Travis: Snake River - 7/20
I took myself and a buddy (a convert from the trout-crowd) to the Snake River on Saturday. The conditions were beautiful, for fishing, but not necessarily the best for catching fish. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and it was hot down there!
We were on the water by 9:30 AM and started the day up by the dam. Four spillways were open and we were only able to troll up to about the last set of powerlines before the current made the water to unstable to present a crankbait.
After that initial run, we motored back down to the flat across from TX Rapids and trolled along the spine of the flat. (23 foot depth) After our 4th takedown, all resulting in 10 inch Smallmouth bass, we decided to get out of there, as that is not what we were there for.
By this time, it was about 1:00 PM which I consider "Magic Hour" up the dam, so back up we went. We started at the Magic Bush, which is about half way in between mile marker 41 and 43. (there isn't a 42) and started trolling up the North Bank of the river. When we neared the dam, we noticed that they had closed 2 of the 4 spillways that were open which drastically reduced the current. We trolled that whole line and pulled two walleyes right at the very end of the line, near the red sign that promises an ass-whoopin' if you go past it. It was in that chaotic water that we pulled our two fish. We trolled that line again and again put another 2 eaters in the boat, right up in the chaos, near the red sign. We trolled it a 3rd time, and didn't pull anything but smallmouth and pike minnows, so we pulled up and left the dam.
We spent some time trollin' the Grainery and the mouth of the Tucannon with no success. By this time, it was 5PM and DANG HOT, so we pulled into Lyon's Ferry Marina to have a cold beer and sit in the shade.... That was exceedingly nice and it went a long toward recharging our spirits and resolve to chase big Walleye.
Upon our return to the fight, we trolled the Grainery and the Mouth of the Tucannon with no results until the sun really started to go down. There was some trouble-maker playing with his jet boat at the mouth of the Tucannon which was frustrating and that may have had something to do with our lack of results.
In the last 45 minutes of daylight, I pulled a nice 3 lbs. eater using my go-to #213 Snake Eyes Bandit, and my fishin' buddy lost two monsters back-to-back. He was using my back up trolling rig which is an 8 foot salmon rod. On the first take-down he went to set the hook and I heard the drag give.....it was set too light and he lost that fish somewhere in the first third portion of the fight, due to a marginal hook-set. Lookin' at the bend in the rod, I could tell it was a big fish....... On our next pass, he got walloped again, and the fish fought even harder, which bent that rod even further and I am guessing that he had on a true giant! On that one, the 12 lbs. leader snapped, so we will never know how big it truly was........ We did two more passes with no results, so we headed in, tired, hungry and bit sad over the lost biggun's.
Overall, it was a good day though, we had five eaters in the boat. A 16, two 17's, an 18" and a 20"...... We cleaned em' at Lyon's Ferry and it resulted in a nice mess of fish. But my thoughts crept off all evening on the way back to Spokane about those two biggun's. It would've been nice to at least lay eyes on em'...... But then again......That is what tomorrow is for and what keeps me going back down there.
Tip: When the sun went down, we were focusing on 20 foot and shallower. Both big takedowns were on the shallow side of the boat focusing on 20 foot depth. I think the big fish move in to the shallows rather quickly, to eat, when the sun sinks low. I am going to be changing up my technique on the last couple of approaches of the day on the Snake and start trolling big, shallower running lures, as close to shore as the weeds and structure will allow. I've also heard that running planer boards in this fashion is a killer technique as well.