A recent report from Travis was not good. The crankbait pattern that we have fished successfully for the last several years had been unproductive when he and Lyle fished the Snake in late September. Travis observed thousands of silver baitfish near the water surface during the trip. A local called them shad, and Travis suspected the abundance of this 3 inch forage as well as fishing pressure and the full moon made fishing very tough.

Fishermen are optimists, so I decided to make the trip to the Snake despite the poor report. I spent equal time trolling deep diving crankbaits, trolling bouncers, and casting blade baits. I had only 3 bites that were walleyes and all came casting flashy metallic blade baits. All 3 of these bites came within a 20 minute period just prior to 1 PM near the mouth of the Tucannon River. The first walleye was a very heavy fish. When I set the hook, it seemed like I snagged the bottom until I felt the big head shakes. I had the fish about a thrid of the way to the boat when it decided to make a run. When the fish surged toward deep water, it broke my 14 pound mono leader in an instant. My drag was set too tight. Ugh.

It took a few minutes to regroup and tie another blade bait. Within 5 minutes, I had an 18 inch walleye to the boat which made me feel a little better. A couple casts later, another solid hookset was followed by a series of heavy head shakes. This fish felt big, but not as big as the first one. With my drag adjusted correctly, this fish made several runs and peeled drag. I was very surprised to see how long it was when I pulled it close to the boat. I had already lost a big fish, so I was freaking out as I tried to land this fish by myself. Once in the net, I knew it was one of the longest walleyes I had ever caught. With the fish recovering in the live well, I motored to a nearby boat fishing for salmon. They graciously took a few photos before I released the fish. It was 31 inches and weighed 10 pounds 7 ounces. Not a personal best, but was within a half inch of my best but a full 2 pounds lighter.

Total for the day: 1 catfish, 2 walleyes, 3 perch, and probably 25 smallmouth bass. Zero walleyes trolling crankbaits. Zero walleyes on bouncers and crawlers. A plain chrome blade bait with no paint hooked the fish that I lost. A copper plated blade bait with no paint caught the other 2 walleyes including the 10 pounder. Water temperature 61 degrees. Air temp: 30 degrees at 830 AM warming into the mid 50s.

Greg: Snake River - 10/12/2021