Fished mainly the south lake and connecting channel from May 7th - 9th. These lakes are managed by the Colville Tribe and you need a special tribal permit ($36 for an annual) to fish on the reservation. This supports biologists and enforcement independent from state F &W system. There is a ranger that actively checks so buy a license! The lakes are managed primarily for trout, but they also support a thriving bass fishery. So thriving in fact that the tribal fisheries management electroshocked many of the bass out of the lake 4 or 5 years ago because they felt they interfered with the quality of the trout fishery. They have rebounded well, probably due to the accidental introduction of golden shiners in the last half-decade or so. This is really a tragedy because these small fish have absolutely taken over the lakes. Huge schools are everywhere and they must be a massive drain on the trout fishery. One fisheries employee I talked to thought that the bass don’t forage on the shiners, which I know is untrue because I have seen bass chase them and caught bass with shiners in their mouths. I think that the bass are the only hope of controlling the exploding shiner population.
The trout fishery has plummeted in recent years. There used to be many holdover and even wild rainbow. It was also the best brook trout lake I had ever fished. The average Brookie was an honest 14-18” with some well over 20” taken every year. Now the Brookies are almost gone and it is becoming a ‘put and take lake’ for hatchery rainbow. The tribe is putting in thousands of good size rainbow (some of them triploids) to keep the trout fishermen happy, but it isn’t nearly what it used to be. It is still a worthwhile trout destination however, both for the quality of fish and natural beauty of the surroundings.
Enough venting, now for the bass! The water temp was in the mid-upper 50’s and the bass were in classic prespawn patterns. We didn’t come across any on beds yet. All fish seemed to be active in shallow water. We fished a combination of grubs/plastic worms and rapala minnows. There are a disproportionate number of smaller fish 8-12” to larger ones. Part of this is due to the fact that most people seem to keep any larger bass that they catch. The smaller fish provide non-stop action and really are fun though. I caught an honest 70 fish in 3 hours of evening fishing. After 2 and half days of fishing, my fishing buddy and I each ended up with a 5-6 pounder, a few other 1-3 pounders and hundreds of smaller ones.
Tight lines, catch and release, and I’ll see you out there sometime!