I went out Saturday for a few hours on Lake Sammamish with a friend, and we got nothing but a couple of takedowns off the downriggers. This isn't very unusual since I usually get skunked on that lake when I stop by.

Today, Monday, I went by myself and flatlined a Needlefish. Result: 13, 15 and 17 inch cutthroats. Go figure!

Nice job! I've had similar success on Lake Samm and over the last few years have tended to target lake Washington instead. Lake Samm can be very tough at times.

A long while back... I believe it was Easy Limits who said he had luck trolling the Sockeye setup. You around Carl? Help me out here

Curtis

I was with Carl that day in my boat. We were targeting kings. Yup, he used a sockeye setup and caught a nice cutt. Funniest thing. We never touched a king...

During the 2002 sockeye season I picked up a nice 19" cutt on a U20/dodger rig 80' down! I think if they're on the bite, they'll hit just about anything. The trick is finding them.

The key is if the hatchery is letting out coho smolt. Thats what the cutts target. So if you fish out in front of the creek you want to have a lure that is coho color. I have had more luck near the surface than down deep even when they show of the finder near the bottom. They hit real soft. So if you have a rigger set up for them clip the line real light. Dead slow troll also you will even pick up perch trolling.

Can anyone tell me the correct trolling speed for cutts, I have fished the lake for 2 years now and have caught a lot of cutts up to 22" using small spoons off a downrigger from 15-55' down , the problem is I fished the lake with a friend and he is out of town and I never really paid attention to the boat speed. I took my own boat out and only caught one the other day and I kinda thought maybe my speed is too fast 1.7- 2.1 is what I was trolling at. thanks for any advise, Boy the cutts are sure full of smolts right now we took 6 out of two fish a week ago.

Yup, BBVD, you are correct. I think we had the 'rigger set at 40'.