Dang, I am tired of rain. I have rescheduled fishing trips, video sessions and other things because of it this spring. Although I know that river rafters and kayakers are enjoying the high water. I really don’t mind fishing in the rain compared to having high winds. I did manage to get in a good day on the water last week, though.

Every year I say I am going to get out of my rut. I want to get out on some lakes and rivers that I haven’t fished in years or haven’t been to at all. As I told you, I got back out on Soda Lake last week and had a great time catching walleye. This week the same trio, James Lebow, Eric Harris and I traveled to Scooteney Reservoir.

We started on the main lake, across from the boat ramp, but weren’t impressed. We knew there were several boats on the lake, but not where we were fishing. We ran through the channel that leads to another section of the reservoir. There was a boat that was making regular runs through the channel, so we fished beyond where it spilled into the lake. We immediately landed a double. We were marking fish and getting our baits stolen and landed a couple more fish. We had two fish that were 19 and 20 inches and two smaller fish, and then things changed. The walleye bite just quit. We were still getting our baits picked regularly, but they must have been all small perch. We never landed another walleye. It was fun while it lasted. This week’s photo was taken at Scooteney.

If you plan to make a trip to Scooteney it would be a good idea to look at a map of the reservoir. It’s like two lakes separated by the channel. We didn’t explore all of the lake, so I would like to make another trip down there. We thought that if we got some walleye they would be small, and we were wrong about that. Scooteney would definitely be worth another visit.

I have many fond memories of Washington’s Free Fishing Weekend. It was on this weekend that I would schedule a Free Kids’ Fishing Day, with the help of local volunteers and different local and state agencies. I had one already going at the Pit Pond in Rock Island in April. The folks from the City of Rock Island cook up hot dogs and provide other snacks and sodas for free at this one. I had another one down in Moses Lake, where I worked with the Moses Lake Irrigation and Rehabilitation District. I found out that the WDFW Department of Fish and Wildlife offered assistance for events on or near the Free Fishing Weekend. They brought a crew over to Lake Chelan and we strung nets between the piers at the City Park and brought in a couple thousand trout.
Then I partnered with Corky Broaddus and the folks at the National Fish Hatchery in Leavenworth. We used a couple of the old raceways to put the trout in and the Icicle Valley Chapter of Trout Unlimited volunteers cleaned all the fish. The WDFW provided the funding for the trout, and all the kids that participated got a free T-shirt and a rod and reel to take home. This was a huge hit and one year we had 500 kids show up with their families. But things change. The WDFW lost its funding for the program. Still, we had put a rod and reel in the hands of hundreds of kids.

The Icicle Valley Chapter of Trout Unlimited often invites families to come down to the juvenile pond on Blackbird Island to catch some trout. In recent years they bring some rods and reels and bait and let kids try their luck, during the Kinderfest, which is held over 4th of July Weekend in Leavenworth. Many of these kids catch their first trout ever. I will let you know if they plan to do this again this year.

I know there are some school districts in Washington that have already sent kids home for summer break. I think all of them will turn their kids loose sometime in June. It won’t be long before parents will be hearing a familiar phrase: I’m bored. There’s nothing to do! If you have kids in your home age 14 or under, here’s an idea to get them out of the house and have some fun.
There are at least eleven fishing ponds that are designated as “juvenile-only” waters in Eastern Washington that are kept loaded with all kinds of trout to make sure that the kids have an excellent chance of catching fish. I found a list of juvenile ponds by going to the WDFW website and opening the Fishing and Shellfish page. Then I entered a search at the top right hand corner of the page. I put in juvenile ponds and up popped a list. All of these ponds have good shore access to make it easy for families to fish them. To get some tips on how to fish from shore, you should get a free copy of my Spring E-Letter. Send me a note through my website at www.fishingmagician.com and I will send one to you.
I just sent out the Summer Issue of the Fishing Magician E-Letter. In this issue I talked about fishing for kokanee, smallmouth bass, walleye, and summer salmon. I wanted to give people enough information on how to fish for these different species to have a very good chance of success. For example, on the section on smallmouth bass, I didn’t try to overwhelm readers with everything there is to know about bass fishing, but instead showed them what I typically use to catch smallmouth and largemouth bass.

I am not a guide, nor am I an “expert angler” for each of these species. I do know enough to be dangerous, and I am sharing what I know. I do believe that if people follow the instructions you’ll usually catch fish. I can’t guarantee that you’ll always catch fish, I have bad days, too. To get a free copy of the E-Letter go to my website and click on the E-Letter button at the top left hand side of the page. Fill out the form and you’ll get one.

Pray for sunshine and get out and get after ‘em.