Available Fishing Guide:
Website: Darrell & Dads Family Guide Service
Spent 3 days at Roosevelt for my wife's birthday, it's what she wanted to do and where she wanted to go. :-)
We arrived late Friday afternoon, launched at 7 Bays, and headed up the arm to try for some walleye. We tossed jig and worm as well as crankbaits, but all we could muster were some small SMB. Called it a day about 7pn and headed in for dinner.
Saturday was a nice day, and we decided to do some trolling for trout. We put 4 in the boat, lost one during a net attempt and lost 2 others after some arial displays. The 'bows were definitely on the feed. We fished in front of 7 Bays until after noon, then headed up to split rock where we lost the two for surface antics. My wife outfished me 3:1.
Today I decided we were going back to split rock and it was the right decision, we didn't have the gear in the water more than 5 minutes before my wife had a nice rainbow take the Ripn Minnow for a spin and ended up in our net. It went that way for the next couple hours and my wife had now upped the ante, she was at 4 to my 1! I really thought she would limit out before I got to catch another one, but it was my turn to have her net a nice 15" 'bow. Still, she had me 4:2 and then we hit a lull. She finally picked up her 5th for the day and it was getting close to noon, so I was tempted to consider calling it a day, but I now got to fish 2 rods at the same time (yes, we both have 2 pole permits). Another lull, then the starboard rod went off with a big zing and it kept going, no 15 incher this time! After a nice fight, my wife netted a beauty, 20" 3lb 0oz Rainbow. Woo Hoo! I was ready to go, but decided to make one more circuit where we we getting the most action, and bingo, another 'bow about 13". No sooner than I had it in the cooler the other line went off with the Ripn Minnow still tangled in the net. It was a circus, I'm reeling in the fish, controlling the trolling motor, and my wife was trying to untangle the lure from the net. Finally, she cut the line, and just in time as I had my last fish at the boat. A quick swoop and my last one was in the boat.
We stowed our gear and headed back to the launch. A tribal representative was there doing a creel survey and he was surprised to see the big 'bow. Said it was the first one he'd seen that size all weekend. He also said the released trout were putting on an inch a month and they'd all be 18" or so by March. Can't wait for them to get some size on them, the little guys sure fought hard.
Perch pattern Ripn Minnow and a Perch pattern Frisky Jenny fly tipped with half a worm were the deadly combos today. We were using 18# leaded line and set our depth counter reels at 155'. There was a nice wind chop and the water surface temp was 70°. There were several other boats in the area but I didn't see anyone net any fish.
What a great weekend!
Available Fishing Guide:
Website: Darrell & Dads Family Guide Service