Greg K: Roosevelt - 5/26

My Father-In-Law (from Illinois) and I made a day trip to Fort Spokane. The launch is open!  The lake level was around 1249 when we launched, and rising about 2 feet per day. There was a lot of debris in the Spokane Arm, but I have seen it worse. The water was surprisingly clear except for a layer of scum on the surface from all of the pine pollen. The bite was on!!! We caught at least 30 walleyes and a couple bass. Most of the fish we found were too small to keep (11 to 13 inches), but we did get our share of 14 to 17 inchers.

More info for club members: We ran all the way up the Arm to the Weeping Wall. There were about a dozen boats fishing from the Weeping wall down into the Narrows. We caught all of our walleyes drifting on the Spokane Reservation side of the channel in about 25 feet with 2 ounce bouncers. Silver smile blades with a double hook harness (half a crawler) got most of our bites. However, we did catch a few on green and motor oil. Areas with current breaks and a rocky bottom held most of the fish.

Everyone we saw was catching lots of fish. Small walleyes were the rule, but some bigger fish were being caught. We had to wait 20 minutes to get a spot at the cleaning station and saw a few fish in the 18 to 20 inch range being cleaned. There was even a 7 pounder on the cleaing table, so not all of the big fish have left the Arm.