Hello All,
Where to start with this one...

Well I got a late start to begin with, I have never fished lake Roosevelt or the Spokane confluence so I figured I'd try it, i've heard of some success for walleye up by fort spokane so I figured why not. By the time I got the boat in the water it was around 10:30 or 11:00, not the ideal fishing time I know but it was saturday so why not?

The water conditions on the Spokane at the confluence were terrible, the water clarity was unbelieveable nasty maybe a foot visability, in reality I bet it was 8 inches. I marked fish on the fish finder at the shoreline breaks and drop offs but trying to get them to bite something they can't see is a challenging prospect. I went up about one mile north of the Fort Spokane park launch north of the 25 bridge, and trolled a few different bottom bouncer set ups. First was a 1 oz bouncer with a 2" perch glass rapala on 4 feet of 8lb leader and didn't even get a bite. I then proceeded to try everything in my arsenal to get on fish, running over mapped gps points of fish hugging the bottom and switching my leader and crankbait set up numerous times. I went up to a 3 oz bouncer with a silver/black 3.5" husky jerk, then to a 3" clown colored smithwicks rattiln rouge. All with no results not even an idle bass. I think the water clarity has a lot to do with it. The last switch I made was to the silver black husky jerk and it proved to be my first tackle loss of the day so I decided that the water clarity of the spokane was kicking my but so I moved locations.

I went down to the 25 bridge marked some fish at the east side pillars and thinking that they might be some smallmouth or something smaller I switch to a 3/8 oz jig with a yum crawbug trailer on my 8lb, 6'6" spinning set up, and worked the bottom for awhile, nothing to speak of. I switched to a 3" powerbait emerald shiner on the jig with the same result. So I figured another move was in order, I motored the long exhaust no wake zone past the two rivers marina and entered the confluence proper at around 1 PM.

By this point my deep cycle was feeling the pain of staionary jigging and trolling for the last three hours so I figured my time on the lake itself was going to be shorter than I had hoped. At any rate I saw alot of guys working the northern (muddy water) side of the point at two rivers so I went to investigate the depth, seeing that they were jigging in about 80-120 feet of water I assumed they were fishing the river/lake exchange for trout and I moved up the northern side of the lake to find a suitable 30-50' or 40-60' foot drop to bottom bouncer for walldos.

I motored up to abraham cove (that's what it's called on google at least), and started fishing around 2 PM. The water clarity on the lake proper was very impressive, according to my finder and my eye estimates I was marking clear visability down to about 15', so I decided to find a break along the shoreline about 30-40' and bottom bounce the clown colored smithwick rattlin rouge again. I increased my leader length to about 7' and reduced the bouncer weight to about 1 oz and tried again at the lowest possible speed to give the lure good action. According to the GPS I marked decent action on the lure at 1 mph. I proceeded with this set up all the way back to the confluence of the Spokane without a single bite. I tried the crawbug set up on the jig one last time before I took off for home, and got a little streak in about 30' of water casting into the center of the lake from 10' and bumping the stump retrieve back into the boat.

Overall it was a really slow day, I did not notice anyone with bent rods. But the lake is beautiful and the water clarity, ease of acess and close proximity to my house all suggest that i'll be back there next weekend, this time with two battery's and a couple more game plans, i'll work my way north on the east shore and see what I can turn up.

I hope this review is helpful, because I come from the midwest, i'm pretty lost out here on big bodies of water, the dynamics of western rivers like temperature, water clarity and spots where fish hold are drastically different then back home. The Columbia is a far cry from the Mississippi, any ideas on what to do and where would be greatly appreciated. I know i'm probably a bit early for Walleye but I got the itch pretty bad.

Tight lines and heavy nets,
Fowl

the thumb

1/31/2011 9:19:00 AM

like you, I'm originally from the midwest. I generally don't fish the winter for walleye and wait for the opener in the spring. Every good report I ever heard in the water , jigging was the method and pretty deep 70-100 ft of water.

Ganno

1/31/2011 11:36:00 AM

Great detailed report. I am sure you will get into them keep those battery's charged

huntingjj

1/31/2011 11:47:00 AM

If you need help.let me know. I left you a personal email. hope it went through. "wackem And Stackem"

Anglinarcher

1/31/2011 12:16:00 PM

You may be a little early for the big old female eyes, but jigging is the key this time of year. I don't agree on the depth, too deep for the larger fish. Look for 30' shelves and flats, just outside of the confluence, work deeper in the darker hours and shallower in the sunny times, just backward of summer. LET THE BIG ONES GO, keep a bunch of small ones for dinner.

Dafishslayer

2/2/2011 10:00:00 AM

Hey fowl_language I agree with Anglinarcher, work the shallower water 30 to 40 fow try a slow drift with the current and try to keep your line as vertical as possible. Also I recommend using jigs too. I have tried bottom bouncers with little or no success but know people that have done well with them, especially when the current is really moving and it is hard to keep a jig on the bottom and stay vertical. And I recommend tieing on a 3 to 4 in. stinger hook on your jig and useing a worm threader to if you have one. I would say I problably catch 70% of my eyes on the stinger. Hope this helps a little, the bite should get better as the water warms up, also it is good to let the big ones go so the eye population stays strong.

fowl_language

2/7/2011 3:35:00 PM

Thanks for the tips folks, had a much better day this last saturday, well much better is relative i suppose. I'll post up the report now.

fowl_language

2/8/2011 5:10:00 PM

Thanks for all the messages and email's guys, I really appreciate it, had a little better day this week, might be the warming conditions of the river too though. But for the most part I'm giving you guys credit, it's hard to find em out here and your helping me out. Get the nets wet! Fowl

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