My goal today was to catch trout—coastal cutthroat and/or rainbow. I decided to try the Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie River. I got up at 4:40 a.m. and stopped by my son-in-law’s place to pick up some small swivels, hoping they would help with the line tangles I’ve been getting when using spinners.

I started at Pratt Bar on the Middle Fork but had no luck—no bites at all. Not ready to give up, I drove farther upstream and found a beautiful pool right off the road. I followed the advice I’d been given: casting upstream at about a 45-degree angle, using small Mepps and Rooster Tail lures (including a brown trout pattern), and targeting likely spots behind boulders, in pools, and along seams. Unfortunately, nothing worked at either location, and after a couple of hours I decided to move on.

Next, I headed west to Beaver Lake in Sammamish, which supposedly has abundant rainbow trout from stocking in 2024 and 2025. After 45 minutes without a bite, I struck out there as well.

I really dislike days when I don’t catch any fish, so I tried to salvage the outing by changing locations. I looked for places where I might at least catch a new species and settled on two options: the Lake Washington T-dock, where yellow perch are possible, and the Carp Pond at the Union Bay Natural Area near the University of Washington.

Fortunately, things finally started to turn at the T-pier. I started with a small Mepps lure but again had no success. I switched to a simple bobber-and-worm setup, and that made the difference. I caught a Yellow Perch (Perca flavescens)—my first—then another, and then a couple of pumpkinseed.

After that, I headed to the Carp Pond and tried for carp using a bottom rig (size 6 hook with sweet corn and a small split shot). A couple of college students there said they had caught a small bullhead that day but no carp, although they had caught carp there before. I didn’t get any bites and gave up after about an hour.

I finished the day along the shore of Lake Washington and caught a couple more bluegill and a few pumpkinseed sunfish.

In the end, even though it was a challenging day, I did end up catching a new species—the yellow perch.