Well guys, I have been over here since Wednesday night. I have fished Banks two times for walleye or trout. Thursday, all I caught was smallmouth. Today, I caught a nice 15" 'bow, didn't keep it though. Tonight, the neighbor kid landed a 3lb smallmouth off of his dock right at sundown. Nice fish! Hey, what are bass doing in Blue Lake any way?? Must be the work of some midnight biologist. Tomorrow, I might hit Park for some big trout. We will see what happens.

Hey Carl,

Just got home from that lake we
discussed earlier. I only caught
4 trout. 1 @ 4.5 lbs, 2 @ 3.5lbs,
and one @ 2lbs. I post the pics once
I have them developed. If you get a chance,
"HIT THAT SPOT!" These trout look like salmon.

Kennyray

WOW! Very nice. Unfortunately, I won't have an oppurtunity to head that way this weekend. Coming home Sunday early. Oh well, maybe next time.

Carl,

Did ya get a chance to fish Rufus Woods? Sounds
like ya had a great time anyway!!
My pardners took care of Lake Wash. for ya while
you were away, the cutts have been bitting good and getting bigger.

Cigar

Na, I fished Banks hard and even fished Blue. Pretty slow on both for me. I saw Gordon Steinmetz (pro guide at Big Wally's) pick up a nice walleye just as we were passing each other on Banks. This trip was by far the slowest fishing I have experienced in my ten years of fishing this area. It was so damn hot I could barely muster the energy to do any fishing.

Told ya Carl: Blue and Park are shot,will be even worse next year unless F&G gets on the ball
and rehabs em. I used to get 20-30 per day C&R on chironomids in late June, but this year only a couple per all morning. Where those 100,000+ planter trout go on Banks who knows?? They get some fishing walleyes with blade and worm, but they're scattered and few and far between normally.
Shoulda tried flyfishing for Carp on Banks at that shoal just N. of Coulee City where the road nears the lake.
Or else if you come this time of year pay a few extra bucks and fish Omak Lake for the big
Lahontins. Get em trolling spoons or flyfishing the South end shoals. They don't get on the
thermocline and start Plankton feeding like the Rainbows do once the water reaches 65.
I love to get em dragging a muddler on sinking line.
The net pens on Rufus Woods have been slooooow lately, but those that know the lake are getting a few in the shallow bays up nearer Bridgeport and Chief Jo.

I am just writing this year off as a "forget about it" year. I have a couple more trips planned for Labor Day weekend and the weekend before that one to Blue Lake. It is funny F&H News talked about fishing Banks Lake walleye in their latest issue. They said it was great!

On to the salt for some summer salmon!

Hey, despite the hype Stienmetz and F&H news puts out on Banks every year, the walleye
fishing on Banks has NOT been all that great for years now. The best time to still pick up a few nice sized ones is in early spring when the whitefish spawn gets the big ones feeding heavily.
BTW since you hafta go to Blue to visit dad so much you can still get some great fishing nearby if you're willing to change some of those lures to single hook barbless and do
some C&R on Dry Falls. Naw you wouldn't want to try that, those big Dry Falls hogs might
make you wanna convert to a fly fisherman.

I did drive back in there to check out Dry Falls Lake. Doesn't look like there is a whole lot of bank access. I would need to get a smaller boat or a float tube. Maybe later in the summer.

I, too, spent the weekend of the 4th in the Sun Lakes area. Didn't get down to Blue, but I did spend three days on Deep Lake, which is behind Park and Dry Falls further into the canyonlands.

I tried a bottom bouncer with weddingring and worm and caught several tiny carp. Switched to powerbait on the weddingring and caught a tiny trout. I did see a few guys bank fishing with a couple of decent pan-sized trout, though.

The thing about Deep Lake was is was BEAUTIFUL. I mean gorgeous. There were a number of great bank fishing spots, the boat launch was good and the scenery and wildlife were spectacular. I sat in my little Portabote, tapped my way along the bottom, and listened to the birds chirp for hours.

What I want to know is, when can you catch decent fish out of there?