The rainbows love these little half inch diameter clams and we're scooping them up in just a couple feet of water right next to the shore. Troy maneuvered the boat so that the starboard planer was actually tapping the shoreline, placing the bait right where the clams were being consumed.
This picture says it all for one of the lake’s classic rainbow.
I began fishing in Washington in 1956. The techniques, tackle and equipment used to catch the various species available have improved over the years while the numbers of fish have declined. My angling career began in a homemade eight-foot plywood pram on American Lake near Tacoma, Washington fishing for rainbows and silvers. Both species were tasty, but the silvers (kokanee) were much better flavored and oilier than the hatchery trout. Over the years a lot of money was spent on tackle, boats, and vehicles to pursue salmon and steelhead. I love to eat both, but the taste and texture of those kokanee are pretty hard to beat.
As opportunities to catch other species have declined, the kokanee numbers have held firm even to the point that they have overpopulated some lakes. When this occurs, their size is not maintained at an optimum level necessitating increasing the bag limits to as high as 25 per day. Oregon’s Odell Lake has that increased limit and the fish there are fat running 12 to 13 inches most years. That number of fish can equal a Chinook in kokanee fillets and no harvest card is needed with a probability that the limit will be attained most days.
A video on YouTube showed very large kokanee being taken on Roosevelt Lake located above Grand Coulee Dam along with equally oversized rainbow trout out of the same lake as well as extremely large triploid ‘bows. A little research pointed me to Blacky’s Guide Service as a good place to begin my Washington adventure. This trip took place during the height of Covid and very little was available in the way of accommodation or restaurants near the lake. I finally found a VRBO about 37 miles from the Spring Canyon launch where our team hooked up with Troy Black.
On a lake this remote and of this size a boat appropriate for the setting is a good thing to have for both comfort and safety.
Our trip was in March and that can be chilly in eastern Washington, but the boat was completely enclosed with a very well attended heater. We three clients were each licensed with two rod permits and could use all the rod spaces available which was seven. In my own boat I never use more than four rods while trolling but Troy’s boat was equipped with side planers that facilitated two tow lines extending out from each side of the boat. This allows baits to be presented to the fish that have exited the area beneath the boat and to each side. The boards extend from the boat about fifty feet and place the four offerings well behind the boat allowing the fish to settle down and become interested in the lures. These boards take up a lot of room and would not be appreciated on most even moderate sized lakes, but “Roosey” is over a hundred and thirty miles long and has plenty of room for the planer board system. With the boat moving slowly forward, the boards are placed in the water and allowed to plane out from the boat. They are controlled by poles, each with a reel and pully at the top. When the desired board location is attained, slider line releases are deployed on the tow lines away from the boat.
The release slider is placed on the board’s control line and allowed to go nearly out to the board. A second release slider is placed on the board’s line and goes halfway to the planer. This keeps it clear of the other lines off the downriggers and separated from the furthest bait on the planer board. When a hit releases the line closest to the planer board the half distance line is let out to the board. When that hit is landed it is rebaited and the slider let out halfway to the board. The released slider is left on the line until the end of the day and then all of them are retrieved off the boated board. Should it be necessary to add some weight to the planer lines, a small removable clip is added to that line. About fifty feet of line is let out, the weight is clipped on and another fifty feet let out, then the line is attached to the slider clip. It sounds like a lot of folderal, but the system is very effective especially for the very spooky kokes. A huge volume of water is being covered by multiple lines that can be varied in their depths and distance from the boat.
Steve Satterlee with the fish before filleting.
Here’s an example of why a guide is very valuable when exploring new waters with or without new techniques being involved: On our most recent trip with Troy in early April, the water behind the dam was being dropped almost three feet per day. Kokes are prone to going off the bite when any variability in their environment is encountered. As I learned when fishing Lake Merwin in Washington, the water going up and down will give the critters a huge case of lockjaw. The big prize at Roosevelt is the large kokanee. Our guide likes to get the koke limit filled first then go after the less finicky rainbows. Unless the water is too rough, the sideplaners will always go out first thing. The downrigger rods were assigned to koke catching as we could see them feasting in about 28 feet of water on clouds of shrimp. We could also see fish rising right next to the shore.
Troy knew what these fish were on and it was clams—yes—clams! With the water dropping the clams that inhabit the gravel and sands along the steep shorelines were running out of water. They have a small foot that allows them to dig in the sand. They were working their way to the sand’s surface, then moving downward on the bank toward deeper water. The rainbows love these little half inch diameter clams and were scooping them up in just a couple feet of water right next to the shore. Troy maneuvered the boat so that the starboard planer was actually tapping the shoreline, placing the bait right where the clams were being consumed.
That morning we had our limits before nine o’clock using this trick. The deeper downrigger rods were taking their toll on kokanee which were regurgitating the shrimp as soon as they hit the deck. This is a great example why the local knowledge of the guide is so important.
This is the mast and reel for the sideplaner system. The tow lines must be kept out of the water to work properly.
