LBC Early March

[nwsoftball]

The mild winter and the new fish elevator have the lake in a much later cycle or so it seems. Not a lot to report, but fish can be found and caught if you put the time in. I've stayed in the Metolius arm and haven't found any consistent kokanee action. I caught one kokanee on a jig and it was small. Not quite Suttle Lake 2009 small, but pretty close.

The best bull trout action was found long lining along the shoreline on the north side of the island. After drowning herring and an apex for most of the day Friday, we switched to bright silver and green kwikfish and got 5 fish pretty much right after another including a double. Nothing very big, but small is better than none. I talked to guys in camp that were doing very well casting plugs along the shoreline. We did that for a while, but didn't have the dedication to just keep doing it until it worked.

Some pictures to share....

Sunrise on Lake Billy Chinook






Bald Eagles on the roost


Tucker


Boomer




A bull trout


Sleepy Boy


Really Sleepy...


A crazy guy in the snow....

[FallRiverGuy]

Gotta love having the kicker out side while the picture taker is cozy inside. I have been try to think of a caption for the last picture. Maybe: are we having fun yet?

[Halibutt]

Nice photography

[The Pew]

Thanks for the report. I get the fish elevator holding the temp down. Do you have a theory on the mild winter? My thought is it would lead to an earlier start.

[fish-on-bend]

Beautiful photos Russ. Theres something wrong with spending serious $ on a boat and still sitting out in the rain. .........me too.

[Hunter56787]

At least he closes to the rod when the fish bite... I hope Mother Nature gets all that "R" stuff out of her system before the weekend after next...

[nwsoftball]

Originally Posted by The Pew

Thanks for the report. I get the fish elevator holding the temp down. Do you have a theory on the mild winter? My thought is it would lead to an earlier start.

I guess I should have said that it's different. Definitely not the "normal" year so far. It's still fun to be out there. It'd be nice to catch some big fish for all the tackle I've given to the bottom of the lake over the last couple of weekends though.

[hersheyk1]

Those hound dogs love to be out fishing I think sometimes its better to take them they don't complain, they don't always have to potty, and they are always glad to eat the last part of your sandwich. dang it I didn't mean it that way dear. KK

[moknots]

[QUOTE=fish-on-bend;3050832]Beautiful photos Russ. /QUOTE]

Ditto! Thanks Russ. Almost like I was there, except I was warm.

[5-Cents]

Beautiful sunrise pics! Your sleeping dog pics are great too!

[Doc_Rhen]

Very nice. We were out Sunday and threw a veritable smorgasbord at them. We had 2 long lines out the sides with big kwikfish on them for bulls but they didn't get bit. Then we ran 4 flatlines with 1-2 oz of weight. One with a dodger and 3 with gang trolls. Dodger line was a pink with a pink hootchie, the gang trolls had weddingrings on them in green glow, green and red and straight red. Then the downriggers were set 1 with a purple 5" slingblade and pink apex, the other with a green slingblade and kokonut. All had shoepeg infused with kokanee special. We started out on a hot bite, It took about 30 minutes before all the lines were in the water because we caught around 5 fish in the process and lost several more. Early it was green wedding rings getting bit most often followed by the pink apex when we finally got it in the water. The riggers were set to 40'. The green kokonut was the slowest producer early so I changed it out for a uv dodger and purple and clear hootchie which started getting bit right away. After an hour it seemed to slow a bit and we hit several schools of kokes with few bites. Then about noon it picked back up again as we were getting ready to take off but nearly all late bites were on red and pink. We left around 12:30 with 25 kokes in the boat running 10-12".

[Herring Problem]

You have to appreicate man's best friend.

They cerainly know where and when to catch a few zzzzz's. While best friend freezes out in the elements.

Good Pics.

[chukardave1]

Great report Doc. I am picking up the boat from it's spring tuneup this week. If a weather window opens I hope to get out and maybe find some fish. Sounds like you had a great day for March.