Well, our target was kokanee, but they didn't cooperate.

With lots of things demanding my time elsewhere, winter fishing has been something I just think about lately. Combined with the "boomerang" cold I caught before Christmas kept the boat sitting in the barn and me fishing vicariously through others reports. To those of you reporting - thank you!

Launched from Seven Bays at 7:20 and had lines in the water below Keller Ferry at 8am. I had the good fortune of hooking up first with a decent 17" rainbow within 10 minutes. My first thought was, "this is a good sign". Call it wishful thinking because it was a good hour before the next hit, my second, and another 'bow. After almost 3hrs below Keller Ferry chasing what didn't seem to be there, and only two hits, my fishing buddy and I stowed our gear and headed back upstream for more familiar, and normally more productive water.

About half way back we ran into heavy rain and I warned my fishing buddy we were going to get wet setting gear as we neared our destination. Hard to leave the comfort of the warm, dry cabin. :-)

We sent the gear out and started our troll near Sterling Point. Not 10 minutes into the troll I hook up with my third chunky 'bow and shortly after my buddy did the same. Dare I think this is a good sign? Though hopeful, it didn't pan out.

We persevered and finished with 6 for the day and I was very fortune to complete a limit. I felt bad for my fishing buddy as he only boated one all day. Tough day for sure.

I started the day with a pink UV hootchie/smile blade combo on my leaded line rig and a pink Kekeda behind a sling dodger off the downrigger 50' behind the ball. I ran the downrigger from 15' - 10' trying to find a depth where something might be interested, but not a hit. Once we left Keller Ferry, I stowed the downrigger and worked solely off leaded line and mono, switching to rainbow tactics with a perch pattern Kekeda tipped with a crawler on the leaded line and a perch pattern Rip'n Minnow on the mono. My buddy and I ran our leaded lines out 150' and I sent the Rip'n Minnow 195' back but it never had a bump. All our fish came off leaded line.

My buddy chose a Frisky Jenny Trick R' Treat for his fly and he tried tipping with grubs and worms. He had a strong strike very late in our outing, but nothing more. When he didn't have any action for the next half hour or so I suggested he might do a bait check. When he brought the line in he found he'd been broken off. Though he retied and sent an orange/black Kekeda out, we only had about 45 minutes left before reaching our predetermined departure time of 2pm.

While targeting kokanee trolling speeds were 1.6 - 1.8mph, baiting our offerings with corn and Gulp maggots. When we moved on to target 'bows, speeds were 2.6 - 3.0mph varying as we trolled against or with the wind.

Though the catching wasn't stellar, and the weather was a mixed bag (cloudy, raining, windy, calm) it was still nice to get out and enjoy a day on the water.

kenbarb

1/28/2016 2:56:00 PM

Glad to read your report hewsfisher, Barb and I are planning a four or five day trip to Spring Canyon this spring to try for some of those wonderful Kokanee, when we were fishing there they were quite a bit smaller. We fished there often before we retired, and settled down in Hell's Canyon. I know the feeling, you catch one right off the bat, and think it will be like that all day.

hewesfisher

1/28/2016 4:56:00 PM

Always have high hopes when we're out, sometimes we get humbled. I felt like a rookie yesterday, was the first time the boat's been wet since the end of October - way too long. I guess we weren't the only ones fighting an off bite, spoke with downriggeral last night and he told me his buddy was out yesterday as well. His buddy said it was slow, no kokanee, and only managed 6 rainbow for the day. Sure sounds familiar. ;-)

BDA

1/28/2016 6:56:00 PM

Good report thanks I to was out yesterday three poles out only one bite. little rain, water came up a little I think this might have something to do with the bite and it was dark all day.Maybe next time,still a good time to be out.

woodcutter

1/28/2016 8:24:00 PM

Thanks for the report. I just put downriggers on the boat and my fishing buddies are heading to sterling point on Sunday. hoping for koks, will be happy with bows. I will be sure to give my first report. Great site and glad to be a member. Fish On !

Part-Time

1/28/2016 10:10:00 PM

Glad to hear you got out, too bad about the catching. I look forward to your reports as there is plenty of detail and lots to learn. Two of my buddies were out on Monday and they hit it hard from Spring Canyon to Keller, 2 nice Kokes and 3 rainbow, guess it just slow all the way around. Hoping that they are just waiting for me to get down there. Nothing wrong with hoping.

downriggeral

1/28/2016 11:10:00 PM

Hi hewesfisher - I won't get out till the 6th when fish dawg comes over from the coast. Hope the catching gets better by then. The Nine Mile dam on the Spokane river has one gate completely open spilling a bunch of runoff. Rising water seems to make fickle fish!

hewesfisher

1/29/2016 8:09:00 AM

Wasn't a bad day, just not as good as recent reports. We were happy to get out and spend time on the water. Hope we get out again soon and maybe reservoir levels will drop some and help. Hard to believe, but reservoir levels actually dropped .3ft Wednesday. NOAA forecast shows reservoir level will begin dropping late Sunday and continuing through Feb 7th. If forecast holds, level should drop from 1281.4 Sunday evening to 1277.95 by 4am on the 7th.

This is where I get my reservoir level info - http://water.weather.gov/ahps2/river.php?wfo=OTX&wfoid=18722&riverid=204540&pt[]=144992&allpoints=144991%2C144992%2C145035%2C145041%2C145048%2C145051%2C145270%2C143450%2C150895%2C146745&data[]=all

Two Brothers Fishing

1/29/2016 12:12:00 PM

Your report sounds just like what happened to brother Ron and I last Friday. We launched at 7 bays and ended up just about the San Poil and hit a couple of spots we like there and caught five nice RBT. We had started out on the shoreline before Hawk Creek and got one there before working our way toward Keller. Slow day fishing but was nice to get out on the water. Be safe Terry.

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