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18 - Lake Roosevelt South End to Spokane Confluence Report
Washington

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Details

06/25/2011
Trolling
Rainbow Trout
Worms
All Day
06/26/2011
4
1215

Decided we'd tackle Roosevelt even though water levels are coming up almost 2' a day right now, and that typically turns fishing off. Our experience yesterday was just the opposite!

Launched from Seven Bays at 7:15 and motored up to the north shore across from Lincoln. Water surface temp was 57.1°, so I thought we'd try trolling our winter setups and see if they produced, and they did. I hooked the first fish at 7:30 and my wife netted a nice 1lb, 11oz 'bow. Drop the gear and back to fishing and after another half hour I boated a 17" walleye. Then things slowed down a bit, and for the next couple hours, not a bite as we trolled through an area we hadn't fished before.

Since we were near Sterling Point, I pulled in for a shore break for the ladies, and then motored about 3/4 mile below the point and reset gear. Trolled for quite awhile and was thinking maybe we ought to move to a different spot when I picked up another nice 1lb, 12oz 'bow. We fished that same area until just before noon, then decided to move back to where we caught the first fish, and that was a good decision.

After a morning of no bites on my wife's rods, mine went silent and hers got hot! Her first fish was a nice 2lb, 6oz walleye, that she thought was trash. She handed me the rod, and I agreed with her. It was hooked on a long lined Rip'n Minnow in perch pattern and felt like a lot of the driftwood we had been hooking throughout the day. I had set the long line rigs at 250' out, and she'd reeled in about 30' or so, then I reeled in to about 50' out when I felt a head shake. Told her she had a fish on, it's a walleye, and handed her the rod to finish. I netted the 21 incher and snapped a pic!

I circled back through the same spot, and fish on again, this time a feisty 2lb, 12oz 'bow! I made a couple more passes through the same spot but no more hits, so moved east toward Lincoln. We doubled up, but mine got away, and I netted another sub 3 pound 'bow for my Debbie. Reset the gear and I picked up a SMB that was hooked through the eye, so it went in the cooler. Debbie hooked up with a fighter, and it was a dandy 'bow that tipped the scales at 3lbs even. By this time we were figting all the debris that had moved into our fishing spot, so we called it a day and headed back to the launch.

Roosevelt is full of stuff being washed down from snow melt, be careful if you decide to go. A lot of that stuff is sub-surface, and we had to rest gear several times yesterday due that. We saw deadheads longer than our boat yesterday, and some really large diameter ones that would do serious damage, so if you go, keep a sharp eye out and the speed down.

We trolled Frisky Jenny flies tipped with worm out 150' on leaded line. We long lined a pair of Rip'n Minnow plugs at 250'. Water surface temp started out at 57.1° and only reached 58° by mid-afternoon. We trolled at 2.3 - 2.5mph all day.


Comments

jpc
6/26/2011 9:06:00 AM
Great report and some beautiful fillets!
afk
6/26/2011 2:48:00 PM
Great presentation of fillets! My mouth is watering. Thanks for the report & keep it up.
G-Man
6/26/2011 3:08:00 PM
Did the walleye find their way into the deep fryer before you could snap a pic of their fillets? Great report, I'm tempted to give it a go on my way back from Newport next week.
blufin loui
6/26/2011 3:26:00 PM
Nice pics and great report. It good to see that Debbie continues to grace your boat, and puts fish in the cooler. Tell her we said hello.
hewesfisher
6/26/2011 4:40:00 PM
@jpc & afk - I was very surprised at the size of the rainbows we caught yesterday. Those 6 fish weighed almost 15lbs in the aggregate. Half those fillets are 5" wide! For perspective, the towel they're laying on is 28" wide. They were quality trout!

@ G-Man - Nope, didn't think to snap a pic of them before they went in the fridge. They're dinner for tonight, if I think about it, I'll snap some of the ready-to-eat product and share in the forums. :-) If you go on your way back from Newport, just be sure to watch out for the deadheads, there are lots of them all over right now. Helps to have another set of eyes keeping watch while navigating.

@blufin loui - Thanks for the kind words. Debbie always graces the boat, and as you know, usually catches the biggest fish. Same thing yesterday, biggest walleye and rainbow. I'll pass your greetings. I'll have to get back to you and Cindy when we reschedule our RW outing at the camp spot. Might not be until Aug or late Sept, as the kids are taking a 2 week vacation and driving down the coast to CA in early Sept.
Lundegard
7/7/2011 9:07:00 PM
Nice to see you're back to Roosy again. Thanks for the report.
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Available Guide

Available Fishing Guide:
Website: Darrell & Dads Family Guide Service

Phone: (509) 687-0709