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Cavanaugh Lake Report
Skagit County, WA

Details

06/09/2017
Trolling W/Downriggers
Kokanee
Corn
Pink
Cloudy
Mack's Wedding Ring
Morning
06/10/2017
1
1695

A buddy and I fished early morning until noon. We trolled the usual spots right around the boat ramp, down both sides near the ramp, and even ventured to the island area when we got desperate. We trolled the usual gear, macks flash lites, wedding rings, and also various dodgers and wedding ring combos. We had around 3 or 4 different types of corn marrinated in various scents. Trolling speed was around 1-1.5 depending on wind and current. Our downrigger depths varied from 10ft all the way to 50ft depending on what the fish finder was marking.

Usually this lake produces easy limits and quick action around this time of the year. This was not the case this trip. We had very few fish marks on the fish finder when usually the fish finder is loaded with schools of kokanee. In all, we caught and released about 5 or 6 cutthroat trout which were all very skinny. Two of the trout were decent and around 12 inches. I believe this was the first trip in many years that I did get a single kokanee bite. Oh well, thats fishing.


Comments

cobrar543
6/10/2017 11:13:15 AM
Last year was the first year the fish and game cut the amount of stock from 70k a year to 20. I have sent letters of concern to them with no reply. Figures. Anyone else have any pull?
scraig1962
6/10/2017 11:28:19 AM
Wow. Never thought to look at the smolt plants. 96k in 2014 down to 29k in 2016. Will report if I can make it out again to see if it picks up.
Bscman
6/10/2017 6:22:01 PM
My experiences show only the mature Kokanee tend to enter the fishery--I.e. The 3-4yr old fish are 95% of the catch.

Which means the plants from 13/14 are what we're catching there now. In '13 40k were planted and in '14 only 30k fry were released opposed to the 90k in '15. Heck, I see no listed Kokanee plants in '12...but I was still catching them in '15!

I'm not sure we can blame a lousy day, on the tale end of a storm (after a long stretch of warm and dry), on just low stocking numbers.

I was out today as well. We did land one chunker Kokanee, and lost another at the boat (3 people fishing 4 hours) along with several cutts. Definitely slow.

I'd focus more on warm spots of the lake, as some areas warm faster than others. I would've stayed longer and searched harder but I was having issues with my electronics.
WheresDaFish
6/13/2017 10:00:07 PM
I took a buddy out there Saturday, 6-10 and we got skunked on kokanee too. Landed a few trout, but no kokes.

A week earlier we got tons of skinny little trout and again no kokes.

The week before that....so, the end of may, we got three big fatty kokes and didn't even see a trout.
scraig1962
6/14/2017 6:13:53 AM
Thanks for the info. Hopefully the kokanee fishing will pick up there soon.
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Available Guide

Available Fishing Guide:
Website: Darrell & Dads Family Guide Service

Phone: (509) 687-0709