Billy Clapp has been on my Bucket List for a while now. The potential of 20” kokanee (past performance does not equal present reality) had me salivating. Throw in walleye and bass and I was more than ready. Well, a weekend opened up for me so I gave Aaron Borg a shout and he was free, and then contacted John Kruse of Northwest Outdoors Radio and one of our advertisers, Mike Mauk of Mauk Fishing Stuff. The stars all lined up and we had us a weekend fishing adventure!

New lake, I researched all the old NWFR posts and searched the internet. Besides our posted reports there wasn’t much info to be had. Also, no contour map so we were truly going in blind. Knowing some essentials of kokanee and walleye fishing I had a plan in mind. We would hit the kokanee in the morning, then switch over to walleye. In theory, seemed good, in practice I realized after the fact splitting opportunities definitely reduced our walleye take. Compromises…

Day one we fished by the big rock island. This island alone is reason to go fish Billy Clapp at least once. It is awesome! Not to mention, the fish finder was full of kokanee-looking marks. Had we hit the mother load?

We ran our gear down, six lines, a variety of kok gear at a variety of depths, from sub-surface to 60+ feet. And trolled. And waited. And trolled some more, watching marks move up to our lures, away from our lures, on top of our lures. But not a bite to be had, until a deep rod went off. Mike grabbed the rod and was in to a nice fish – I mean a real pig. As the fish came to the back of the boat we realized it was no kokanee, it was a huge rainbow. What a beauty! After a little netting tussles we had the fish into the boat and on ice.

With no further action we ran back down to the dam and trolled our gear in this area. Less marks, but still, fish to be seen. Again, a rod popped off it’s clip and Aaron brought up a fish from 40 feet deep. A kokanee? No! A walleye, trolled at 40 feet deep in 60 feet of water. Weird. Deciding that was our cue we put away the kokanee gear and got out the walleye gear.

The lake is not a Potholes or Moses Lake type fishery. It’s mostly shear drop-offs going 60-90 feet deep ten feet off shore. Over the course of the two days I slowly figured out where there were flats in the 10-35 feet range that I thought would hold fish. We did try some jigging, but mostly went with bottom walkers as that is a method we were all most comfortable with. The lake is incredibly snaggy so you really have to be on your toes and constantly checking in with the bottom.

Best fishing location by far was at the power station end of the lake. There is noticeable current up here which they run on and off during the day, no doubt affecting the bite as well. We found the depths we wanted to hit and put it good efforts both days, however, if I come back I may focus the entire day on one species and not mix things up. Walleye fishing wasn’t red hot but we ended up getting a few both days, eaters in the 14-16” range.

It was a fun two days despite the lack of kokanee (we got skunked on Sunday, too). The lake is one of the prettiest coulee lakes I have seen in this state. The fishing pressure is minimal. If you can unlock the lakes secrets you’ll catch fish. There’s a good ramp with dock and adequate parking. Discovery Pass is required. Launch is free.

Thanks to Aaron, Mike, and John for joining me on my last lake fishing weekend of the year. On to Puget Sound coho!

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