This report is for the mouth of the kettle River as it flows into Lake Roosevelt. This is a prime location for early Burbot fishing. Later in the winter fish will be stacking up to go up the river and spawn under the ice. If you can get your bait into the right spot it is a surefire winner for catching fish. The magic spot is just 20 ft South of the bridge on the north side of the river. When you take the trails down you'll want to look for a cliff face that forms a triangle and points towards the river. This cliff face goes straight down for the most part and at the very bottom is the channel of the river. Think of this 60 to 80 ft deep channel as a highway for the fish going up river. When you cast out, cast out about 80 ft immediately close your reel. This will allow the bait to swing down into the main channel. If you cast it right you're lying will be hanging right over the edge of the cliff and going straight down. If you let your bait go anywhere else it is prone to a lot of snags. I'm including a picture of the spot. You'll see that there's a 20 ft and 40 ft deep shelf that you want to avoid in your casting. Just cast right in front of it and close your bail and the bait should swing into the area between the cliff and the shelves.

With that said it was a good night for fishing. I ended up catching my limit. I had two friends with me with two poles as well but they didn't do as well. Most of the fish came off that spot between the shelves and the cliff that you're casting off of. When I go with my girlfriend I typically put two poles on that side and two poles on the other side of the triangle cliff. Every time we go there it's different as to what's the good side.

I used the only rig you really need for shore fishing for burbot. Carolina rig.... 1 ounce sliding sinker to the swivel, 2ft leader to a size 3/0 circle hook. 2 lol Corky's floating beads behind the hook with a worm. This rig is perfect for a snag centric area. It will keep your lure off the Rocky bottom and put it right in the fishes line of view. As opposed to the rest of the year Burbot are starting to school up. Your bites will come in waves. You also shouldn't expect that these are going to ring bells on your rod. You'll need to pay attention to the line itself for bites and make sure your line is tight. At 60 to 80 ft depth a fish will be hard pressed to pull very hard on your rod. When you get a bite you need to be patient. Grab your rod reel in the slack. If you don't feel a bite slowly reel it in we're talking and inch a second. Real in for a few seconds and stop. If you don't feel a bite set your rod back down. If you do feel a bite set the hook.

Ended the day with 6 keepers, 7 missed bites (lack of patience) and threw one very eager 11 incher back. Please remember that if you ever hope to throw one back for being too small you need to reel these fish in very slow or else their bladders will come up out of their mouth and they will have trouble getting back down.

What worked:
Carolina rigs with lil Corky's
Patience

What didn't work:
Casting into snag areas
Lack of patience

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