Lake wa today

[da fisher]

Been a good year for the cutts, Seems like after 25 years of fishing them they are getting bigger and more populated. Anyone got any theories on why this fishery has never taken off? I mean, they are easy to catch and get large but since first fishing for them around 82 you never see more then a couple boats out there. Granted they are a polluted fish, but how many could you stomach anyway? Take care y'all! D

[A9]

Been a good year for the cutts, Seems like after 25 years of fishing them they are getting bigger and more populated. Anyone got any theories on why this fishery has never taken off? I mean, they are easy to catch and get large but since first fishing for them around 82 you never see more then a couple boats out there. Granted they are a polluted fish, but how many could you stomach anyway?

Yes, it has been a solid year, atleast for some folks who know how to boat em...

Fishery has never taken off because it's a huge lake and easy to get skunked on. So it's pretty intimidating to go out there, and it's definitely not an easy lake to start catching fish on...

I suggest PM'ing kutthroatkilla...He's always out there, and posts a lot of reports and forums threads regarding LW Cutts

[kutthroatkilla]

Been a good year for the cutts, Seems like after 25 years of fishing them they are getting bigger and more populated. Anyone got any theories on why this fishery has never taken off? I mean, they are easy to catch and get large but since first fishing for them around 82 you never see more then a couple boats out there. Granted they are a polluted fish, but how many could you stomach anyway? Take care y'all! D

Seems like every year gets better and better. For one, there is little pressure due to the fact that you have to get "dialed in." If you don't know where the fish are on a given day, like Sam-K said, you'll go skunked everytime. Secondly, the best fishing is to be had during some of the worst weather months (October - April). This further curtails angling pressure. After some of my reports, I've seen quite a few more boats out there, but still not nearly what you think you'd see. They're not necessarily "easy to catch." They take skill to catch, and even some days you will come off the lake with nothing to show for it after 5 hours of trolling. Most everytime I seem to hook my limit, but that takes at least 4 hours of trolling on most days. I let a lot of my fish go once I have enough to smoke. The PCB thing is a concern, and perhaps people are aware of this and let many of them go...or just keep one for dinner. I stomach a good amount of these fish, and have had fish top the scale at over 8 pounds this year on me personally. A buddy of mine who fishes it more than I do caught a 12 pounder in November. It's a fun fishery, no doubt, but you'll have to battle what the "Big Lake" throws at you -- wind, rain, snow, hail, thunder, fog etc. etc. The cutts love the winter time, so when it's 35F in December the fishing can be lights out crazy, but no one will be fishing for them because it's too cold to fish, or at least that's how they see it. And furthermore, fishing is usually best on the weekdays when boat activity is at a minimum...they get spooked easily when there is a lot of boat activity like today, for instance. It'll be interesting to see if the fishery gains some steam in the years to come. It's really an unknown gem, right in our backyard.

[kevinb]

The particular spot you were in might have made it easy. Make a written or mental note of conditions and depth. But it seems in my opinion,these guys are always on the move. I can't speek of LKWA personally,but with kokes,bows and cutts at other large lakes(Cushman of coarse) I have been pulling them in like crazy and then gone back in the same day and found they were nowhere around where they previously were. It can be frustrating at times, but I love a good challenge.