Patrick and Greg: Roosevelt - 8/23/2024

A fishing trip with Patrick was long overdue. We are busy with kids, work, and summer travel. I hadn’t been fishing on Roosevelt since the end of June, so I was excited to wet a line! Patrick has Garmin Livescope on his boat, so I enjoyed learning more about how walleyes behave. Patrick had 2 rules. 1) No live bait…ouch. 2) No bananas on the boat. I broke this rule by forgetting to eat my banan on the drive to the lake.

We launched out of Porcupine Bay. With the forecast for winds gusting up to 40 mph late in the day, we didn’t want to deal with the big water on the main lake. We hit a variety of spots up the Arm that frequently hold fish. Marking fish on traditional sonar and Livescope was not a problem. We found them relating to weed edges, rock piles, points, and channel edges. It didn’t take long to distinguish bass from walleyes by their movements and how they related to structure. It was easy to find yourself watching the Garmin screen with fascination and frustration. Soooo many fish just don’t react to your bait.

We ended up catching 15 walleyes, 8 smallmouth bass, and a chinook salmon (washdown from Lake CDA). We started fishing around 10 am and got blown off the water…cold and wet around 530 pm.

More info for club members: We started across from Porcupine Launch marking walleyes in 40 to 60 feet. We caught a couple walleyes and a bass. Next we moved to the weed beds in Laughbon Bay. There were tons of small bass and walleyes tight to weeds in 15 ft or less. From there we moved to the bottom of the Narrows and got a couple more bass and another walleye in 15 to 25 feet in sand and rock. Next we motored up to Buoy 7. Around 1 pm, I caught a 21 inch Chinook on a swim bait in less than 10 feet of water as the wind began to blow 15 to 20 mph. We continued to work weeds and rocks in 15 to 20 feet until 5 pm picking up walleyes between 17 and 20 inches and smallmouth up to 17 inches. Livescope showed us small schools of walleyes roaming the humps around Buoy 7, but the 20 to 30 mph winds couldn’t keep us near fish for long. At one point, I hooked up on 5 consecutive casts, putting 4 keepers in the boat in short order. Swim jigs and Ned Rigs were the most effective. When the walleyes were aggressive, baits up to 5 inches were more effective than small presentations.