by Dave Graybill, March 11, 2013

Anglers are still showing up at the lakes in the Quincy Wildlife Area in huge numbers. Knowing that they are still full of quality trout, they are eager to get their show of them. However, I am not ready to let go of the steelhead fishing still available to us on the main stem Columbia and the Methow River.

I will be fishing on the main stem Columbia in the Bridgeport area and the Methow River the following day. I sure hope I get better conditions at Bridgeport than I had the first time I put the new Kingfisher boat in the water. The river level was way down and there was absolutely no flow. Lack of flow is a bite killer, and I didn’t waste much time trying to catch steelhead on that trip. My plan is to hit at least the Bridgeport stretch of the Columbia and then thanks to the folks at the Pateros Lakeshore Inn spend the night and fish the Methow the next day.

Conditions should be good for a day on the Methow. It will be low and clear, but that’s to be expected this time of year. I will be fishing with Keith Roe, who is an expert on the Methow. He is the one that has developed jigs, called Raven Jigs that are deadly not just on the Methow but every river in our region. I fished the Methow River earlier in the season with my fly rod and had a spectacular day, thanks to my friend Jim Passage and guide Jeff Brazda. The late-season bobber and jig fishing on the Methow can be amazingly good.

Later in the week I would sure like to find the time to try for some big rainbow or maybe even kokanee. Rainbow to well over 20 inches can be caught this time of year on Banks Lake and on Potholes Reservoir. I know that really big fish have been caught right off the dock at Coulee Playland, and by anglers trolling either Rapalas or Wooly Bugger flies off the Million Dollar Mile or at the very south end of the lake. The hot spot on Potholes Reservoir has been in the area of the Blythe Point Boat Launch. One rainbow taken here recently stretched the tape to 28 inches! I am doing some research for an article that I am preparing for the Columbia Basin Herald and NW Sportsmen’s Magazine on kokanee fishing in the region. When I talked to the guy with the Department of Fish and Wildlife that works on the kokanee on Lake Roosevelt he said that the month of March can be a good time to troll for kokanee up there. This is where the really big kokanee come from in our state. The record, which was caught in 2003, weighed 6.25 pounds! Right now the kokanee are near the surface on Lake Roosevelt, but as the water warms they go deeper and deeper and get harder to find and catch.

I would really like to figure out how to consistently catch the big rainbow at Banks Lake in the spring, particularly this year. On April 6th and 7th the first Banks Lake Triple Fish Challenge will be held. Anglers will compete over two days trying to catch the biggest rainbow, walleye and smallmouth bass. The event will be staged out of Coulee Playland and I really like the idea of an early spring derby of this kind on Banks. I know that there will be a lot of rainbow caught. The challenge part comes in for the walleye and smallmouth. They can be hard to come by this early in the season.

I wanted to remind everyone that a full slate of Fishing and Cooking TV Shows are now available through my web site. People have really liked being able to watch these informative and entertaining shows any time they wish now, with the click of a button. I also got some good news regarding these shows. Another web site, WashingtonLakes.com has added these shows to their site. Now those that follow their site can enjoy the shows as well. If you are a regular follower of this site, you need to go to the Forum Page and look for the Video Forum. Or, you can do a forum search to find the videos. Just enter Dave Graybill and hit enter and it will take you there.

I am busy getting organized for my trip to Belize. I will be down there with my wife, Eileen, and eight others from the 4th through the 12th of April and we all wish we were leaving tomorrow. I will be working ahead to cover my writing and broadcasting while I am away. When I get back I will be busy with the Kids Fishing Days that I help organize every year, the opening of the general lowland lakes trout season and other events. I just up dated the Pepsi Calendar, so if you want to see what coming up in the next month or so just go to my web site at www.FishingMagician.com and click on the Pepsi logo on my Home Page.

Have you got your new license for the coming year? I was at Hooked on Toys the other day and the two people at the counter weren’t buying fishing gear they were getting their new licenses. That reminded me that I should put both my wife and my licenses in my rig to remind me the next time I’m there I can get our new licenses. I want to do it before there is a big rush and line, and I certainly don’t want to forget about it altogether.

I am very excited about getting out for steelhead on the Columbia and the Methow. Late season action can be spectacular and I can’t wait to make my first cast!

By Dave Graybill

FishingMagician.com