I considered several options about where to fish this past week.  I finally settled on going to Billy Clapp Reservoir with my good friend and fishing buddy James Lebow.  We have had good success at this reservoir, that is east of Soap Lake in the past, and I had high hopes for another good day on the water here.

Billy Clapp Reservoir has been a favorite of mine for many years.  My wife and I tried our luck here for kokanee several years ago, and in spite of a late start and issues with my bow mount, we landed seven kokanee that ranged in size from 15 to 19 inches.  I went back a few times that season and always got some more of these big kokanee.  Since then, the kokanee fishing has been less productive, except for a couple of years.  The trout fishing has been excellent most years and my fishing buddy James Lebow introduced me to walleye fishing on Billy Clapp.  

We were there in July of 2019 and started our day kokanee fishing, and we landed five or six really big kokanee.  When the kokanee bite died he drove us up to the top end of the reservoir, where Summer Falls spills into the lake.  We trolled bottom walkers and spinners in a deep hole here, and although we lost a lot of gear on one of the most snaggy bottoms I have ever fished, we managed to get a limit of small walleye.  Billy Clapp can be great, but not last Sunday.  We got no kokanee and struggled to get just three walleye.  

We started fishing for kokanee above the big basalt island and although we were marking a bunch of fish, we didn’t get a single bite.  Trolling our favorite Kokabow Tackle blades and squids didn’t impress the kokanee.  We made three loops through water that has produced for James in the past, and since we weren’t getting any kokanee, and surprisingly not a single rainbow either, we decided to try for walleye.

James ran us up to the top end and tried fishing with jigs.  This area of the reservoir has a very snaggy bottom and we thought it would be great to get walleye on jigs, and maybe not lose so much gear.  

However, Summer Falls was roaring with water spilling from the channel that leads down from Banks Lake, and the current was just too swift.  It is really difficult to detect a strike when fishing 60 feet deep in heavy current.

We changed tactics and put on heavy bottom walkers and spinners.  Our luck changed, but only slightly.  James landed two walleye.  One was a 17-incher and the other 13 inches.  I just got one bite.  This week’s photo is of one of the walleye we got.

There is a shoreline below the powerlines that has produced walleye for both of us in the past, so we dropped down here and trolled along this bank.  The best part of this exercise was watching a bald eagle land and feed on a fish above us on the steep basalt bank, with a young one following closely behind.  James did land another small walleye here, though.  

By now it was getting hot, and although we had the Artic Cove mister cranked up, we’d had enough.  We agreed to blame the poor fishing on the heavy currents at the top end and the full moon for everything else.  James did send me home with the catch so that my wife and I could enjoy a fresh walleye dinner.  She loved it!

There is a lot going on fishing wise in the region.  Salmon fishing is going great guns in the Brewster Pool and at Chelan Falls.  Anglers are chasing walleye on Potholes and Banks Lake, and the bass fishing is terrific on Moses Lake.  I was looking at what I was doing last year at this time and came across some photos from Rufus Woods Reservoir.  My friends and I started fishing up there in early July and we made trips up here until the end of the year.  

One day James Lebow took my niece Ellie and me to fish below the upper net pens for triploid rainbow and walleye.  We would troll bottom bouncers and spinners baited with nightcrawlers downstream and catch both species.  On this particular day we landed four nice walleye and our limits of triploids.  To keep our baits right on the bottom we used three ounce bottom walkers, and if you try this technique be prepared to lose some rigs.  Mylar blade spinners of a variety of colors will attract strikes from both walleye and rainbow.  

Later in the year I fished with my brother Rick Graybill and Steve Goodfellow.  This time we tried using jigging plugs and they worked great.  I want to do more of this in the coming season.  We were running down from Seaton Grove at that time.  As I have mentioned earlier I now have my access permit for the Colville Reservation and can launch at the new ramp right at the middle pens.  The fish should be running 3 to 4 pounds with the occasional big fish that could weigh double digits.  If you recall, last winter many anglers could often take fish over 10 pounds.  These triploids have an amazing growth rate, and it looks like we are going to have another great fall and winter season on Rufus Woods.

You may have noticed that the water levels in the streams and rivers in our region has dropped dramatically.  If you like to wade small streams for small trout, now’s the time to get out and do it.  One of my favorite things to do when it’s really hot in Leavenworth is to grab my 3 weight rod and head up the valley and fish the Icicle River above the Snow Creek Trailhead.  I have some spots that I walk in where the river is strewn with boulders.  These boulders create small pockets of water behind them and there seems to be trout in almost all of them.  It is usually at least 10 degrees cooler up the valley and I just wade in my shorts.  What a great way to cool off, and these little trout are a blast to catch and release.