Fished Banks lake yesterday for 8 hours and what with the heat and the drive back, this morning I feel fried.

Fished for walleyes for about 6 hours and it was hard to even scrape up a bite. Ended up with a couple of short strikes and that was it for walleye.

We ended up at Banks because the water was too low to launch at Roosevelt.

Finally after beating the water to a froth after the walleyes we switched to smallmouths in the shore rocks. Now that was fun.

We were getting hits on 1/8th oz jigs and 3 inch grubs in a couple of different colors. Didn't think color was important, just getting it next to a fish. Finally decided that the fish were shallow enough and I dug out a surface popper.

Those fish sure didn't like that in shallow water and I got a bunch of short strikes. Landed two on the popper and eventually went back to the jigs.

My partner was enjoying watching the surface action so much that as soon as I put the popper down he put it on his line.

One of the fish I had come after the lure seemed to jump over the popper and never touch it. I struck anyways because of that action and the popper ended up most of the way back to the boat.

I'm headed up over 4th of July and think I may skip the walleyes and fish the bass.

Biggest one was 15 inches. Most were in the 10-11 inch range.

Air temps about 94. Water temps about 70.

BILL: trout fishing in banks has changed, too, from earlier in the year. about 10 days ago i tried for them in the usual spots where i have caught them earlier, and picked up only one. it was slower than the CEO of the procrastinators club!

surface temp then was also around 70, which surprised me. where did the trout go? deeper? another part of the lake? or are they fished out? that one trout had nothing detectable in it's stomach.

the couple of smallies i managed to con into biting were both in that "no-keep slot" of 12 to 17 inches, so i still don't know what smallmouth bass tastes like. i hated to release one of them because of where it was hooked; it swallowed almost entirely a 5-inch long "senko" so the hook was way down (along with that big plastic worm). next time i plan to try circle hooks because i have read that they almost always catch in the corner of the mouth and almost never down in the gullet. circle hooks won't "fit" as neatly in a plastic worm, but if they make releasing simple and blood-free i'll go along with them. or, other alternatives are to use a spinnerbait or a plug as you described.

i can't help but wonder how many 12 to 17 inch bass in washington state die in the depths after having been released.

john

John,

We were spotting bunches of suspended fish that could have been either trout or lake whitefish. Didn't try for them as we were into flogging the lake for walleye.

For bass you might try either a 1/8 or 1/4 oz jig head with a 3-4 inch grub on it. Swim that through the water. Since it's moving faster most of the bass will be hung in the lip. We didn't have a single one hooked deep in the mouth. One tip (and this comes from my fly fishing), punch the barb mostly down and it's real easy to unhook the fish. Don't punch it all the way down like a needle. Leave a tiny little bump there and the hook will stay in.

I just ordered a assortment of jigs and 3 inch single tails and 4 inch twin tail grubs for over 4th of July.

If you would like me to show you how to swim jigs I'll be staying at Steamboat State Park on July 4th thru the 6th in the first loop for campers. Not sure what my camp site number is, but I have that info at home.

If'n you're past me in ability, you can show me how to fish for bass.

We also got some on surface lures and I'll be bringing along a fair amount of those.

BILL: my bass fishing knowledge and ability is so minimal that you could put it in your eye and it wouldn't even blur your vision.

will be dropping something in your hotmail inbox shortly.

john

John,

Email to you from my working alter ego.

Remember, my new motto is:

Have Worm, Will Travel.

A hired gun for fish.