Captain Dave's Guide Service - Captain Dave will put you on Columbia River salmon - including Summer & Fall Chinook and Sockeye, and Lake Roosevelt Kokanee and Trout. Catching fish isn't just his passion - it's his lifestyle. Call Captain Dave to start planning your trip now!
Spent the day on the water with Bob Schmidt of Macks Lure and Justin Wolff of Angler West TV catching Lake Roosevelt rainbow. We fished strictly Macks Lure baits and attractors today and caught fish on multiple presentations. We started off trolling number 8 Shad Raps behind a Masks Lure Hot Wings. The Hot Wings are a great attractor to put in front of crankbaits. The key is to use a short leader, 12-18 inches, between the crankbait and the Hot Wings. Speed for this presentation was 2.5-2.8 mph.
We then switched tactics and started to use the Downriggers. We were using the Macks Double D Dodger in front of a Cha Cha Squidder on one rod, and a Double D Dodger in front of the new Macks Lure Spindrift Trout Series bait tipped with a nightcrawler. Chartreuse was the hot color for both rigs. We slowed down to 2.0-2.5 mph for these rigs and ended up filling out our limits.
We primarily targeted the Keller area and fished in the top part of the water column all day long. We ran the Downriggers down from 20-25 feet while we flat lined trolled the crankbaits and Hot Wings which run approximately 10-12 feet deep.
Guided fishing for Walleye on Banks Lake, Moses Lake, Potholes Reservoir and Rufus Woods. Smallmouth Bass and Largemouth Bass on Banks Lake, Moses Lake, and Potholes Reservoir.Trophy class Triploid Trout on Rufus Woods.Rainbow Trout on Lake Roosevelt and Banks Lake. Coast Guard Certified.Washington State Fish and Wildlife Certified.
Thats one great looking Rainbow and the picture is stunning considering its the middle of December. I can remember several plus years ago if you ran over 18 inches of leader using Hot Wings or Doggers that was to much, but things change often on Roosevelt .Thanks for the report.
Nice native 'bow! Though not normally a downrigger angler this time of year, I would be interested in knowing what your leader lengths were, if any, when using the Double D's too. Also curious if you tipped both downrigger presentations with worm or just the Spindrift. Thanks for the report! :-)
That particular fish came on a #8 chartreuse Shad Rap 12 inches behind a Macks Hot Wings. As far as leader length on the Double Ds, we were running 12 inch leaders for them as well. We played around a bit with leaders up to 18" but had better success with 12". I wasn't tipping the Cha Cha Squidder with a crawler, but I was applying Pro Cure Super Gel in Krill scent.
Thanks for sharing the additional detail. I might be swayed to try something different someday, just so easy without downriggers this time of year, hard to put them back on the boat. ;-)
Thank you for your willingness to help others out. Would you mind sharing what number of chartruse size 8 shad rap was working. I tried looking it up, but there's at least three that might fit that description. Our son was wondering what he might get me for Christmas so I am trying to steer him in the right direction. Thanks so much. denny
Denny. Don't remember the exact number of that shad rap but anything with orange, yellows, greens are good. A fire tiger, or chartreuse or any bright and flashy shad rap or Rip-N-Minnow is great. Although I prefer to use the perch patterned Rip-N-Minnow. I do swap out the trebles on the Rip-N-Minnows for single Siwash hooks as I don't miss near as many fish when I do that. But I do leave the trebles on the shad raps.
Big Wally - that's great info on changing the hooks out on the Rip-N-Minnows. What size Siwash do you find works best? Just running the back one? Thanks - Alan
Hewesfisher, no need for a downrigger if all you need to do is drop 20'. I use snap weights quite a bit this time of year, be it with or without the use of a planer board. I normally run 100' of line out, attach the snap weigh and then run another 100' out to get to my depth. With this setup (15lb braid mainline), every ounce drops me about 10' while running a shade under 2.0 mph.
Alan. I swap out both trebles on the Rip-N-Minnows for the Siwash hooks. I normally go with the 1/0 Siwash. The rainbows dont seem to be able to throw the Siwash hooks as easily as the trebles. Keith-Big Wallys
Big Wally: Thanks for the help. I will try what you suggested for sure. Merry Christmas to you and yours and all fishermen and their families on this site. Tight lines. Denny
I have a question for you Keith, i was wondering if you were running the shallow shad raps to mimic the diving range as the Owner Rip N minnows or are you running the original ones? Thanks!
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Captain Dave's Guide Service - Captain Dave will put you on Columbia River salmon - including Summer & Fall Chinook and Sockeye, and Lake Roosevelt Kokanee and Trout. Catching fish isn't just his passion - it's his lifestyle. Call Captain Dave to start planning your trip now!