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Scooteney Lake Report
Franklin County, WA

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Details

09/07/2014
Bluegill
Afternoon
09/10/2014
4
5070

This is a followup to the fishing report with Thom Luedeke and Fishing Christian at Scootney Reservoir on 7th, September. It took awhile to locate the fish , but persistence paid off with nearly non stop action for the three of us. After trial and error, we anchored up near a current seam and drop off ledge in 17 foot of water and caught some 6 different species, including keeper walleyes and smallmouth bass. We also ended up finding a weed bed not a few hundred yard from the boat launch an hour before dark that was loaded with decent yellow perch to 10" and a lot of hard hitting bass. The bluegills we did catch were nice sized specimens and nearly every fish we caught came on 1/16th oz jigs and crawlers, except for Thom's 3.5 pound largemouth bass, which hit a crawfish crankbait. Looking forward to doing it gain soon. The Jigster


Comments

C-money
9/10/2014 4:47:00 PM
Nice Jiggy! I've never hit Scootney before, but it son my short list of things to do. Any boat hazzards in there that are hard to see? C
The Jigmiester
9/10/2014 8:47:00 PM
C money. I wasn't the boat captain, but it appeared where we went South of the State Park, it was pretty clear sailing and an easy drift with our boat. Current seams and drop offs were key to holding fish 17 to 21 feet.
blufin loui
9/10/2014 8:47:00 PM
Way to go Jiggie, Glad you're still a menace to the spiny rays.
tluedeke
9/10/2014 9:04:00 PM
Hey, C-money, I was the captain that day, although my dubious and apparently deteriorating boating skills hardly deserve that moniker (fishinChristian: "Head over towards that weed bed" ; Tom: Guns electric to maximum speed tearing through weed bed and scaring everything on that end of the lake ; Jiggy, with exasperated glance at fishinChristan: "Ummm ... whaddya say we just head towards that next spot....). LOL...

Seriously, I'm hardly an expert on Scooteney, but I've been through a significant part of that lake. It can be dangerous if you go roaring around carelessly, because there are some areas with rather amazingly drastic depth changes. In my experience, places to be really careful are on the north end of the lake (between the two boat launches and west of the campground launch) and up towards the west end of the lake (where the wasteway dumps in, and towards the island SW of the campground boat launch), and a few rocky shoals at various places throughout the lake. In the south end of the lake, the norm seems to be pretty significant dropoffs off the shore, rapidly heading down to ~15 feet. Regardless, it would be prudent to take your time, not go too fast, and watch your depth finder until you figure out the "prop-wrecker" areas.

Also, be aware that Scooteney is subject to pretty drastic flow and level changes because it is part of the irrigation district. If water levels are low (late fall into early spring), your "prop-wrecker probability" can rise significantly.

My $0.02...
tluedeke
9/10/2014 9:05:00 PM
.... and BTW, I concur. Jiggy is still a spiny ray's worst nightmare!! :)
fishinChristian
9/11/2014 8:14:00 AM
He's right about the dangers. It isn't as bad as Rock Lake, but it bears a lot of caution. I fished it in a floater and would be jigging in deep water, next thing I knew I was standing on a rock pinnacle.

As I recall, pointing in a direction to the captain came after his attempt to create a whirlpool by spinning the boat in circles. Perhaps I don't remember it correctly...
fishinChristian
9/11/2014 12:28:00 PM
Kidding aside, if you get a chance to fish with either of these... hmmm... gentlemen, go for it. Fun with expertise.
C-money
9/11/2014 3:30:00 PM
Thanks guys for the update on the danger areas. I'll run slow to get to know the lake. Jiggy....This is you'd olé brother from moses, hope to fish with you soon.
tluedeke
9/11/2014 11:06:00 PM
I only spun in circles (deliberately) to detect signs of senescence in your fishing directions. You know, ol' folks like you drift off and might reminiscence about lakes from yesteryear. :-P
fishinChristian
9/13/2014 9:52:00 AM
Pretty sure that was Jiggy, and I AM sure it was about Moses!!!
tluedeke
9/13/2014 10:21:00 PM
The thing I find truly amazing about fishing with Jigmeister and fishinChristian is that, even if I start to get frustrated about my own lack of success when surrounded by astounding Jiggy/Joe success, that if I kick back and watch a bit, I learn some seemingly minor things (presentation, colors, analysis of flow, bottom structure) that end up have enormous impact on results. These guys are something...
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Available Guide

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

Phone: (509) 687-0709