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Sometimes a trip is so good you don't want to come back. We went to Roosevelt an Wednesday. Got there at about 2:00pm after loading the boat with camping gear and dog stuff and fishing gear and... 4 hour drive. When we got there there were a few boats, maybe 12. 3 came in while we were preparing. All had poor catches, mostly dink trout. Oh well, the weather's great, hardly a ripple on the water.
Motored out to our favrite spot. Nothing. Second, third and 4th. Same. By the way, if you go, watch for deadheads (both kinds). There's a lot of flotsam on the water, some of it dangerous.
Time to actually think about this. Recent rains. Evidence of storms and flooding. High water. Fair current for this lake. Yes, I came to the same conclusion. Food washed down wherever rain washed it in.
So we changed patterns almost at dusk. Over 50 smallmouth, and half a dozen trout, 3 on worms, and the rest on Jiggy's plastic grubs. I tried every depth and type of lure known to man (I had 15 rods rigged and ready at all times, tournament serious). the tiny lures on ultralight did it again. Close to 90 percent of my fish this year have come on 4lb test! 16 keeper smallmouth on 16 consecutive casts.
After a good supper and anchoring near a sandy beach, we slept in the boat on a beautiful moonlit night. Deer and eagles around, and barely a breeze.
Morning. Fished the same pattern. 2 dinks. Huh? Switched to channels near the areas fished before. Found 'em! Another 50-60 smallmouth, and 4 more trout, including a real fighter about 20" that I had to follow 6 times with the electric. 4lb test, remember? Talked to more people, mostly nice, and they weren't doing well. Mostly trollers.
The action got so great my wife changed from her standard spinner/walker or slowdeath outfit to lures. We lost track of how many, but it was a blast. Probably nuked a dozen of Jiggy's plasticsby fish teeth. We injured a couple of dinks pretty badly (torn gills on the hookset), and 2 eagles snatched them up just a few feet from the boat. The eagles followed us around through 3 bnays, up to a mile apart, after that. Would have loved to toss 'em some, but I've been taught better. Lots of deer around, too. The dogs wanted to chase, but had a good time on the beaches, especially where coyote scents were in abundance.
No giant smallmouth (largest 4.3lbs) but lots of fun on ultralight.

No walleye until my wife picked one up on almost the last try, with a slowdeath rig. We talked to some locals, and they said the Indians were killing the walleye by the hundreds in the San Poil river. According to one who sounded like she knew, the San Poil is a major spawning area for the walleye, and "we just aren't seeing the numbers coming back into the lake." "They want to wipe them out and make it a trout and bass lake only." If true, I strongly disagree with them, and while the San Poil is theirs (I am 1/8 "Native" myself), what they are alleged to be doing affects the ecology of the main lake as well. It's been a great walleye fishery for decades. Anybody know anything about this? We can switch to postings on chat for this part if you want.

Anyway, great trip. I rated it 4 only because finding the patterns was tough, and the dozen or so fishermen we talked to and a store manager all reported very slow fishing, and had very small trout.

fishinChristian

6/30/2012 10:43:00 AM

Hmmm. It didn't load the 2 I did upload. Oh great fishwebsitedemigods: Suggestions? Spell check seemed absent as well, though it's here now, objecting to my megaword previously. And Megaword.

kevinbe

6/30/2012 11:04:00 AM

This is a great report. Sounds like YOU figured them out. Way to go.

kevinbe

6/30/2012 11:04:00 AM

Oh yeah, What part of the Lake?

fishinChristian

6/30/2012 11:22:00 AM

Kevinbe: launched at Spring Canyon, ran up by Keller.

wishing4walleye

6/30/2012 4:28:00 PM

FishinChristian: It's going to be my first time to the roosevelt this week. NE advice where I should start up there?

fishinChristian

6/30/2012 4:52:00 PM

Given your handle, I'd head to the Spokane confluence or above. Lower Roosevelt wasn't great for walleye, as you could read above. All of our one came in 40 feet of water. The Spokane itself isn't bad near the lake, but I like the Hunter area. I used to like the San Poil, but not this time or last. Good fishin' to ya.

The Jigmiester

6/30/2012 5:23:00 PM

Great report Joe. Wish I could of made it out ,but i got a piece off glass stuck in my foot. Doing better now...Tight lines, Jiggy.

fishinChristian

6/30/2012 5:49:00 PM

Jiggy: Wear shoes man! If God wanted you barefoot He would have given you better looking feet! Seriously, glad you're getting better. Good to hear from you. Your lures did the trick, so part of you went along!.

bullpine

6/30/2012 9:16:00 PM

I heard the same thing about the Spokane Tribe gill netting the Spokane Arm walleye during the spawn. I think the San Poil gill netting would have been done by the Colville tribe but who knows. It is too bad and probably won't work the way they think anyhow. I do know this, I have been to Canada fishing and have never found walleye fishing as good as Lake Roosevelt. It is an absolute shame what they are doing in order to protect the kokanee salmon their now surrogate salmon. I plan to never ever buy anything from the tribe again and to do anything I can to stop their plans for a casino in Airway Heights.

Yakivegas

7/1/2012 9:22:00 AM

According to the fish biologists Roosevelt is overpopulated with walleye.They say they are consuming 95 per cent of the kokanee fry.They also say that walleye averge size is down too and that removing some of the fish will bring better balance.Before fishing up the San Poil for trout better read the new regs this year for it.

fishinChristian

7/1/2012 2:38:00 PM

Yak: interesting. Not sure about the large numbers in the lower lake, but the upper has a lot. BP: I too boycott the Casinos, mostly because I'm a counselor who sees the destructive results of problem gambling. Thanks, gents!

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