Got up early again—5 a.m. I haven’t been getting much sleep this week thanks to my fishing obsession. But you’ve got to strike while the iron is hot—I’m only in Washington for a few weeks before returning to work.

I hadn’t had much luck west of the Cascades (Seattle, Westport), so I hoped things might turn around east of the Cascades. One bonus: far less traffic. My main targets for the day were trout (rainbow, steelhead, and brown) and pikeminnow.

I started at Lavender Lake, about 10 miles west of Cle Elum, since Luke had caught a lot of rainbow trout there a week or two earlier. On my very first cast—using a 1/8-ounce blue-and-silver Kastmaster—I hooked a fish, but it came off. I fished for another 30 minutes with various lures and got no bites, even though I could see fish in the water.

So, I headed to Ellensburg to pick up fresh bait—earthworms, which I know rainbow trout love. It took a frustratingly long time to find a place that sold worms, but I eventually found some at Bi-Mart. A guy I know (Copilot) suggested Mattoon Lake on the southwest side of Ellensburg as a nearby trout spot, so I gave it a try.

The lake had a nice pier. Even though I now had worms, I stuck with the Kastmaster for a few casts since it was already tied on. On about the fifth cast, I got a strong bite and landed a modest-sized Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss).

A man in his 40s who had been fishing from a small boat came in just as I was landing the fish and congratulated me. He then began fishing from the pier. He told me about a “foolproof” rig an older gentleman (around 70) had shown him—a drop-shot setup with a pencil sinker at the end and a small artificial bait tied above it. It seemed to work for him, but (not to be smug) I was catching fish at a much higher rate. I landed five rainbow trout in about 30 minutes.

After the fifth fish, I decided to move on in search of other species—specifically brown trout and pikeminnow. As I left, I wondered if the others were puzzled why I would walk away while the fishing was so good. In retrospect, perhaps I should have stayed—those ended up being the only fish I caught all day.

From there, I drove down the somewhat austere but still beautiful Yakima River Canyon, hoping to find cutthroat or brown trout. I stopped at a few pullouts but didn’t get any bites. After exiting the canyon near Yakima, I went in search of backwaters along the Yakima River, targeting Northern Pikeminnow—a species I hadn’t caught before.

Northern Pikeminnow are widely disliked because they prey on salmon eggs and harm salmon populations. In fact, there’s even a bounty program that rewards anglers for catching and removing them. Despite that reputation, I was interested in adding one to my list.

I spent the afternoon trying to access suitable backwaters, but access proved difficult. Hopefully I’ll have another chance to try later this week.