Details
This report is for Saturday 1-28 and Sunday 1-29.
The pass has been a challenge so far this year, but we had a break in the weather so we loaded up the boat and made the long drive from Seattle to Grand Coulee in search of Lake Roosevelt Triploid Kokanee. We arrived at the Spring Canyon launch just before day break to find a surprising number of boats. Day 1 we essentially did a big circle starting at the launch and heading to plum point and across the lake and then back down to the Dam and finally back to the launch. We ended the day with 1 measly rainbow that my buddy caught trolling hand tied flies with heavy sink tip line on a fly rod. At the launch we were a bit relieved to hear that our results were very average for the day. There was a rumor about a boat catching kokes around a bouy. (maybe that's why there were 10 boats circling around that bouy when we passed) but we didn't see anyone net any fish and really only saw a handful of fish on the finder all day. (I later heard someone comment that the kokanee part around the boat and reconvene after you pass, although this seems more like an excuse for not finding the schools or having a properly adjusted fish finder) It seems that word has gotten out that the fish are on top and that they are boat shy. I saw more planer boards on this fishing trip then I've ever seen in my life. I also saw a few boats attempt to dive bomb each other Baker lake style in areas that seemed popular, almost cutting inside of each others planer boards... that could have gotten messy.
We had a few beers at the bar Saturday night and decided that Sunday would need a different strategy/color/depth/location if the trip was going to be salvaged. Without seeing much on the finder and not hearing about any real successes from the other boats, we chose to fill up on gas and jam up-river of Keller. Our boat is the only open-hulled, cover-less, heater-less John boat that we saw all weekend so the choice was difficult, but after a cold hour at nearly WOT, we arrived at our new grounds happy to see fish on the finder. Within 30 seconds of starting the minn kota, my buddy has the first koke of the weekend on his fly rod. A hand tied "black ghost" fly did the trick. Shortly after, my rods start to go off and from then on, we had fairly steady C&R action mostly on rainbows, but the occasional keeper kokanee. I won the size battle with a very fat 21" kokanee that took an orange hoochie behind a dodger on 250 ft of line with 5 pieces of split shot pinched on 1ft above the dodger.
It's always nice to fish amongst locals, struggle, note areas of improvement, and make a change that results in a positive outcome.
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