I had a chance to fish Lake Roosevelt for kokanee last week. People often abandon this fishery after the winter season. It can still provide good fishing for kokanee of exceptional size.

I met Alan Greenhalgh, owner of Kokabow Fishing Tackle and Jim Paine at the boat launch in Keller for our annual fishing trip on Lake Roosevelt. Alan had landed a 25 ½-inch kokanee the day before and we were looking for another giant. Last year Alan landed a kokanee that was 21 inches and was going to have it mounted. Maybe he’s going to have two kokanee on the wall of his home now.

We started our day a little differently. They had brought some crawdad traps and bait and were planning on a crawdad boil that evening. Alan was about to drop the pots when Jim saw two otters slip into the water. Needless to say, we weren’t going to put our pots where these critters could rob them. We found another bay nearby to drop the traps and then off we went to the kokanee fishing grounds. Jim piloted the boat to Plum Point, which is above Spring Canyon Park and we started trolling with primarily orange colored Kokabow blades and spinners. Alan is always experimenting with colors and when he switched to pink colors we got bit. We got one kokanee here, lost two, and moved to Swawilla Basin. Got another kokanee here and lost another one. We ended the day near Camel Nose with another kokanee and, get this, a walleye. What a great day of fishing with these two. We had a ball. This week’s photo is of my two fishing partners on Roosevelt.

When Alan and Jim pulled the crawdad traps at the end of the day, they found them empty. I don’t know if the otters found them, or there just weren’t any crawdads in that bay. I hope they kept trying. Nothing like a good crawdad boil!

I was getting daily updates on how Alan and Jim were doing later in the week. They had even better success and landed a bunch of very nice kokanee. It’s definitely worth a trip to Roosevelt. You never know when you might catch one of the giants that the lake is famous for, too.

I always learn something when I fish with Alan. He is a very astute kokanee angler. We discussed the usual things when it comes to choosing what to start with when kokanee fishing: bright colors on bright days, dark colors on dark days, that sort of thing. We both agreed that a leader length of 12 inches is often best, given the great “kick” that the Kokabow blades produce. He also pointed out that, due to the weight of his blades, they will run as much as 10 to 12 feet below where they are attached to the downrigger ball. I often run my gear 50 feet behind the ball, so I have time to run it up or down when I see a kokanee school on the screen. If I put my gear at the depth of the school it will actually be below the fish. Chances of getting a strike are much better when the blades and spinners are above the fish. They are more likely to see things above them than below them.

The big news in our region is the opening of summer salmon and sockeye fishing from Tri-Cities to Priest Rapids Dam on June 16th. The forecasts for both species is very good this year. Another busy fishery will be in Leavenworth. A new stretch of the Wenatchee River opened to fishing for spring salmon. The area is from the Hwy. 2 Bridge crossing the Wenatchee River in Leavenworth to the upstream point of the confluence with the Icicle River and from that point to a line perpendicular with the Wenatchee River to the opposite riverbank (adjacent to the Leavenworth Golf Course). It will be open through June 30th. Fishing on the Icicle has really picked up recently. Also, every year I hear from Phil Anderson, former WDFW Director when he comes over here with this family to do some fishing. He was interested in trying Jameson Lake and I suggested the area above the middle launch on Jameson and to fish up the south shore. He did and he had a great time. Thinking of him, I stopped at Jack’s Resort on my way home from fishing at Banks. My wife loves their coconut cream pie. I earned some big points!

As many of you know I distribute a free E-Letter every season: Summer, Winter, Spring and Fall. I am preparing my Summer E-Letter and will be sending it to my mailing list very soon. There is a lot going on each summer in terms of really good fishing in this region, but in recent years nothing gets anglers more excited that a good return of sockeye. I have noticed that some anglers even focus on sockeye rather than summer run kings, and there can be multiple guide boats in the Brewster Pool from as far away as Idaho when the sockeye numbers are good. In recent years the sockeye have returned to the upper Columbia with abundance that far exceeded the forecasts. Last year the forecast for the return of sockeye to the Columbia was 198,700. The actual return was 664,935. This year the pre-season expectation is for 234,500, but who knows? They may surprise us again. I am going to dedicate much of my Summer E-Letter to sockeye fishing. I will be showing maps of the fishing areas, lots of photos of fish caught on the Columbia and Lake Wenatchee, descriptions of the tackle to use and at least one video. I have one with Shane Magnuson, Austin Moser, and Jerrod Gibbons that shows what they use to catch sockeye. If you aren’t on my mailing list and want to get your free copy of the E-Letter, go to my website www.fishingmagician.com and click on the E-Letter button on the Home Page.

I had reported earlier that I was having a banner days fishing for walleye on Banks Lake, and it flat died. I fully expect the good fishing to return with the good weather forecast and the darkening of the moon. The walleye fishing on Banks was the best that I have experienced in many years. I hope to get back up there to fill my freezer with these prized fish.