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Brother in law and I took our annual winter trip up to Northport on the mighty Rosevelt, where the current is amazing. We left town at 5:oo and arrived at Northport at 7:20. We were welcomed by snow early and often all day. We stopped at the boat launch in Northport and drifted eggs and worms from top and bottom. 45 min, no takers, so we moved up the road to Wanita and stopped at the pump station. To my shagrin, walking down, we noticed that a discovery pass is needed to access the Lake. We made a few comments about the desperate government needing to tax there people to death, and moved quickly to hole.
My brother in law hooked up immediately with a worm and green mallow on the bottom. The result was a nice 14-15" brook trout. I ran to the other side of the rock, and hooked up on my second cast of a 3/8 oz jig with a swirly tail grub. a nice 12" brookie. Normally on Roosevelt, this would be thrown back, but with how the year has been, and our trips to Northport in recent years, we were keeping everything. 2 down, 8 more to go. I then swithced to eggs on the bottom, and got another bump, but got impatient and realed in too quickly. By 10:00, we had 2 on the bank. After our early flurry, catching slowed way down. My brother in law managed a cookie cutter rainbow on his worm and mallow set up. We did not catch another out of the hole the rest of the time.
We moved to the upper hole at around 3:00, almost as an after thought. Hindsight, we'd have moved quicker. My brother in law starts to get bumped right away, and I watch him cast and miss three fish in a row. They strip his hook clean of worm, but no hookups. He tells me to move over, as I was on the opposite side, and wasn't doing a thing, and I moved over to where he was at. My first cast with a worm and mallow set up and BAM! I nailed a 3-4lb roosevelt bow. My best trout. My bait hadn't been on the bottom for 10 seconds and the thing hammered it. No questions about hookset, he inhaled it. I get the fish off the hook, and re-bait and re-cast and the next cast, BAM! another beauty, only this time the fish jumps, about halfway to shore and broke off. My fault. I haven't changed line all year, and it must have been brittle, because it snapped my line in half. That was a bummer. We got a few more short strikes before dark, but wonder what our day could have been had we moved ealier.
Overall, a good time in the far north with brother in law on the rushing lake. Roosevelt is awesome up there, the current is amazing, but fishing is pretty challenging this time of year.

EAmon ___hoffman123

12/28/2011 9:28:00 AM

Just wondering how do dollies taste, ive never had one....

kevinbe

12/28/2011 12:01:00 PM

This pic was taken at night and is hard to make out the blue spots around the red dots, the wormlike pattern on their backs, and the black dots on the fins. I assure you EAmon__hoffman123 that these were brookies, and not dollies. We've caught dollies at Northport before and the distinction is clear.

GritStomper

12/28/2011 12:18:00 PM

definately brookies, and nice ones at that, thanks for the report! I've always been curious how the fishing is up there

fiznwtrs

12/29/2011 10:26:00 AM

I think the access pass that comes with fishing license serves as a discovery pass except for campgrounds.

kevinbe

12/29/2011 12:56:00 PM

fiznwtrs- campgrounds and any DNR land, parking areas, state parks and such where a discover pass required sign is posted. I found this info on http://discoverpass.wa.gov/exemptions/
It looks like the only places your fishing permit allows you to access are non DNR, or non discover pass required lands. If there's a discover pass sign in the middle of Northport Wa, then I wonder if it's all over launches on Roosevelt? Just more taxes... (IMO)

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