The weather was clear but chilly for the opening day of trout fishing in my area. Wind hampered some efforts, but I saw plenty of people enjoying the fishing and things look good for continued great trout action on the lakes in the region for weeks to come. I made my annual trip to check on a couple of popular destinations on the opening of the lowland lakes trout season. When I stopped at the boat launch on Blue Lake it was empty of trucks and trailers. The wind was blowing hard and no one had launched yet that morning. I could see some people fishing along the highway on the opposite shore. I drove on up to Park Lake, where the wind wasn’t blowing as hard and there were several parties fishing from the docks. As I walked out I saw an angler hook a fish and as I watched him net it, he mentioned that he had seen me last year. His name was Jay Wehmeyer, and his family was making their 63rd annual visit to Park Lake for the opening day weekend. We measured the trout on his stringer, and they were 12 ½ to 13 ½ inches long. I would expect the trout caught in Blue Lake would be of a similar size. Park Lake was planted with over 34,000 rainbow in October of 2024, and Blue Lake with over 53,000 the same year. There should be plenty of fat rainbow in both of these lakes.
Monday the 20th was a very special day for me. I was able to travel to Cascade Locks, Oregon, and fish with Shane Magnuson for spring salmon on Drano Lake for the first time in many years. I first fished here with Shane back in 2009 and did so each spring for several years. It was also great to have his uncle Skip on board, who I have fished with in the past. Along with us were two anglers from Vancouver, Washington, Anita and Buddy Hindberg. We shoved off at about 6 a.m. and joined the “train” of boats that were trolling in a line at the south end of the lake, that is actually a slough off of the Columbia River. Drano is famous for the traffic jam at the tight turn by the bridge. Shane navigates through all this with perfect calm. The first fish to the boat was landed by Antia, and not long after Skip wrestled a nice springer to the net. Shane ventured further up the lake, out of the crowd, and Buddy got his fish. Spring salmon are highly prized for their fight and table quality. The video I did of our day at Drano can be viewed on the Dave Graybill YouTube channel.
I was thrilled to have a second day on Drano. We were joined by Buzz Ramsey. As I boarded the boat I suppose it was no surprise that Shane and Buzz were talking shop, and the challenges of developing new products. Both of these guys are real innovators and have introduced new products for fishing that have been very successful, but not without crossing many hurdles. Buzz mentioned all the different tests that he performed to find the right action for a particular lure. In the video I did with him, he talked about the “skip beat action” that he wants to see from a lure. This kind of darting action is what causes fish to react and strike. Buzz is not only known for his ability to design lures and rods, but for his knowledge of a variety of fisheries and is an advocate for policy changes and initiatives to improve sport fishing and its regulations. Throughout the day he and Shane discussed the advantages of new materials and technologies for the development and manufacture of new lures. Oh, and while all this was going on Buzz managed to land two beautiful spring Chinook! I want to thank Shane for the experience and his wife Diana for the great breakfast sandwiches and steak dinner! This week’s photo is of Buzz, me, and Shane’s lab Jo-Jo.
When I had completed the Drano Lake fishing video I got Shane to share some important tips on spring salmon fishing that would be available only to subscribers to the FishingMagician.com Facebook page. That has now been posted. Along with this most recent video for subscribers are two others. One is with Austin Moser on early season walleye fishing, and the other is with Nate Stully about pre-spawn walleye fishing on Banks Lake. The second day of fishing with Shane on Drano Lake we were joined by Buzz Ramsey. Once again, after we did the fishing video Buzz agreed to do a feature especially for my subscribers. This will be posted soon. If you want to view these special videos and the others I will be adding to the list, be sure to subscribe. Shane gave me some of his new “Juju Gel” scent, and I will be doing a random drawing for new subscribers to win a bottle. Just be sure to send me an email with your mailing address when you subscribe so if you are a winner I will send the product off to you right away! My buddy Dennis Beich invited me to give Banks Lake a try last Friday, and I was quick to agree to go. Dennis and I have had some good days on Banks Lake fishing for walleye, and this was probably the earliest we have made a trip here. We headed straight for Barker Flats and started trolling spinners on bottom bouncers. We started at 20 feet and worked our way into deeper water. We trolled all the way across the flats, well past the Barker ramp and only got one bite. We marked a bunch of fish on the north end of the flats so headed back there. Sure enough, the screen showed lots of fish from 25 to 30 feet, but all we got was a smallmouth. We fished a couple of other spots before packing it in. I will blame the poor bite to cold water, only 46 degrees, and that the walleye are going into spawn mode. We will be at Banks again when conditions improve. We both love fishing for walleye there.
