I got out on the water a couple of times this week, looking for steelhead at a couple of areas on the upper Columbia River. I had disappointing results, but it was great to shake the rust off after so many years of not being able to cast a bobber and jig for steelhead. I also got a chance to fish for walleye on Potholes Reservoir.

My wife Eileen was very excited when I told her that the upper Columbia River was going to open for fishing for steelhead. Casting bobbers and jigs along the shore at Bridgeport was her favorite of all the kinds of fishing we have done over the years. Even when the winter weather was cold and nasty she would bundle up and be ready to hit the door with the promise of watching her bobber disappear and a steelhead leaping in the air by the boat. Although this area of the river wasn’t open, Friday she still wanted to try for a fish elsewhere. We drove up to Pateros and fished Coyote Rocks and the point across from there. We spent some time below the bridge, where the Methow enters the Columbia and even explored a ways upstream. We only learned of one fish being caught from another boat. There was hardly any current, which always makes “catching” difficult on the Columbia. Eileen didn’t mind not getting a fish, she had a great time just being out on water. I was impressed that, like riding a bike, her casting and mending skills were excellent. Hopefully, when the water cools and more fish move in, the fishing will improve. This week’s photo is of my wife Eileen casting her bobber and jig above the Coyote Rocks below Pateros.

Rollie Schmitten and I have spent many days over the years fishing for steelhead on the upper Columbia, and he was excited about the opportunity to fish the opener on Wednesday. We left my house before sunrise to be on the water early at Wells Dam. We have had some great days here casting bobbers and jigs off the bar and pulling plugs along this same shoreline. There was one other boat at the bottom end of the bar and even a fly angler casting here, too. We got in a few good drifts without a bobber going down and then switched to plugs. We were able to make one long drift, all the way down to below the powerlines. On our second attempt, I couldn’t get the boat to go downstream. The current had stopped dead, and the wind was blowing us upstream. We quit just in time as the wind really picked up. When we pulled the boat, the fish checker reported that the four boats he checked hadn’t landed a single steelhead. Still, it was great to be out after them. We’ll give it a little time and hopefully conditions and fishing will improve.

If you saw or heard my report for last Thursday, you learned that the steelhead fishing was very poor below Wells Dam. The four boats that were checked at the boat launch that morning didn’t get a single fish. Rollie Schmitten and I didn’t get skunked, though. After making several drifts with bobbers and jigs I put out two rods with Mag lips, converted to single barbless hooks. Not long into our drift the outside rod bent over hard. Rollie grabbed the rod and knew he had a big fish on. What flavor we wouldn’t know until it got close to the boat. It came in very reluctantly but without jumping or tearing too much line off the reel. When it got close, I could see the color wasn’t right for a steelhead or salmon. It turned out to be a walleye. We hauled it in and got a quick photo before releasing it. It was Rollie’s biggest walleye ever and measured 25 inches. It was a classic Columbia River fish, a beautiful golden color. So, our day on the water wasn’t entirely fishless. I did hear of a quick limit, but the angler didn’t say where he was. I would guess the Methow.

It was a beautiful day on Potholes Reservoir last Monday. It was also a holiday, and I guess the fish decided to take the day off. Brian Neilson, Lou Larsen and I left the launch at Mar Don Resort and headed out to the fishing grounds that Brian knew intimately. We have both had great success catching walleye in this area, northeast of the State Park. However, we were only able to take one walleye and a small largemouth bass here. We really expected to catch more walleye and a bunch of bluegill, crappie and even catfish while trolling our bottom bouncers and spinners baited with nightcrawlers. It was dead calm, which didn’t help. We tried another area at the top end of Medicare Beach and put one more walleye in the livewell. The highlight of the day was when Lou landed the biggest largemouth bass he had ever caught—in 30 feet of water!

The next day I got a note from Brian, and he fished Potholes on Tuesday with two clients for his guide service. They landed two walleye that were over 20 inches and six “eaters”. Just bad timing on my part, I guess. Maybe the walleye bite is picking up on Potholes after all!

I have been getting some good reports on the trout fishing in our region. The mild fall weather has encouraged many anglers to hit the water. I wanted to remind those anglers that are fans of fishing for trout that the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife Trout Derby continues through the end of October. Here’s where you can still catch tagged trout in the lakes in our region by county. In Chelan, Beehive Reservoir and Wapato Lake have tagged trout. In Grant, tagged trout have been released in Corral, Deep and Vic Meyer. Okanogan County tagged trout are in Conconully, Spectacle and Wanacut lakes. Curlew Lake in Ferry Country has tagged trout. In Spokane County tagged trout were released in Badger, Clear, Fish, Liberty and Williams lakes. There are still prizes to be claimed by anglers who catch and turn in the tags from the fish they catch in these lakes.