Not being one to give up too easily, I decided to fish again a couple of days later. I had a friend in from Seattle and we hit the Snake this last Saturday. We launched the boat at about 9AM and immediately started trolling cranks from the Railroad bridge up to the mouth of the Palouse. (after all, this is THE winter pattern) We didn't get any strikes, so from there, we pulled up and headed up to the dam to see if there were any late stragglers, looking for an easy meal in the current. We didn't get any hits up there either. The water temp was universally 56 degrees on Saturday. It was cold and windy and then sunny and calm, followed by cold and windy. The weather was very bipolar on Saturday which made patterning and boat control, a challenge.

After the dam, we moved down to the flat across from TX Rapids and started trolling Bandits. I also remembered a conversation with my friend who told me that the 001 Hellcat pattern from Wicked Custom Jigs&Spoons was particularly effective in the fall. So, I threw that one on and started trolling with the current. This is not something I normally do, but I wanted to make darn sure we were on the bottom as much as we could be. We weren't trolling long when I felt a heavy weight on the line that made the mistake of shaking it's head. I knew right away that I had a big girl on. As cold as it was, she didn't put up much of a fight as she would've in July, but she still tugged fairly hard. I had her in the boat in about 5 minutes. She weighted in 10.37 lbs. and was exactly 31 inches long. We took a few pictures (attached) and let her go.

It's important to note that there was no "strike" Her hitting the crankbait felt a lot like the early season walleyes do Roosevelt. You never really "feel" a strike, you simply notice that the line is heavier and then the fish might shake their head or fight, but it's not easily discernable right away. That is exactly how she hit the big crank. However, the strike might have been dampened by the fact that I was heavily bumping bottom, while trolling with the current. I don't normally like to run my custom bandits over rocks, as you can lose them easily this way and it also banks up your mono leaders. However, as bad as that is, I like getting skunked, even less.

We fished for the rest of the day, with no luck. However, in that time, the wind switched constantly and it was one of the few times that I have experienced the wind blowing (strongly) out of the East. The instability of the weather almost certainly had some effect. I was also pleased that I caught her up at TX Rapids. Not all of the biggun's have retreated down to the Palouse, just yet.

We tried fishing a few miles West of Lyon's Ferry as well, but didn't get any hits. We picked up our second fish just before dark, trolling off of the Log Boom in front of the Palouse. It was there that we also finally started marking some active fish. Most of the time, I don't depend on "seeing" any fish on my graph, but it was nice to see some. The second fish was an 18" eater and we did just that.

It's cold out there. If you're going to chase Walleyes in November, you had better dress for it. My buddy wore Jeans and almost caught hypothermia. If you're going to fish, where layers and avoid jeans.

Travis: Snake River - 10/26