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Decided to try a new spot yesterday, well not really new, just a change from Lincoln area. Launched at Seven Bays just before 10 and motored down to Sterling Point area with lines in the water and trolling by 10:25.

My fishing partner was trolling a Muddler of unknown manufacture and I started with a Kekeda perch pattern fly and a perch pattern Rip’n Minnow. I think my buddy said he was out 3 colors, and I ran my leaded line out 150’ and the mono out 195’.

Was about 15 minutes before the first strike, but it didn’t stick and when my buddy checked his bait he ended up with a snarl forcing a retie. I continued to troll, and without a hit, for about a half hour while my buddy got his rig restored and back in the water. I jokingly told him I didn’t catch anything so he could have first fish honors, and wouldn’t you know it, he did about 10 minutes later!

I scooped a healthy Roosevelt ‘bow that was about 16 ½” and in the cooler it went. Then he backed that one with another nice ‘bow that went 18 ½”. After his first, I had swapped to a Kekeda orange/black fly, and after his second fish, was beginning to think maybe I needed to swap to a muddler. I pulled one out of the tackle box and had it sitting on my knee when my leaded line went down with a zzziiingg. Set the fly on the dash and back to fight the fish. My buddy scooped a nice 15”+ ‘bow that thought he was a lot bigger than he was. I sent that orange/black Kekeda back to the depths and it produced another about 10 minutes later, though a bit smaller than the first.

Then the bite quit, just stopped dead. Hmm. I decided to troll out over the deep water just in case they might be holding over the main channel. Turns out that was a good decision and we found a pocket that produced some fast action. Once we patterned the pocket, we put 6 more nice ‘bows in the cooler in about 45 minutes, interrupted by some bighorn sheep we just had to watch.

We had trolled out of our zone because we were bighorn sheep watching and not really paying attention to where we were. Hard to ignore the bighorns though, and yesterday we saw more bighorn sheep than we’ve ever seen at Roosevelt. We saw close to 60 on the shore across from Lincoln and then another herd across from Sterling Point that easily had to be 40 sheep and held the BIGGEST ram of my life yesterday, a full curl and a quarter, or more, with horns that looked to be 8” diameter at the base of his skull, they were just MASSIVE. He had to be THE granddaddy of all the bighorns.

After the wildlife viewing we got serious, returned to our pocket, and finished our limits. My buddy got bog fish honors yesterday, landing a beautiful 19.5” native ‘bow that weighed 2lbs, 14 3/8ozs. We finished out limits with a double, the second one of the day. My last was a deep chested 16” ‘bow that weighed 1lb, 11ozs, what a pig!

Trolling speed yesterday was 2.5 – 3.0mph depending whether we were trolling with the wind or against. All but the first 2 ‘bows were caught in water at least 100’ deep and 6 of those were suspended over the main channel 200’ – 225’. My buddy started the day tipping his Muddler with grubs, then switched to worms. I tipped the Kekedas with worms. The Rip’n Minnow was quiet most of the day, but it put my last two fish in the cooler back to back.

A nice ending to a great day on the water and as we traveled back to Seven Bays, all the bighorn sheep across from Lincoln were still there, all down at the water’s edge, stretched out in pockets along the shoreline for several hundred yards. We were both certain we saw at least 100 bighorn sheep yesterday and that was quite spectacular. :-)

downriggeral

11/20/2014 1:50:00 PM

As always great report Phil. Those fillets are BEAUTIFUL! Great eats for sure - Alan

hewesfisher

11/20/2014 4:11:00 PM

For reference, my fillet knife is over 12" long tip to butt and the fillet I'm holding is an inch thick at the center. You can see the fat on the fillets sitting on the cutting board, these will be awesome!

Kekedatackleco

11/20/2014 7:36:00 PM

What a fun day! Thanks for letting us know how you did. That kekeda must have heard you talking about switching and turned on the magic, I tell them to do that while I'm tying them you know. :) -Dave

strikezone

11/20/2014 9:36:00 PM

hewesfisher: Good Golly Miss Molly you're making me want to get over there soon and have a go at some of those fishys. Great report.Thank you for the info. I hope things work out so we can come around the 15th of December for 4-5 days. Called White Willow Motel this morning about staying there instead of hauling the camper clear over there (730) miles round trip. Has anyone stayed there before? Any recomendations about it? Never fished Roosevelt before. Any help or suggestions would be great. Thank you.
Denny

Two Brothers #1

11/21/2014 12:33:00 AM

Great report Hewesfisher you guys had a good day as usual per your fishing strategies which seem to always produce. Did you maintain that speed all day or change up some? We do fish at 2 mph , but seldom go over that for any long period of time. Do you remember Lenny Mayo the guide for quite some time out of 7-bays?, he was a great believer as the weather got colder the trolling speed got faster, even over 4mph. and he always said he was very successful at it, anyhow thanks for the report. TB #1. ( Ron )

hewesfisher

11/21/2014 7:45:00 AM

I knew there was magic in your flies Dave, didn't know you "programmed" them too. ;-)

Denny if I can sneak away during the week, I'll meet up with you. I'll PM my contact info if I haven't already sent it. No help on the Motel, but it looks like a nice place on their website.

