yep that was my thought to but I suppose the ice hole was photo edited to make it look smaller than it actually was or because it was so far behind it made it look smaller or something like that. Never doubt a fisherman's fish story...never believe it but never doubt it.

way back when I was in high school some 50 years ago I got a plan for making a fish caller. It was a transistorized tone generator (really new tech then). You could set it for different tones and place it in a mason jar and place it in the water you were fishing. I never found that it worked but it was exciting to build and use. Maybe now days they come with language translators for different parts of the country and different fish but I think I would save my money and just learn to read the water.

there are several good rivers around lake Stevens that have runs of chinook, Coho, and pink (odd number years) as well as steelhead and sea run cutthrout. You are a little late on the salmon runs and a little early for the winter steelhead runs. The Skokomish river is a great river, as is the Snohomish river both near you. Lake Stevens has Kokanee in it but is best as a spring fishery and are not the size of the fish in your picture. Just check the fishing regs very carefully, they can be very confusing and complicated if you are new to the area with different parts of a river having different rules. John's sporting goods in Everett is a great place to get good information on where and how to fish. Good luck