All of the lines used by our guide were suitable for kokanee and rainbow. Variables such as wind, clouds, changing water levels, water and air temperature and lake currents make employing local knowledge a necessity until the tricks of the trade are learned over time. As with most kokanee, they liked dyed and scented corn and small pink and white lures close behind a flasher. They do not seem to be leader shy, and the leaders may be extremely short. It is the short, heavy leader that imparts the action derived from the flasher to the lure that is thought to cause the fish to strike. Nothing new there.
On initial visits knowing the depths to fish and the location of the fish adjacent to the basalt structures within the lake plus the effects of the currents in the lake under various conditions make local knowledge quite valuable. In a Master’s Thesis delivered in 2014, Tyler D. Parsons described the tagging and tracking of 23 wild kokanee released into the lake to do their thing. The tags and distributed tracking devices showed the depths, reservoir use patterns, reservoir dynamics, temperatures and feeding as well as spawning migration patterns of these tagged fish. Of greatest interest to anglers would be that the fish mostly remained in the lower third of the impoundment. The spring vertical migration pattern for about 2/3 of the fish revealed they were at the surface in the early morning and early evening feeding. Otherwise, they were at a depth between fifty and a hundred feet. In May the fish switched to a summer pattern residing near the surface and feeding then diving to about 150’ in the darkness as the reservoir began to fill with runoff. When the agricultural drawdown began later in the season the fish tended to move down lake following their food base which was mostly zooplankton. During the period approaching the spawn, no particular spawning areas were identified. Seven of the tagged fish were last observed in the forebay of the dam and then not seen again. One hearty soul migrated up lake 200 miles until encountering another dam with no fish ladder. This fish traveled approximately seven miles a day.
Big, healthy Roosey ‘bow.
When pursuing kokanee in the early morning, lure and flasher offerings incorporating greens, blues, and chartreuse work best in the low light. With more sunlight penetration into the water, pink, orange and red are the colors that seem most attractive to them. Since their tastes change throughout the day it is best to continue switching colors, speed of troll, depth, bait and scent to make an attempt to stay on the bite. Possessing a second rod permit doubles the chances of making this happen. The fish are not leader shy! Behind a flasher a heavier leader helps transmit the action of the attractor to the lure and a short leader helps with this as well. Kokes are heavily scent and color oriented. Adding colorant to a corn or maggot bait will improve the chances of success. With those really big eyes, the addition of an ultra-violet base may also improve the odds of a bite taking place. Kokanee are notorious for having a very soft mouth and are easily lost on the retrieve but especially right at the boat. Too exuberant of a hookset can end the fun before it begins. A slow but steady retrieve to the boat with the rod kept low to the water will dramatically improve the hook to land ratio.
Why do these fish want corn, especially the shoepeg variety? I’m pretty sure we are not matching the hatch. My best guess is that corn provides a vehicle for scent, color, and action as well as a target to attack. Another popular bait is both maggots and maggot imitations. These seem to work well when only lightly attached to the hook and with multiple baits. Most koke lures will have multiple hooks which allows for more bait to be added. These fish are true bait stealers, and my favorite attractors will have three hooks wherever legal. By far and away the best hooks are the “drop-shot” variety in either black or red and in sizes two and four even for the much larger wild kokanee on Roosevelt. The wider gap on this style of hook provides better hookups without adding weight to the lure which tends to deaden the action. I and many others have held that the Dropshot style far surpassed an Octopus style hook. As for that third hook… spacing that hook two finger widths below the middle hook does an amazingly good job of getting those fighters in the boat even allowing them to be lifted in rather than netted. Not so much with the 24-inch Roosevelt wilds, however. Those are just a lotta fish to even get to the net successfully!
The rainbow and kokanee cut almost equally well due to their zooplankton diet.
Roosevelt has three types of rainbow trout, one of which the Colville tribe hold sacred, and which must be returned when landed. These are the beautiful redbands which are spectacular just to behold. The triploid ‘bows” are the big boys which are net pen raised and released by the tribe with some being commercially sold and a portion released for angler’s enjoyment and consumption. The lake also has a new Chinook population being stocked by the tribe which will increase angler enjoyment in years to come. When I read how the tribal members feel about Chinook, I can respect why they want them to be returned where they have not been seen since their grandparents’ time on the Sanpoil River. With a body of water the size of Roosevelt, it is almost like an inland sea that should be able to support these fish without an ocean being involved. I look forward to their success in this effort!
Should you decide to visit the area please contact Grant County Tourism Commission for their free Grant County, Coulee Corridor Vacation and Travel Planner. It is one of the best free brochures I have ever seen produced. Use this link to access the magazine. www.nwweekendgetaways.com/pdf/GC-2023.pdf
To view a copy of the Top 35 Fishing Waters in Grant County Washington, Use this link: https://tourgrantcounty.com/userfiles/2020_GrantCo_FishingLakes_ V2.pdf
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