Travis: Roosevelt - 7/25
I took a friend from church and his 3 eldest kids, fishing Sunday on the Spokane Arm, launching out of Porcupine. At some point this spring, previous to a church service, I had told his kids that I would take them fishing when school was out. I may as well have added those words as the 11thcommandment, written in stone, because that is how they remembered it and wouldn’t let me forget.
Last Sunday, after church, happened to be the perfect day for it. The weeds are coming in and the shallow runnin’ crankbait bite along those weedbeds, is on!
We were on the water by 6:30 PM as it was hot and we were only there for the evening bite. We might have been on the water a little earlier, but the launch was very busy with waterskiers, Tubers and Jetskis, like Greg Koch, who were all wanting to trailer there boats, as soon as the sun loses 1 degree of intensity. Greg is very mindful and expedient about the launch lanes, but his fellow waterskiiers want to have long conversations about the origins of the universe, when they are parked in the launch lanes and all while coaching their 2ndcousins about boat maintenance and how to smoke a brisket, using only charcoal brickets……..
I’ve always claimed that if you want to see the sinfulness of man, one need look no further than a boat launch on a Saturday in July.
So, I knew I had my hands full: My buddy’s kids are 6, 8 and 10 and none of them has ever cast a rod before, let alone a spinning reel Daiwa, on a graphite St. Croix 7’ blade baiting rod…… I was predicting stitches by 7:30 PM for someone………. I took all of my spinning rods, as we had 5 fisherpeople in the boat but with only the weight of three persons…. The boat handled it just fine, but yes, things were cramped and tight……………and dangerous…………. with treble hooks randomly whizzing across your cheeks, only to land 6 feet from the boat…… We put a stop to that, pretty quick.
We started in the smaller bays, North of the Porcupine where Greg and I have done well in the past, (when he wasn’t focused on waterskiing) The mudlines there, can grow thick and I’ve had 20 fish sessions, at times, casting shallow cranks like Shad Raps, Flicker Shads and etc……
- Nothin’….. Now, it could’ve been just a bit too early, or they simply weren’t there…. I haven’t done well in those bays for 2 years, but they used to pay the bills, when I wanted to put fish in the boat. Then again, the Spokane Arm is a Reservoir that acts like a river, and rivers constantly change……
From there, we moved down to an area I call the “Cafeteria” which is the southern bank, just before the narrows, opposite of Blue Creek. There is a second ridge there, where from shore, the depth drops down to about 18 feet and then rises up to 12 before dropping down to 30. I’ve done very well in years past at this location, but it needs weeds, and if they’re visible, even better…… We couldn’t see any weeds and we didn’t catch any fish there…….By this time, My buddy was busy in the back casting for 2 of his kids and I was in the front, casting for one of them, with 2 rods. He would reel, as I was casting the other…… No fish…, so we moved.
We then went down to the “Drive-Through” which is that cut in the bank, on the eastern side, just across from the study bouey in the narrows. It also develops a healthy weedbank, later on in the year. I was just about to cast when I heard “SPLOOSH”! I turned around to see that my buddy couldn’t take it anymore and had jumped in….. My floating daycare went nuts and soon fishing poles were stowed, life jackets were put on, (they can all swim without them, but I don’t mess around) and I let them have some time called “NOT-FISHING” which is foreign to me, but in this strenuous task, I drew strength from my buddy Greg who has had to navigate these “STRANGE” waters, before………..
As soon as they all figured out, that they couldn’t swim fast enough to catch up to my trolling motor, I stopped being a sadist, and let them back in the boat. I was a bit upset though, as I have pulled many dozens of solid walleyes out of that spot… which was now ruined, because of uncommitted/dual purpose-getaway, fishing people. OK Trav, take a breath…….. “We haven’t caught any fish, but they seem to be having fun…..it’s about fun Trav,…..Fun…….”
After that we, cruised to the Island just past Boey 1 which is probably my most reliable place to fish on the arm. The sun was fully setting and it’s the perfect time to fish that spot with cranks…. It did not disappoint….. We pulled 5 walleye and 2 bass out of there, that we let the kids fight…. We would cast and fish and after setting the hook, hand the rod over to one of the kids. We/They put 5 walleyes and 2 nice bass in the livewell. I don’t keep bass, but my buddy and his family love fish, so as far as I’m concerned, they are nothing but biomass at this point and I wanted to set them up to eat fish that they knew the kids caught. Moreover, two of those walleyes were 19 inchers! That is a decent fish on any body of water in WA and BIG in the Arm! I was thrilled at this point and the pressure was off. Between fighting fish for the first time, driving the boat and being out with dad and his buddy, they were in hog heaven…….
After I felt like we had “covered” that area, we back just a tick, to the underwater peninsula, in the Cul de Sac of Boeuy 1. When the weeds are in, this a tried and true spot for both Perch and Walleye, and by Perch, I mean Big Ones! I have pulled a mess of twelves, sight jiggin’ em’ in 7-9 feet of water…….
There we pulled another 2 walleye and a big 3 lbs. bass, that yes…..was also added to the biomass pile that I was accruing for them….. By then, it was getting truly dark and the kids took turns, driving back to Porcupine…..
In all, we took 7 walleye and 3 bass….. Enough to feed my buddies family for three meals, and he has 6 kids! (the bass helped a lot!) The kids got to fight fish, that they had never had the opportunity to feel before, they got to drive the boat and swim when they were doing a weird thing, called “not-fishing”………. I was genuinely surprised that we pulled the two 19 inchers, as that is really good for Roosevelt.
The crank bite is on…… The weeds are not fully up yet, but if you can locate some, throw a shallow runnin’ crank like a shad rap, flicker shad, or some smaller bass type plugs and you should do decently well….. This ain’t the Snake and the fish aren’t fat, but they are there and if you target them from 6PM on…..you should be able to trailer your boat, with a decently respectable livewell, full of fishsticks………
Travis - Babysitter extraordinaire