Began this family trip at about 3PM Friday launching from Ft. Spokane. With beautiful sunny weather got kids out on the tube & some beach time for a while. At about 7:30PM we began fishing by casting up onto and around a very shallow submerged point. We had just began casting right to the end of the point when a sport boat ran over our lines right next to shore. Simone had to reel in quickly to keep them from running over her line. Where that boat ran was only about 2’ deep. I was very surprised when they actually made it by without hitting their lower unit. Was bummed about that, it would have loved to have been able to watch in person as that driver learned his lesson the hard way. Evening ended well though. We caught several walleye up to 22”, and kept 5 over the next 45 minutes. All were caught on white jerk baits. Water in Spokane Arm was 65 degrees, and much cloudier than it was a week ago.

The next day we drove up to Kettle Falls, put in, and boated 27 miles up to the Little Dalles. Water level was 1268’, so boat ramps between Little Dalles and Kettle Falls are all out of water. We fished from 2-6 PM in the huge eddy just below the Dalles. While I was getting rods & jigs prepared for vertical jigging the eddy, I had the family cast cranks up on shore. Julie landed one of the largest pike minnows I’ve ever seen. Afterwards, knowing where a hump is in the middle of the eddy, It took me a few drifts to get my drift dialed in… where to start from, how to use my TM to compensate for varying winds, etc. Once I did, it was game on! We all usually had a few bites every drift, & the four of us ended up culling 35 to bring home. It was a great way for my SO and kids to learn quickly how to vertical jig. Half way through the day both my kids were fully independent fisherman. Seth was especially focused on learning how to net fish after losing my big walleye last weekend! While I was having success on a variety of plastics, smaller was better in order to have a better hook up ratio. For the family, they mostly ended up threading a half of a live crawler onto a jig’s hook to it would hang straight. There was a slight advantage by the end of the day to using live work over plastics. Water temperature was 52 degrees. Knowing the AM weather forecast had thunderstorms for this evening, I kept my senses tuned to the weather. At 6PM I felt a sudden burst of cold air, and could smell the moisture in the air. We finished our drift, and began our long drive back to the ramp. I was just finishing lashing the boat cover onto the boat when the lightning show to our South started. When we drove through Colleville, all the power was out everywhere, so we pulled into a deserted parking lot at about 9PM where I fixed the family a fish dinner in our camper before finishing our drive home.

Jim K: Roosevelt - 5/29-30