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Another chilly morning launching out of Ft Spokane. Headed out to the main river and encountered about a mile of ice as we headed up river. Never thought my Tracker would have to act as an ice breaker; dodged around most of it but had to break through about a quarter mile of ice.

We fished main lake rock humps and managed to boat 35 keepers, all between 16"-22". Never caught any dinks. The same pattern produced that we have been using for the last month; slowly dragging a jig back after a long cast. When I say slow think about slowly dragging a jig and then go even slower. It takes a lot of patience but this pattern has produced very well. Most of our fish came out of 25'-25' FOW; I had my best luck with a glow head jig and a 3 1/2 inch watermelon red flake swimbait. The shallowest we caught fish was out of 8' FOW so don't be afraid to cast shallow, some of the biggest females we catch come out of less than 5' FOW.

The weather turned out gorgeous and we were able to strip down to just a heavy sweatshirt as the day progressed. Going to try an head out again on Tuesday and enjoy some of this warmer weather.

MS

Part-Time

3/18/2019 6:54:25 PM

Wow! Great report, nice fish. I'm going to put some sort of tracking device on your boat that is if I figure out which one is you. Like that you were catching them in shallow water. I just can't get wound up about reeling a walleye out of 120 FOW. Thanks for the great report.

Ganno

3/18/2019 8:41:26 PM

CCTMark the ice breaker nice report and great catch

AJ's Dad

3/19/2019 6:55:59 AM

Shouldn't have to worry about that ice this weekend. I believe we have turned the corner and seen our last doses of snow and weather cold enough to freeze the local lakes. Let the spring time begin!!!
Nice haul by the way!

NorseNW

3/19/2019 12:20:45 PM

I would say you are dialed in. Also hardcore. Can't say I've ever been out when breaking through ice of any thickness.

jcorgatelli

3/19/2019 5:08:44 PM

Looks great i am almost ready to get my walleye.Been doing good with some 19 inch trout.

jcorgatelli

3/19/2019 5:10:17 PM

Looks great i am almost ready to get my walleye.Been doing good with some 19 inch trout.

lake Rsvlt chrtrs

3/20/2019 12:04:24 AM

25' Water? That is some cold water for that shallow!!!

CCTMark

3/20/2019 6:54:30 AM

I went out with my buddy on Tuesday and the whole mouth of the Arm was iced over; we once again had to break through a bunch of ice. Also a big change from Saturday, we only caught 4 nice keepers. Same places, same jigs but not the same results. I blame it on the blood moon.

For years I made the mistake of assuming all of the walleyes would be deep in this cold water; the truth is a lot of the big fish are shallow. Those big hens go shallow to try and find warmer water. I caught an 11 lb. female last year out of 3' FOW; granted it was in April but i always target shallow flats near current seams as the level goes down in Roosevelt.

Part-Time

3/20/2019 8:08:09 AM

Thanks for all the great information Mark. As a beginner Walleye fisherman your reports are one of my best resources for learning the ropes. Keep it up.

buc

3/26/2019 8:48:03 PM

they move up shallow to brood there eggs ...

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