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It was bound to happen sooner or later, fishing, or rather catching, was definitely off. We got off to a slight late start due to fog and icy roads pre-dawn, but it cleared once we got on the road. Departed home at 7:40, pulled into Seven Bays just after 9. Loaded gear in the boat, pulled it out of the barn and headed to the ramp. There were 3 trailers in the lot and a lone vehicle without a trailer which probably belonged to the bank angler we saw as we left the marina.

My gut feeling was we needed to be further downstream today, and initially I planned to hit the San Poil, but we changed the game plan as we neared Whitestone. Decided to set up and work the area, so out came the gear and we were fishing. After an hour or so of absolutely no action, I asked my fishing buddy if he wanted to head downstream or back upstream. The decision was to go upstream to our hotspots of the past several trips. It was the wrong decision.

We had gear back in the water near Sterling Point just before noon. As with the time near Whitestone, it was dead. About 30 minutes after moving upstream I finally had a hit on my mono rig that stuck and a chunky 16 incher went in the cooler. Ok, I said, the skunk is off, well so I thought anyway. It was at least another 20 minutes before another hit, again on the mono rig, but this one didn't stick and it was gone within seconds of me pulling the rod out of the holder.

I forget how long it was, but I hooked up on the mono rig a third (and last) time, and this one I thought was to be a dandy as the bait clicker was singing. I pulled the rod out of the holder and it felt like a 5lb weight on the end of the rod, but wait, it also felt like a dead weight. It was so heavy I was reluctant to leave the kicker in gear at idle (we were drifting with a slight wind), so took it out of gear and it was still like a dead weight. Just didn't feel right, no head shakes, no pulling, just plain odd. Was I pulling a foul hooked trout sideways? When it was 30' out I expected it to just go ballistic but no, and then at about 15' I saw the flash in the water AND tangled lines. Crap. Not only did this thing get wrapped up in my buddy's leaded line, but mine too. I have NEVER had that happen before. Guess it just fit with the kind of day we were having. My buddy scooped it in the net, a nicer one than my first, maybe 17". We got the lines cleared and back in the water, not that it mattered.

We, rather I, had a grand total of 3 strikes on the day, two of which went in the cooler. My buddy's line was completely dead all day, not a hint of a strike as was the case with my leaded rig. I changed colors, styles, bait, speed, location, shallow/deep, and could not find the solution. We fished the shore opposite Whitestone about halfway to the bend before moving back upstream. I wasn't paying much attention to time, but we probably spent another hour or two fishing the Sterling Point area before deciding to troll to the opposing shore and worked that stretch from below Sterling Point all the way to A rock without a bite. I took my sunglasses off at 2:30 (didn't need them anymore) and my fishing buddy asked if I was ready to call it. Sounded good to me, so we pulled and stowed gear then headed for the launch.

Boat in the barn and pulling out of the driveway for home at 3:30.

We ran two leaded line rigs, my buddy's with a muddler, mine with an orange Kekeda, and I also ran a mono rig. My buddy and I both tipped our flies with a chunk of crawler and ran them out 150'. I sent a perch Rip'n Minnow out 195' and that was the only thing that caught fish yesterday. We tried just about every I could think of yesterday to no avail. I varied trolling speed from just over 2mph to over 3mph, constant turns, straight trolls, deep, shallow, mid-channel, and so on. It just wasn't meant to be. We both agreed since we didn't see any bighorn sheep, it had to have been a "sign". Poor catching doesn't happen often for me, and though it happened yesterday, we still enjoyed getting out, spending some time on the water, and being treated to a spot of sunshine just after we launched. Sent my buddy on his way with my two fish for him to enjoy. :-)

downriggeral

1/22/2015 10:11:00 PM

Oh man Phil.....some days it just does not click no matter how hard we try. I think we were very fortunate to score the 20 last Saturday. We caught most of them in the "hewesfisher" hole. I'm sure there were some left as not all went in the net. Maybe we do need to move down river now. The water was really cold @<35 on Saturday at Sterling. Guess that's why it's called fishing although we have gotten mighty spoiled with catching!

Tighter lines - Alan

afk

1/23/2015 6:58:00 AM

Ouch! I'll be on the lower end tomorrow. Hopefully I'll find them there. Thanks for the report.

hewesfisher

1/23/2015 7:36:00 AM

Alan - The "hole" produced one for the cooler and the strike that didn't stick. I was over the main channel with the last one. I usually go with my instinct and can't say why we decided to change, but it was the wrong thing to do. Once we committed to that course of action, and spent an hour or so at the "hole", it was too late to turn around and run downstream. Our efforts became an exercise in futility searching for something that would work. Oh well, at least we put a couple in the boat and still enjoyed being out on the water. :-)

Andy - I think the lower end is the place to be. The weekly report in the Spokesman indicates the same and that a fair amount of kokanee are showing up there.

MoreFish

1/23/2015 9:39:00 AM

Sounds like a tough day. It is interesting that the only fish you caught came on the perch ripping minnow, as that was the only lure that worked for me on Monday too. Makes you wonder what conditions changed this week. Do the fish really migrate from mid lake all the way down to the dam over the course of a few days?

buc

1/23/2015 12:09:00 PM

I was there the same day launched out of lincoln fished from sterling to sanpoil limited out on trout and walleye. Not sure why the bad day it happens though, we used frisky jenny flies and leaded line for trout and jigs for the eyes. Better luck next time cause ya know there'll be a next time!!!

Two Brothers #1

1/23/2015 1:24:00 PM

Hewesfisher-- Your outing sounds much like Brother Terrry and I had this Monday. Was going to start out at Keller but got tired of driving in the fog so launched at Lincoln at first light. We started out at Sterling Point , nothing for about a hour pull up headed to White Stone, picked up two fat Bow's after a couple hours of trying everything. Moved again down lake a couple times again nothing. We were using one lead and two mono set up's with modified "K " flys and Sling Blades on all poles. Finally we found them around the San Poil area at one of our go to spots. We picked up 5 more there and then had to head back to launch due to darkness comming on. All day for 7 fish is not the norm for us, it's just unbeliveable how the fish can disappear from one day to the next and it happens every year the same way. Well as they say " Thats Fishing ".. Sunday my Son, Son in Law, and Brother Terry and I are going to try again out of Spring Canyon which should be better fishing.

hewesfisher

1/24/2015 7:51:00 AM

MoreFish - I know they didn't migrate downstream, not all of them anyway, but there is a definite change occurring. It seems almost like late spring activity, but really odd for late January. Sometimes it just happens and I couldn't hit on a combo that worked, which, thankfully, is a rare event for me. ;-)

buc - I may have seen you. Were you working the flats south on the north shore above Whitestone? Was the only boat we saw fishing other than one heading downstream late morning/early afternoon.

Two Brothers #1 - I've been following a "trend" in catching lately, and it isn't happening with the frequency, and quality, in the upstream regions. We'll be in the arm on a half-day trip with YJ Guide Service Monday hopefully catching some burbot. If time allows, we'll splash our boat in the afternoon and fish in front of Seven Bays. Have to be on the way home by 4pm so won't have time to run anywhere else.

Kekedatackleco

1/24/2015 12:45:00 PM

Definitely happens to us all. With these short days it certainly limits the time you have to run around and find the fish. Glad you had a fun day anyway. It's nice just to be out. Glad your friend got a couple fish to take home at least.

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