The best week of the year. After being locked down for weeks, we were finally allowed to get back out on the water. I never appreciated being able to go fishing more than last week. I wasn’t alone. Everywhere I went there were hordes of anglers enjoying their favorite activity. The weather cooperated, too, for the most part, so we had great conditions. I was out chasing walleye and kokanee, with varied success.

There was a very good turnout of anglers on Moses Lake on May 5th. All the ramps were busy and everyone was overjoyed to be able to get back out on the water. Success for walleye anglers was varied, though. What I learned while there was that if you weren’t on the water early you were going to have a tough day. I talked to several anglers that had good success, catching from three to five walleye in the first two hours after daylight. Everything from crank baits to Slow Death rigged worms with a Smile Blade to willow leaf bladed spinners were working. I talked to Austin Moser who was one of those early bird anglers. He released a 28-inch and a 24-inch walleye and still had five in the cooler when I saw him. My brother, Rick, released a 27-inch walleye, which took a fly-like creation of his on a willow leaf blade. I was only able to put one 16-inch walleye in the cooler but I missed a bunch of hits, on a motor oil Smile Blade, on a Slow Death Hook. It was clear that the walleye have already spawned on Moses Lake, so if you get there early you are likely to find some hungry fish. The weather kept me off the water on Lake Chelan on Wednesday, but I plan to get there later this week.

On Thursday I chose to find out what was going on at Potholes Reservoir. The weather forecast looked good and I had a feeling that this would be a better walleye season on the big reservoir. The first thing I learned was that I could have slept in. I tried a couple of spots in Lind Coulee and didn’t mark any fish or get a bite. I fished off Perch Point for a while with the same result. The baits went in again at the top corner before you make the turn into Crab Creek. Zip, nada. There is a nice slot just below the launch that is just a short way up Crab Creek and I still couldn’t find any fish. Running all the way up to the inlet from Moses Lake, a fish finally took my worm and I broke a fish off. Finally, when I left Crab Creek there were several boats in a bunch, so the gear went back in just above them. It was one o’ clock and the cooler was still empty but things can change with walleye, and they did. I got four 21-inch walleye in a row. Two on a motor oil Smile Blade on a Slow Death Hook and two on an emerald green Smile Blade on a Slow Death Hook. It turned out to be a good day! The photo in this week’s column is of the four big ones I got on Potholes.

One of the things that was high on my list to do when we were able to get back out on the water was to get up to Lake Chelan and fish for kokanee. Fishing was pretty good prior to the closure of all recreational fishing in the state. I expected it to be even better as we moved further into the spring, and the fish moved down into the lower basin on Chelan. As I neared the lake from Leavenworth I could see the boats scattered across the water from about Rocky Point down toward Chelan Shores. That’s what I needed to know, and after launching at Mill Bay I pointed the bow of the Kingfisher down lake, and then put out my gear after passing the bottom end of Rocky Point. Sure enough, the fish were there. I put out my favorite Kokabow blade and squid combo, which is the Copper Series Inferno blade and Talon squid. I put two kernels of white shoe peg corn soaked in Graybill’s Guide Formula Craw/Anise scent. This worked for me well this past winter and the fish still liked it. Put your gear down between 70 and 80 feet and you could get a limit of 11 to 13-inch kokanee on Lake Chelan.

I like to fish many of the lakes on the Colville Indian Reservation like Buffalo and Omak lakes. The tribe has announced that reservation waters will be closed to non-tribal members until midnight on May 29th. Also, the boat launch at Seaton’s Grove and the designated fishing access on Rufus Woods are also closed. Anglers will have to wait a bit longer to fish reservation waters and to launch from these access sites.
I had planned to get up to Banks Lake this past week but didn’t make it. I still don’t know how the walleye or bass fishing is on this popular lake. The walleye have spawned on both Moses Lake and Potholes, and most likely have spawned on Banks, too. That would be good news for walleye anglers. I can imagine that the fishing for smallmouth bass is going to be good by the time I get up there. It is usually going full blast by the middle of May, with catches mixed with pre- and post-spawn smallmouth at that time. It can be terrific.

I also want to get to Billy Clapp in the coming week. The trout fishing should be great and I want to give the walleye fishing a try, too. I had great success with rainbow on Billy Clapp earlier this winter, trolling plugs right on the surface. The walleye should be staging at the top end of the reservoir, just below the dam.

Wherever I wind up going fishing, I will be sure to share what I learn and hope to see you out on the water!