MAYDEN VOYAGE DAY for Captain Dave Grove's new guide boat. Dave rounded up four of his friends to chase some walleye in his new boat along with putting some break in time on the new Yamaha VMax motor. The new boat is a custom built aluminum sled with a nice V bottom, high sides and wide gunnels. It rides really well in the choppy water and can run along at 39 mph with the five of us on board. We launched at Fort Spokane and ran down river to Hawk creek. WOW the wood! I have never seen such wood in that area. If you choose to go down that way be very vigilant and keep a sharp eye out for dead heads and floating debris.

We fished bottom bouncers for walleye in the mouth of Hawk creek and found a few biters along with some small mouth bass. No real size but any walleye that is big enough to fillet is a keeper! They seemed to be liking the green/chanteuse worm harness with a spinner blade or smile blade at 1.2 mph in 15 to 30' of water. Decided to make the run back to the confluence and give casino flats a try. Found some pretty rough water on the way back and the boat ran dry and very well over the "bumpy road".

No love to speak of at the flats so headed to the mouth to give it a whirl. We found a whole bunch of new release rainbows wanting to gobble up our worms. Kept a few that were well hooked and bleeding. Decided to get out of there and ran up a mile or so above the launch at Fort Spokane. Guess we should have done that first but this was an exploratory trip along with putting some time on the motor. Found some willing walleye and some nice small mouth. I really love eating the small mouth from Lake Roosevelt too. They are excellent table fare. An electric fillet knife really simplifies the filleting process! I got a cordless one; the only way to fly!

Finished up the day with 15 walleye, 5 small mouth and three trout. Put some time on the new motor, tested the new boat on fairly rough water and had a great time with friends. What could be better to do on Wednesday; work? I don't think so!

Tight lines every one "May The Experiment Continue" Alan - iFishSolutions


PS Headed to Kettle Falls to fish walleye for three days tomorrow; life is good.

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