We launched out of Hunters around 6:30 AM with light fog and decided to head North upstream, I trolled Fly's with no success Frisky Jennys Lk Roosevelt trying a Super Natural and Fire Ant and going on top at 180' 250' 300' and i might add i was not using a planner board, I also tried a chartreuse 1.5 Apex Kokanee Special on top.

My father-in-law tried going down 15 and 20 ft with the down-rigger pulling mostly rapalas but all we had were the bigger rapalas that we typically use on Pend O Reille Lake so that might of had something to do with no hits on them.

Water conditions seemed favorable until the afternoon when the wind picked up, i might add we trolled up to the Gifford Ferry and then turned back, we did encounter some fairly large chunks of ice near Gifford that had broke lose so beware of them also noticed up towards the ferry that there was some smaller debris in the water small sticks etc... water clarity seemed good as well from Hunters to Gifford.

It was a day with no hits at all, but a day on the water is good day anytime. I also want to thank the Gentlemen (sorry did not get names) we talked with at the launch in Hunters for being so good to us and sharing some ideas with us as it was our first outing on the water, sorry my report does not have much advice for the big catch maybe next time but if you see something you can share that might help us out, it would be greatly appreciated.

downriggeral

3/16/2014 10:43:00 PM

Hi ReelFun,
We catch most of our fish in the winter (or anytime for that matter) on three colors leaded line with 50 to 60' fluoro leader. Troll original Rapalas with an orange belly (there is a picture of one in my last post) . We also have been doing well lately on perch Kekeda flies
( http://www.washingtonlakes.com/Tackle.aspx ) trolled on the leaded line at 2 MPH. On day recently it was olive bunny leech flies. Usually we run 18' and above on the DR wire in the winter. Increase setback to the 100' rule that works like this: 20' deep equals 80' back and so on. Fish areas where you see lots of fish on the sonar. Our rule is don't leave fish to find fish.

And last but not least there are many great posts for Lake Roosevelt from fellow anglers. Take a look at them, it's highly educational.

Tight lines - Alan

ReelFunTimes

3/17/2014 5:46:00 PM

Thanks for the advice downriggeral, after i read your post i made a quick dash to White Elephant and picked up a few items :) I went with the j5 Rapalas hopefully those will work i thought about j7 but thought they may be a little big for Roosevelt, also looked for perch Kekada and olive bunny but they were all out and i was told they have been going through them lately, so that must be a good sign.

ReelFunTimes

3/17/2014 6:27:00 PM

Not sure how to edit my last post but wanted to correct myself on the rapalas i went with a J7 and thought the J9 would be to big for Roosevelt

downriggeral

3/17/2014 8:19:00 PM

We've been fishing J11 and J13....who woulda thought. The Kekeda flies come direct from Dave Browning at
http://www.etsy.com/listing/174537991/5-kekeda-tackle-trolling-flies
The red head olive bunny come from Swedes fly shop on Maple in Spokane.

Hope that helps - Alan

ReelFunTimes

3/18/2014 3:10:00 PM

Thanks Alan, i really do appreciate your help.

onerka007

3/18/2014 9:17:00 PM

Surprised you didn't get any trout. My advice, head south to Lincoln on down river to fish both kokes and rbt.

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