Jack and Dianne: Roosevelt - 6/27-7/1
Jack and Dianne returned to Kettle Falls for a 2nd time the week of June 27 to July 1. We fished Tues, Wed. and Thurs.
The river had come up 10ft or more since the group campout. Most of the debris had cleared from the main channel, but there were still a few logs and half submerged limbs out there.
The weather was clear and sunny for most of our stay. Surface temperature of the water was in the upper 50's.
Day 1 we ran up to the Marcus area and fished those areas where the successful boaters had fished that week of the group campout. We marked no fish on the depth finder, but trolled bottom bouncers and worm harnesses anyway. Nothing. We worked the normal areas further upriver near Evans, but still no fish. Working our way back down to camp I switched to jigs and plastics and prospected likely areas along the shoreline. I picked up a nice smallmouth, but no walleye.
The wind ran us off the water by 12:30. Others we spoke with at the dock reported little to no success also.
., we ran down river to fish promising areas below the mouth of the Colville. After a short while, the wind picked up again and we headed into the calmer waters of the Colville arm. We trolled bottom bouncers and worm harnesses again, prospecting anything on the depth finder that looked promising. We worked out way to the limit of navigation and headed back down. I picked up two Burbot, each measured 17-17.5 ".
First ones I ever hooked!
(For anyone interested: A local girl tells me Burbot spawn in the Colville in January. Folks fish for them as they would for catfish. Some impressively big ones are caught then.)
. we tried the mouth of the Kettle R. and parts of Singer Bay. Jack boated one 'dink' walleye.
We came home Friday.
I spoke with the Fish and Game fellow who was taking a creel census. Apparently, no one was having success. The most fish any boat reported to him was 2 walleye. Speculation for the lack of success varied from the onset of a high pressure system to the swiftness with which the reservoir was filling.
Anyone who might have had better success than we had while fishing under similar conditions, please comment.
Jack and Dianne