Lake Roosevelt Walleye Fishing

Walleye fisherman are becoming plentiful and the pressures on the water is getting intense. If you don't know what you are doing, then your chances of catching fish drop considerably.  

Each year in early August we pack up and head to Lake Roosevelt for our annual family reunion. We rent two houseboats and spend a week on the Columbia River. For my brother in law and myself it's a full week of fishing.  Lake Roosevelt Walleye Fishing has become a strange fishery lately and it seems to be system wide.  Not sure what the fish are up to, but some suggest that the fish are struggling, but nobody can give me a concrete answer.

Last year we started catching them the first day and didn't stop catching them. However,the number of walleye we caught has dropped considerably.  That is partly our faults because the bass fishing has picked up a great deal and we want to catch them.

A couple of years ago, I taught my brother in law how to fish with tube baits. Since that time, it's hard to get him to switch to anything else.  Using bottom bouncers when we are trolling for walleye is about the only thing that I can get him to change too.  Click the link to learn more about walleye fishing rigs.

Lake Roosevelt Walleye Fishing HotSpots

You know, each year we try to fish a different spot of the river for walleye. Last year we started choosing places that we have never tried and our running bet was: "you can't catch a walleye there!".  Many of the spots we tried didn't pan out but a couple of them worked out real well.

Walleye are movers and the one thing I have found out is they like to sit in deep structures during the day and move up into shallow water at night on Lake Roosevelt.  If you are night fishing enthusiast or want to try night fishing for walleye go read these two webpages:

Night Fishing for Walleye
Night Fishing for Walleye on Lake Roosevelt

Lake Roosevelt Walleye Fishing Map

The first year we fished at Lake Roosevelt we purchased a map of the lake. It was extremely helpful for us to get a feel for the river and where the structure was located.  Several of the hot spots for walleye found on the map turned out to be worthless for us.  Instead we started focusing on inside turns of the river or places where the river would hit a wall and bend around a corner.  Points became our early target and it was great to have the map so we could create a game plan for the next day.

What we look for a lot now is a stretch of beach on either of lake Roosevelt that is at least a quarter mile long.  At night we will troll for walleye but during the day, that stretch of waterfront beach will normally have a drop off and it's that drop off that the walleye hang out on, until the evening hours.  It makes it real easy for the walleye to come up off the bottom of that drop off into shallow water for some easy pickens.

Also the front side of a point (up river side) normally is deeper than the back side.  We've found that walleye don't like the back side of points instead they are more interested in sitting in their favorite holes on the front side.  This allows them to ambush their prey as it swims down river. We've caught 5 times as much on the up river side.  Again, that map was extremely helpful for us and then what really allowed us to catch more Lake Roosevelt Walleye were the tips we learned on Walleye Fishing Secrets.  That darn ebook and video series has helped us double our catch rate of walleye from Lake Roosevelt all the way down to Hood River Oregon.  I've yet to fish below that point because the Steelhead like to hang out at a place called Underwood which is across the river from Hood River.

Lake Roosevelt Walleye Fishing Depth

The first year we fished for walleye we targetted depths of 20-30 ft.  We kind of stuck to that game plan until things started changing the last two years.  Instead we started going deeper and this year we are going to try heading out way past the 50 ft. depth.  My nephew caught a walleye last year at a depth of 97 ft. while jigging a sassy shad.  I've heard back from several walleye veterans that they target 50 ft of water most of the year.  I know that is a great depth if you are fishing below Keller Ferry along the rock walls.

Up north we've mainly fished the 30 ft. depth especially at Hawk Creek.  That is probably one of my most favorite spots simply because we normally see deer in that area while we fish.  I got to watch a buck in velvet for over 30 minutes one day as he tried to hide from us while getting a drink of water.

If you know where Clayton Point is, that area just north of the sand bar was excellent walleye waters until 2004.  Since that time it's worthless.  We try it every year, but seldom do we ever catch more than 3 walleye TOTAL at that spot.  Again the depths we caught walleye at are around 30 ft deep.  If we make it up that far this year, we'll definitely head out into deeper waters.

Straight across from Clayton Point is a great area of sand flats that would be worth a trip for night walleye fishing.  We never venture that far down river at night because our houseboats are about 10 miles up river.

If you have information to share with us on your success catching walleye on Lake Roosevelt, please email us.

Last Word on Lake Roosevelt Walleye Fishing our catch rate of walleye is 10 to 1 in regards to plastics/tubes/crankbaits compared to worms.  Anything that is tipped with a worm absolutely catches more walleye in late July early August. Each year I take 10 dozen worms for the week and many times we end up having to buy more. Heck this relates to all species of fish except Silvers on this lake.

To be very honest with you, we use the tactics we learned from Walleye Fishing Secrets to help us catch lake Roosevelt walleye.  This walleye educational series is a must if you spend a great deal of time on the lakes. It doesn't matter if you are in Candian Walleye Waters or Arkansas or Mississippi every walleye fisherman should be studying this material to increase their catch rates.  It works and there are plenty of people who will tell you the same thing.

Urgently visit: River Walleye Fishing Secrets

Stay in touch and don't be shy about telling us and showing us your pictures of success on the walleye fishing trip you just took.

Keep reeling them in

Bob

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