RENTON, Wash. — You may occasionally see a boat as you drive over the 520 floating bridge or I-90 with a million other commuters.

A lone boat, bobbing around in the gray winter chop. Most times it will be raining, and the boat's canvas will be closed up.

You won't see anybody, just a boat, off by itself, like some kind of ghost vessel bouncing around on the cold winter water of Lake Washington.

When you see it you might wonder, "What's a boat doing out on the lake in this kind of weather, at this time of year?"

But if you could see it closer, you'd know the reason.

Bright, beautiful cutts like this are your target during the winter months on Lake Washington.

A telltale downrigger boom will be out over the water, perpendicular to the stern, with a hard-bent rod pulled down to the cable.

Fishing, that's what that boat is doing out there. Fishing. And fishing for what?

How about for trophy-sized rainbow and cutthroat trout? Sound crazy? Not necessarily.

There's a hardy group of core fishermen who target these fish, and with good reason.

Some of the trout that are caught in Lake Washington in the winter can approach legendary status.

Like the monster, state-record 14.9-pound cutthroat caught two years ago near Juanita Bay.

Not for everyone

This isn't the kind of fishery where you can go out and catch a limit. Far from it.

Even the best, most experienced core anglers get skunked regularly, or come back from an outing having had only one or two take-downs and maybe one or two hook-ups.

These are spooky, wary, hard to catch, non-schooling fish.

The big cutts in Lake Washington, particularly, seem to be lone-wolf predators and are often few and far between.

The rainbows can be equally elusive.

But the average size of one of these fish can be enormous by trout standards, with cutts usually over 18 inches (2 to 3 pounds) and 'bows that tip the scales at over 5 pounds.

If you're looking to fill your freezer, you'll have to fish elsewhere.

But if you're willing to put in your time, be patient, work hard and fish smart, you can catch big trout.

The 'fish smart' part

Lake Washington is a big lake. Really big. Over 22,000 acres. Which is one reason that's it hard to fish.

This is a lot of water to cover, and it makes for a lot of water where the fish can hide where you'll never find them.

The best way to narrow it down is to eliminate non-productive water, and concentrate on the best-known, most productive spots.

But, keep in mind that the "productive" areas are places where anglers who've caught fish return to fish again and again, trip after trip.

In a lake this big it would seem that there are bound to be other productive areas that no one's discovered yet.

So it doesn't hurt to explore in search of your own new, undiscovered hot spots.

The unproductive areas that you can probably eliminate right off the bat seem to be the middle of the lake between the two floating bridges, midlake north of Bailey Peninsula, the middle areas of the East Channel, and the area northeast of the Cedar River.

The high-percentage, best known locations are around the mouth of the Cedar, the southern and northern ends of Mercer Island, both sides of the floating bridges and the area around Juanita Point.

Less known areas that still have a reputation for producing include the southwest side of Mercer and Groat, Dabney and Evergreen points.

Fish diet

While most trout are famous for eating bugs, who wants to eat an insect when they can have succulent seafood instead?

Trout love to fish (just like you do), and feast on what they catch.

Whether it's shad fry (yes, there are shad fry in Lake Washington), mysis shrimp, or salmon and trout fry, trout go after smaller fish more readily than they do the lake's infrequent bug hatches.

Trout even feast on baby crappie.

In other words, cutthroat and rainbow in Lake Washington eat fish, so if you can concentrate your efforts where there's fish available for dinner, you'll up your chances of scoring.

That's why the floating bridges are so productive.

They grow algae and other vegetation on the floats, which attracts bugs which attracts shrimp which attracts baitfish which attracts big trout.

Understanding the diet of these big lunkers is key to knowing not only where to fish, but what to put in the water to catch them.

The catching part

In my 12 years of fishing the lake, I don't believe I've ever seen anyone fishing it for trout who wasn't trolling.

That's not to say that jigging, throwing a spoon or spinner, fishing off the bottom or still fishing with a float won't work.

But for higher percentages, this is the place for deep-water trolling, from 30 to 110 feet down.

It's a deep lake and the baitfish are deep and so the fish are deep.

You can use weights, but downriggers are the way to go because you can then use much lighter lines and leaders.

These fish are notoriously leader-shy, so be stealthy. Your best bet is a 6 or 8-pound-test leader.

Fluorocarbon is ideal, but a stealthy mono like Stren Magnathin will work just as well.

You can pull a string of blades or use flashers and dodgers, but you don't need to.

This is crystal-clear water and trout can see and sense a long way.

In fact, I have a theory that blades, flashers and dodgers are actually counter-productive, serving to shy fish away instead of attracting them.

You can troll all kinds of offerings, and many anglers do. Some swear by Jointed Rapalas in rainbow and fire tiger.

Some troll big Panther Martins and Rooster Tails. Some troll worm harnesses with nightcrawlers.

But my favorites are Needlefish spoons, and herring.

For Needlefish, use 8-pound main line and 6-pound leader. Use a leader that's at least as long as your fishing rod.

Connect main line and leader with a high-quality ball bearing swivel, like a Sampo.

If the Needlefish has a flutter tail, remove it. You want it to look just like a minnow to the fish. Tie the Needlefish directly to your leader.

Use a No. 2 or No. 3 Needlefish in fire tiger or the red head/brass body color. Vary your trolling depth, speed and pattern.

Don't be afraid to fish too deep, even in winter.

Remember that more fish are caught at 60 feet than at 30 on this lake.

Now, it may sound weird to use herring for trout in freshwater, but believe me it's incredibly effective (refer back to the fish's diet, above).

Trout are less suspicious of a trolled herring and will hit it with a lot of velocity.

They may take a subtle poke at a Needlefish spoon, but they will absolutely inhale a herring.

Use orange or yellow label herring. You can plugcut it, but you don't need to.

Tie a two-hook snelled leader, just like you do for salmon fishing, with 8-pound Stren Magnathin (fluorocarbon is too delicate for snell tying and tends to fray). Go with two No. 2 Gamakatsus.

Once tied, take the first hook and put it through the left nostril of the herring and poke it down through and out the lower jaw.

Let the second hook hang free, roughly two-thirds of the way to the tail.

You'll notice that you get a terrific spin using a whole herring this way. Trout will notice too.

As with your Needlefish, you don't need anything else — no dodgers, flashers, or blades.

Put your spoon or herring well behind the boat so that your downrigger cable and ball don't spook these wary fish.

Set your clip for light release, and be prepared to do battle with a big fish if your rod goes off.

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