 ft. I talked to several fisherman who had nothing. One fellow I talked to who got skunked said that fishing was good last week. He got a limit last weekend. Now that my house is painted I plan to spend more time at Merwin
 
#242 ·
Fished 5/10 from 7:30-1pm...Took a while but managed our 2 limits. Avg fish was 14" and really thick. Smallest fish was a shade under 13 and 16" was the biggie of the day. Morning time the lake was like glass and fishing was poor. Ended up marking tons of fish about 20-25' and started a North/South trolling path. That was UNTIL the wind picked up and made that plan not work so well...Made a long run down from the waterfall and trolled with the wind back to Speelei launch. Actually, fishing picked up 100% after the wind blew! We fished staggered depths with downriggers at 20' and 25' and caught 7 on that troll. We ended up keeping 10, releasing 2 rainbows, lost 5 at the net, and had about a dozen come unbuttoned after the hookup. Ended up catching most of them on pink hoochies with a slingblade.
 
#243 ·
It was a picture post card sunrise on Merwin this am. The kind of morning one dreams about. Crisp , cold , calm and a biting frenzy. Everyone was catching Kokanee. There wasn't that many boats on the water and a limit was easily attainable. If you had your line in the water this am you would have caught kokanee!
 
#246 ·
It was a picture post card sunrise on Merwin this am. The kind of morning one dreams about. Crisp , cold , calm and a biting frenzy. Everyone was catching Kokanee. There wasn't that many boats on the water and a limit was easily attainable. If you had your line in the water this am you would have caught kokanee!
I was also out there over the weekend & I was really surprized at the location of the "Hot Spot", it was at the EAST end of the lake between the Campers Hideaway Marina and Cresup Bay Launch Ramp!! I've never seen that many fish in that location. Did any of you get your limits there?

Kokonuts
 
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#244 ·
Catfish, thank you for reminding all of us about the catch and release rule. I was aware of this regulation but your reminder motivated me to take a few minutes and read those parts of the Washington Sportfishing Rules Pamphlet that apply to the waters that I fish. I plan to review this pamphlet at the start of each season to check for changes.
 
#248 ·
Fished the East end of the Lake this am by Campers Hideaway. Not as hot as it was Fiday, but was able to catch a limit in a couple hours. Using red worms and red corn with flashers at 10-15 feet. All Kokanee 12-14 inches no rainbow. Did catch one small pike minnow. Would have liked to fish longer, but since I was using bait I was fishing under the five fish release or keep rule. Haven't found a bait less lure to catch these Kokanee yet.
 
#251 ·
Just out of curiosity how many people have tried running down the lake toward the dam? Just curious if there are any schools that hang out as well as they do across from the launch. I guess my question is have you ever had any better success running your boat that far or is it a waste of gas and time?
 
#252 ·
The Kokes are moving all the time and half the "fun" is finding them.
I have certainly found them down close by the dam, but have also found them almost everywhere on the reservoir.
In my opinion, what makes it so much more challenging this time of year is they are close to the surface. Being shallow, they scatter when you motor over the school and do not show up well on the fish finder so finding fish is more or less a matter of patience, luck, and of course, going to personal "hot spots" learned from past experience.
The fun for me begins when the lake turns over and the fish drop down to find the cool water (and their food supply). At that time, usually between now and mid-June, the schools in Merwin are usually found down around 40-55 feet (or more) and will stay put while slowly cruising over while scanning the sonar. Once we find fish, the down riggers are deployed and we work the school marking it's bounderies as we get fish.
Number 1 rule: Do not troll away from the fish to find fish. Once found, stay with them until they refuse to play and then move on to find another willing school.
I am always amazed to see how many boats set course in a straight line, pick up a fish, and then just keep going until they are miles down the lake.
Just my observation based on many hundreds of hours on Merwin.
 
#253 ·
You are so correct. I am also amazed to see folks catch a fish and continue on a straight course. My belief is that you do not leave fish to find fish. I circle back over where I caught a fish and if I do not get a hit I start making wider circles. Most of the time I get hits doing this.
 
#254 ·
Fished Merwin the last 2 days. Wed. we fished down by the rope swing which is close to the dam. We hit 2 doubles and 1 triple just out from the swing. Today we started at the swing, and landed 1 Kokanee and 6 pike minnows. Decided to get away from the pike minnows and went to the water fall area that is just west of the launch. Landed 4 kokanee and lost twice that many.
Wed was a wedding ring day, and today they wouldn't touch a WR, but were hammering the Hooches. The situation is always changing. Just when I think I have them figured out, they move and the game starts over.
GOOD LUCK
 
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