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Report is for 10/7 & 10/8.
Had planned a weekend at Roosevelt with my brother and SIL but a last minute work commitment kept them at home. :-(
Since we had planned for a weekend away, we went anyway, despite Friday's wind forecast of SE winds 8 - 18mph with gusts to 29mph. Winds were supposed to become SW in the afternoon, but no change in velocity.
Arrived mid-morning and had some maintenance tasks to take care of before hitting the water. We launched about 1:30 and winds had not subsided much, so to keep my girls happy, I turned away from the wind and headed toward Two Rivers. Not often I choose to fish this area, but no way my wife would tolerate heading into the wind and white caps behind us.
There's a spot downstream that tucks in toward the shore and that's where I decided to put gear out. Within 5 minutes it was "fish on" and the first was in the cooler. Continued that way for the rest of the outing and we had limits of mostly 17" - 17 1/2" rainbows in the cooler in 2hrs 5mins. Best for the outing was just under 19" and when I decided it was worthy of a photo, I realized I had left the camera in my bag. Oh well.
I fully expected winds to subside as evening approached, and they did. What I didn't expect was they would pick up again as we worked to put the last two in the cooler. So we ended up riding into the white caps back to Seven Bays anyway. It wasn't that bad with the motor tucked in full down trim and me keeping the speed at about 15mph, but my wife and yellow lab were both pleased when I pulled into the sheltered marina at Seven Bays.
With no need to rush, we launched just before 10am on Saturday, and though still windy, it was nowhere near as bad as Friday. I turned downstream for a spot I like in the Sterling Point area and with the exception of a pontoon boat, we had the spot to ourselves. Limits in 1hr 55mins with most being in the 16 1/2" - 17 1/2" range, one 19" and one just under 20". Debbie picked up a nice SMB as a bonus to the trout. :-)
With lighter winds, I was able to try an Old Goat Lures, OG1 fluorescent green with pink tail in the 2.8" size. Not being a huge fan of working downriggers this time of year, I made the effort. Even though winds were lighter than the day prior, they still made trolling a challenge, especially when turning. The OG1 produced a nice rainbow, but I stopped the experiment after one. With four lines out, it was too much to deal with a downrigger line 50' back. I'll give it another go later this month.
Those of you who follow my reports know I troll fast, and at speeds of just 2.3mph, the OG1 was really moving nicely. I used it bare, no bait, no scent so I could, if desired, release any trout caught. The one we hooked with it was a nice fat 17 incher, so it went in the cooler. :-)
Trolling speed varied, but I tried to keep it in the 2.5 - 2.8mph range both days which was challenging with the wind and waves. Hot lure was a Kekeda perch pattern fly tipped with a chunk of crawler. The Kekeda easily produced 80% of our two day tally. Perch pattern Rip'n Minnows produced the largest fish both days. As I usually do, flies on leaded line with 50' 6lb fluorocarbon leader out 155' and the plugs were out 195'.
Surface temps are still too warm IMO, even so, I think all the wave action brought the trout up top. I think they are in the top 15' or so of the surface or were Friday and Saturday.
We had more tangles on this trip than any other we've ever been on. I attribute that to conditions we were fishing in, and at one point, I almost stowed both mono rigs. Part of the problem is the 'bows hit, fight for a bit, then swim straight at the boat right until they're 15' - 20' out then go nuts. We had several that swam to the back of the boat then change direction and take off at a right angle into other gear. Just part of the game when fishing windy conditions. :-)
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