After watching that WDFW video on youtube on the opportunity to fish for walleye from shore during the month of April at Moses Lake, the wife and I decided to give it a try. We tried the same location as in the video: the Alder Street Fill area where Crab Creek enters into the lake. Arrived not as early as I would have wanted, getting there around 8:45am. Nobody there. Tied on a 4 inch brown speckled grub on a 1/4 oz jighead and on the first cast, WHAM! My spirits soared as I thought I was going to land my 1st walleye....until the fish erupted out of the water and I saw that telltale profile....bass. Sure enough, wound up landing a 17 inch smallie. Photographed it and released, as I have never had a pleasant dinner table experience with this species. The next serious strike came some 45 minutes later, and this one started stripping some serious amount of line! It was a huge battle to get it close to shore and when I did, again more disappointment....this time a big carp snagged by the tail. One more good kick and he ripped himself from the jig. Another hour later and the final strike...a great 45 second battle until he shook off. Never did get it close enough to ID the species. In the meantime during all this, we both contributed a lot of tackle to the rocky bottom.

All in all I still feel the 403 mile round trip was worth it...and I plan on hitting this fishery again. Many in the area I spoke to felt the spawn may have come a tad early due to unseasonably warm days in March....who knows?

I'll be back.

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