Northwest Fishing Reports

does anyone know how thick the ice is on bead lake? This is the time of the year to hook the burbot but I don't want to waist the trip if it's unsafe. any help would be appreciated

Just take JAY k with you and you will be invincible! LOL.. sorry jay couldn't resist jk!(see silver lake reports)

Seriously though troutheart, If you don't want to mess with ice there has been some discussion on the ling at roosevelt under that forum. Word from yellow bear is Hawk creek by the bouy is a good bet. I've caught them there years ago. Hottest thing right now is supposedly trout down towards spring canyon/ keller...the trout follow the food down there this time of year. One of these days I might get off my lazy A#* and try some winter fishing myself instead of blowing hot air.. right JAY K ?

Yeah, I deserve the dressing down, although fishermen aren't exactly the humblest lot when posting reports. These ARE bragging boards, right? Well, I can laugh at myself for overdoing it.

Anyways, it's a strange coincidence you'd mention my name in this post, because I did look up Bead lake after Troutheart mentioned it. It'd be nice to catch something else besides perch. I was hoping there'd be some lakes around here that had Northerns in 'em (cause you can't eat Muskie) or walleyes. Burbot might be interesting. There's not a lot written about how to go after burbot, but it seems like you fish for 'em like you'd fish for walleyes.

Well, sorry to go off on a tangent in your post, but I hope somebody can give you a report on the ice.

Thanks for the advice on roosevelt, I've seen alot of burbot pulled out of banks also (which is obviously part of the same river) I have just been told that bead is an excellent winter/night fishery for burbot, and the state record(17lbs) was taken from there, but that was in April i believe. As for catching them, my sources say to use a heavy jig with a handful of worms and slowly bounce it off the bottom in 40-50 feet of water, which is pretty much the same as walleye or macks but i've never done it. I might just have to go for a day drive to check it myself. I'll let you know if it was worth it, IF I make it back.

troutheart wrote:I've seen alot of burbot pulled out of banks also (which is obviously part of the same river)

A lot of folks believe that.
A little tidbit of info about Banks Lake...
Banks Lake is actually a man made reservoir. The water to fill Banks Lake does come from the Columbia River/Lake Roosevelt but it is pumped 280 feet uphill from the Columbia River at Grand Coulee Dam into what is known as the Grand Coulee there by forming Banks Lake.

Photo below of Pumping Plant Discharge Tubes:


Photo below: Steamboat rock prior to filling Banks Lake:

Big D nailed it. The Columbia exits Lake Roosevelt and flows for a few miles and then its Rufus Woods. There are a few huge pipes that run from the pump station at Roosevelt than run up and over the hill and dump into Banks Lake. If it wasn't for the pumping Banks lake would be a trickle.

wolverine wrote: Big D nailed it. The Columbia exits Lake Roosevelt and flows for a few miles and then its Rufus Woods. There are a few huge pipes that run from the pump station at Roosevelt than run up and over the hill and dump into Banks Lake. If it wasn't for the pumping Banks lake would be a trickle.

Thanks for the back up wolverine although I don't think Banks would even be a trickle without the plumbing.

Big D, there are a few small creeks that dump in along hwy 155. But definitely don't have enough water in them to be more than able to make a few green spots in the dry coulee. Without irrigation that farmer in the 2nd pic appeared to have a mighty sparse crop of whatever grain that he was working on growing there.

wolverine wrote: Big D, there are a few small creeks that dump in along hwy 155. But definitely don't have enough water in them to be more than able to make a few green spots in the dry coulee. Without irrigation that farmer in the 2nd pic appeared to have a mighty sparse crop of whatever grain that he was working on growing there.

Agreed.

If anyone gets a chance to fish there let me know. I haven't fished much if any lake north of Spokane, WA.

Thats a cool picture of Steamboat rock.