First trip of the season, so my main goal was to make sure the boat and equipment all work. The day started out badly, but a great fellow at Les Schwab in Airway fixed my leaking valve stems on the boat trailer tires. And I was on my way. It took me an hour and a half to mark some walleyes, and I caught 6 keepers and a bonus burbot between 1230 and 130 pm. The bite stopped so I tried several other areas only to catch a baby walleye up the Arm. I returned to my productive spot and got another 5 keepers between 5 and 6 pm then called it a day. Water temp was 44 degrees on the main Columbia and 48 degrees up the Arm. Water clarity was good. There was very little current. Lake elevation was 1283 feet. I have never seen the water so high in April!

More info for club members: I launched out of Ft Spokane and was fishing by 11 am. First, I tried the main Columbia across from 7 Bays. I marked very little in depths from 35 feet to 70 feet. I made a quick trolliong pass along the channel edge between 40 and 60 feet…nothing. I made a motored the flat near the Island upstream of Ft Spokane and saw nothing on sonar so moved on. My next stop was across from Porcupine Bay where I got one keeper in 55 feet. I moved to Blue Creek and marked fish immediately in 50 feet of water on the flat. I trolled depths from 25 feet to 60 feet and found 50 feet to be the sweet spot. I caught walleyes on smile blades behind a 3 ounce bouncer. The most productive color was charteuse with a double hook warm harness. There were 2 mature walleyes out of the 11 that I cleaned. Both were males and neither were not milting, yet. If these w males are representative of the rest of the population, the spawn may be a couple weeks away.

Roosevelt: Greg - 4/10/2024