After several failures the last 2 weeks to find Moses Lake walleyes Al and I decided to switch gears. We did not have great success last fall with Sprague rainbows but decided to give them a try anyway. We were on the water by 7:00 and began on the west end pulling Rippin Minnows and Flickershads. We had an immediate takedown with no hookup but were encouraged. 40 minutes yielded a 10 inch plant and a couple of swipes. Me moved to the East end and quickly had a hookup with a good sized fish going aerial several times. A fat 19” RBT was eventually netted and released. We continued with consistent action all morning with 2 misses for every hookup.

Al’s second fish accounted for the “5” rating. After a violent hit another big fish went aerial far behind the boat. The fish refused to come in until we put the boat in neutral. The lightweight Kokanee rod was doubled over and Al did a great job with the fish as it definitely did not want anything to do with the boat. It went on several runs around and under the boat and tail danced multiple times. The fish filled the net and after a quick picture and measurement it was released. It was 24.5” and we estimated it was 7 pounds.

We ended up with 12 fish caught and released. Other than the biggest fish, half were in the 18-19” range and the other half 10-12”. Gold/perch Rippin Minnows were the best producers. Water temp 49*, speed 2.4-2.6 MPH, 10-14 FOW.

---