I had a special day on the water recently. I really enjoy taking people to new places and introducing them to new fisheries. That meant another trip to Rufus Woods Reservoir for triploid rainbow trout and to Banks Lake for some smallmouth bass fishing.
I had so much fun with Brad Hawkins and his son Luke fishing for sockeye on Lake Wenatchee earlier this summer, I promised to take them out again. My idea was a two phase fishing experience. We started off by launching the Bob Feil Boats and Motors Smoker Craft at the middle net pens on the Colville Reservation. With the Mercury 250 it took about ten minutes to reach the spot I like to fish at the upper net pens. I put the Minn Kota in Spot Lock, and we dropped our baits to the bottom. I was concerned that the lack of current was going to be a problem. Typically, when the current is low so is the bite, and I didn’t see as many fish on the Garmin as I usually do. However, Luke hooked and landed a nice triploid. He said this was the biggest trout he had ever caught, so the trip was a success at that point. The fishing was very slow, but his Dad Brad got two more that were even bigger. I had them pull their gear. We didn’t have our limits, but I wanted to get to Banks Lake to go bass fishing.
After a morning of fishing on Rufus Woods with Brad Hawkins and his son Luke, we took the Bob Feil Boats and Motors Smoker Craft to Banks Lake. We launched at Steamboat Rock State Park, and I fired up the Mercury 250 for a run down to one of my favorite bass fishing spots. I kept my eye on the Garmin fish finder as I moved us up the shoreline with the Minn Kota. Luke had never fished from a boat for bass, and he got into the swing of things right away. Casting Baby Brush Hogs and lizards from the bow he caught fish after fish. We were getting smallmouth at a very good clip, but Luke mentioned that he really liked to fish top water lures. I moved us up the lake a ways to a place where there is a bank with a gradual drop off and we switched to casting Whooper Ploppers. The fish loved them. We were getting some great blow ups on the surface, and I just kept moving up the shore. Luke got a big blow up and landed the biggest bass of his life. Two personal bests in one day! This week’s photo is of Luke Hawkins and me with the smallmouth he caught on a top water lure.
Many of you may know that I love fishing the many lakes and rivers in Okanogan County. I have fished this area of the state since I was a youngster. One of my earliest memories of fishing was with my Dad, brother and grandfather at Alta Lake. I few years ago I wrote the first edition of the Fishing Guide for Okanogan County, and earlier this year I followed that up with video description of many of the lakes and rivers in the county. If you have ever wanted to explore the many great fishing opportunities in Okanogan County this is a great way to learn about it to plan a trip. To peruse the digital Fishing Guide and to watch the Video Guide, just go to the Okanogan Country website, and click on Summer Recreation. Then click on Hunting and Fishing and “Learn More About the Fishing Guide”. On this page you will see the option to download or receive a printed copy of the Fishing Guide and to view the Video Guide. You will find fishing destinations from Lake Osoyoos near the Canadian border to Alta Lake near Pateros. This a wonderful way to “visit” Okanogan County!
If you are a fan of fishing for fall salmon above Priest Rapids Dam you may want to wait awhile before planning a trip. According to Chris Donley, WDFW Fish Manager at the Spokane office, the warm temperatures in the Columbia have stalled the return in the lower river. “We had 45 days that we anticipated rainfall in the mountains that didn’t happen,” he said. “Less rainfall means less water which means warmer overall water temperatures in the basin. Higher water temperatures can be lethal to cold-water species. They can also cause migrating fish to stall and wait for temperatures to recede. Donley said while the fish wait, they are more vulnerable to harvest in tribal and nontribal fisheries in the Columbia River. “A whole lot of them will get caught and that changes how many show up here,” he said. “There are a lot of people down there fishing for them — of all varieties — it’s not to be blamed on any one group.” He also said when fish that are hung up downriver start to move, they are likely to pass through the confluence of the Snake and Clearwater rivers quicker than usual, which will depress catch rates.
The final stop on the two-day, three destination fishing adventure with Rollie Schmitten was at Buffalo Lake, on the Colville Indian Reservation. Rollie and I had fished here many years ago and had always wanted to get back to this scenic lake. The lake is known for big triploid rainbow, carryover planted rainbow, kokanee, crappie and largemouth bass. Crawdads are also abundant in the lake. I was particularly interested in seeing how big the kokanee were this year. After launching the Bob Feil Boats and Motors Smoker Craft at Reynolds Resort, it was a short run on the Mercury 250 to the first bay. We put out the kokanee gear when I saw fish on the Garmin I set the trolling speed at 1 mph on the Minn Kota. It took about two minutes to get our first kokanee. We were fishing at 57 feet on one of the Scotty downriggers, 47 feet on the other and 43 feet on the back rods with 6 ounce sinkers. I was trolling Kokabow Tackle blades with either pink spinners or hoochies, baited with corn, and they all caught fish. The kokanee were 15 to 16.5 inches, except for one smaller fish. I did a short video on our trip to Buffalo Lake and posted it to the Dave Graybill YouTube channel.
