I put some miles down last week, looking for good places to fish from shore. As the snow and ice recedes there are more and more opportunities for anglers throughout the region. Warmer temperatures have also encouraged folks to break out the fishing gear to try their luck on the lakes and rivers that are open year round.

You may recall that I recently fished for a very short time at Crescent Bay, which is just down the hill from the town of Coulee Dam. In less than an hour, I had two bites and landed a fat 15 inch rainbow. I wanted to give this spot another try and was able to do that last Tuesday. I wasn’t alone this time. There was a family fishing on the point just below me and two young anglers came and went while I was there. However, none of us had any luck. I noticed that the water was much higher than the last time I fished here, and learned later that it is best fished when Lake Roosevelt has been drawn down a bit. There is a large sand flat off the shore here and the fishing is much better when you can reach the deeper water with a cast. Since it decided to rain on me again I drove out to Seatons Grove. There were four trucks and trailers in the parking area this time, indicating that fishing at the net pens must have improved. It was raining too hard to stick around and fish from the shore.

One of my favorite places to fish from shore in the winter is at the Federal Park at Keller. It’s about a 30 minute drive from Coulee Dam and has been worth the trip many times in the past. When I arrived, there was one other angler up the beach from me. I got out all my gear, baited two rods and cast them out. The water was at the highest level I had ever seen in the winter here. The water was just a few feet from the edge of the beach. I heard the telltale splash of a fish on a line and ran up and watched the other angler land a fish. He had two on his stringer already, and they were all 16 to 17 inches. He had arrived a couple of hours earlier than I. Steve, the other angler, landed another fish, and I confirmed that I was using the same setup and bait that he was. I continued to fish, freshening my baits occasionally, and Steve came down to say he had his limit of five fish now. The last one was about 19 inches. I had three bites but didn’t hook a single fish. Just not my day. This week’s photo is of Jeff’s five fish limit on the stringer.

On my way back from Keller I decided to check out the launch and shoreline at Spring Canyon. I have spent many days fishing from the shore here and wanted to see if I could easily get to my favorite spot. I found the docks at the launch all the way up, which is weird for this time of year, and I could see all the buoys in the swimming area still floating. I drove over where I could see the area I usually fish from, and it wasn’t there. The water was all the way up to the rocks on the shore. It will be a while before I can fish off the bank here. Word is that they are keeping the water up in Lake Roosevelt this year, due to the low snowpack. Of all the places I have fished recently, I consider fishing from the shore at Keller to be the best bet. I did a video when I was there last and I will let everyone know when it is posted.

Soon lakes in our region will start to lose their cap of ice. There are lakes that are open year-round that offer great fishing for trout as soon as the ice clears off. There are a bunch of lakes in Grant County that open on March 1st that are very popular. I wanted folks to know that I have done a series of videos of the lakes in the Quincy Wildlife Area that describe these lakes and what people can expect to catch in them. I did a video of Moses Lake that shows all the boating accesses, and what anglers should find in the vicinity of these launch sites. Another project I did was for Grant County PUD that shows their boating accesses on the Columbia River all the way from below Rock Island Dam to above Priest Rapids Dam. These are great places for anglers access the river to fish for walleye, bass and even salmon. I just posted a video that was taken at Billy Clapp Lake. It shows where anglers fish after ice-off and how to catch the trout that inhabit the lake from shore. All of these videos are available on the Dave Graybill Channel on YouTube.

It’s time to mark your calendars for the annual Trout Fishing Derby on Burke and Quincy lakes. The Quincy Chamber of Commerce has been doing this event for years and has made some changes to make it even more popular. The best change has been to move the date to later in March. It will take place on Friday March 22nd and Saturday March 23rd this year. Too often in years past the derby date has had to be delayed because the lakes were still frozen. Once again there will be prizes awarded for the longest fish and cumulative weight in both adult and youth categories. There is always a huge pile of prizes, thanks to local sponsors, and you don’t need to catch a fish to get a chance to win. Just buy some raffle tickets. Something that is new this year is the Trout Derby Photo Contest. People can vote for their favorite photo through the Quincy Chamber’s Facebook page, and the winner will receive a 70-inch flatscreen TV. Get the details about the derby and photo contest by clicking on the Something Fishy logo on the home page of the Fishing Magician website at www.fishingmagician.com. I hope to see you there!