We did have a good day Ron and the weather was decent too. I usually leave my speed set and let direction changes take care of speed change. I learned how to fish Roosevelt from Lenny Mayo, we even stayed in his "cabin" a couple times. He always said if you think you're trolling too fast speed up. In addition to raising speed as temps get colder, he also went to 70 series Rip'n Minnows. I rarely ever troll under 2mph, usually no less than 2.5mph. Works well for my technique and gear choice, but not for anyone trolling spinning gear like worm harnesses which would just become a tangled up mess at speeds I troll (ask how I know). ;-)

strikezone

11/21/2014 10:07:00 AM

hewesfisher:
Thanks for all your help. I hope we can meet up for sure. I have to be back home by Wednesday night so we are hoping the weather cooperates from Dec. 12th(Friday) thru Dec.17th(Wed.) with fishing happening the13th thru16th. But everything depends on the weather. We may come later sometime if the weather's bad in December. I'm leery about puling a boat over the pass if it might be covered in ice or snow. No, I haven't received any contact info. yet from you, but that would be great. I'll do the same. If this winter trip works out I think the wife and I will come back next year when the weather gets nice and camp at Fort Spokane for a few days of R&R and some fishing. We're both retired for a few years, so we can get away almost anytime. The motel I mentioned looks pretty nice to me too and it's only 6 miles north of Ft. Spokane on Hwy 25. If two or three of us come the expenses of getting a room would't be bad.

Denny

Two Brothers #1

11/21/2014 10:23:00 AM

Strikezone--(Denny ) I've never stayed at the White Willow Motel but two friends I worked with for 22 years have stayed there several times during our annual fishing derby on Roosevelt. They have commented it was always friendly and clean. Hope this helps some and I think you will have no problems. We are going to stay there this March during the annual derby rather than stay in Davenport like we normally do. I'ts also only about six miles from Fort Spokane launch.

strikezone

11/21/2014 11:16:00 AM

Two Brothers#1
Thanks for the info about the motel. I talked to a guy named John there just two days ago and he mentioned that alot of fishermen have stayed there over the years. Sounds like that is where we will most likely hang our hats too. What's this about an annual fishing derby at Roosevelt in March? Is that a family thing or is it a public affair? Might be interested if it;s open to the public and the weather is decent. Is fishing any good at that time? Thanks again.

Denny

SnoKing

11/21/2014 9:38:00 PM

Hewesfisher, We're headed over to Roosevelt next Friday to check out the lots I PM'd you about. The boat has to stay home this trip as the idea is to see if the land is worth pursuing. Are you going to be around?

Good report! The graze must be better down low for the bighorn; I'd love to catch that on film!

Two Brothers #1

11/22/2014 8:38:00 AM

Strikezone--( Denny ) The fishing derby I mentioned is a private one that us old Boeing and Triumph Composite Systems employee's ( from Spokane not Seattle ) put together about 12 years ago. You have to be employed or retired from there to participate. It was never about the winning, but the bragging rights and trash talking for the whole year that it allowed you to make. Great fun.

SnoKing

11/22/2014 11:24:00 AM

Two Bro's, Strikezone, Hewesfisher, downriggeral, KekedaDave, and others... Hell, why don't we have our own derby ?

strikezone

11/22/2014 6:14:00 PM

SnoKing: Having a derby sounds like a great time. Let me know if and when. Two Brothers#1--Thanks. Hope you and your fellow Boeing employee's have a great time. We had a 22 rifle turkey shoot over here today. Our son in law won the turkey, our Wendy's lunch companion won second prize(roasting chicken) my other friend won 3rd prize of two cornish game hens. It was a super fun time for all. We shot skeet and pistols afterwards just for fun.I told our grandson who was shooting for the first time who also shot quite well that he had some big shoes to fill next year at the turkey shoot.

Denny

downriggeral

11/23/2014 4:43:00 PM

SnoKing Tough to Beat Hewesfisher in his own pond! Bragging rights; hmmmm............................yahoo fish on! Alan

hewesfisher

11/24/2014 8:36:00 AM

Hey, I get beat in my own boat on the big pond, my wife and my fishing buddy both in the last few weeks. LOL

Would be fun to have an informal, bragging rights only, get together. We could make it an official derby with WDFW's blessing, but that requires a minimum of 30days advance notice, $94 in permit and application fees (only $24 permit fee is refundable), and an after event report must be filed within 30 days of the event. More details here - http://apps.leg.wa.gov/WAC/default.aspx?cite=232-12-168 :-)

strikezone

11/24/2014 5:06:00 PM

hewesfisher:
Phil. I hear ya. Seems like every time I take out our grandsons they invarably catch the biggest and the most. Same way especially when I take out our daughter, wife, or anyone female, they always out fish me. But we always have fun and that's what counts. The derby sounds interesting. I might even have a chance of coming in last. Since it's so far from here(365miles one way) I am a maybe. We do hope to make it over this winter tho. Now it is looking like maybe early January sometime. Not set in stone yet. All depends on the weather and schedules of fishing buddys. Hope you all have some great days out on the water. Stay safe and tight lines always.
Denny

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