Craig Smith
Member
Wayne and Wordlings-
We launched our 20' Lund at the primitive ramp at Hite with ease on Monday the 2nd and headed down lake in search of stripers. Monday and Tuesday produced a few stripers and Small mouth trolling Shad Raps and Wally Divers in 13' - 20' and one nice walleye (in the mouth of Four Mile Canyon). Best productivity trolling was around the islands between Castle Butte and The Horn. After waking up to a boil in our little camp cove in Farley and boating 8 or 9 fish (5 from shore) the remainder of Wednesday morning was slow so we returned to the ramp to restock beverages and to get a bit more fuel at the Hite Outpost (more on the outpost in a following post). While shuttling ice from the mother cooler in the truck to the boat (about noon) we could hear a commotion about 1/2 mile across the river at the mouth of North Wash (with my hearing aids left at home this was quite a commotion if I could hear it!). After motoring around the tumbleweed covered sand bars in mid-river we found stripers boiling across the entire river channel about 100 yards upstream of the mouth of North Wash. Over the next half hour we fished this continuous boil following it for over a mile upstream- boating our first significant number of fish. After the boil subsided we headed down lake and hunted fish from Striper City down to Castle Butte with minimal success.
In the heat of the afternoon we had to follow our family tradition of Belly Flopping to break the monotony of scanning the horizon for boils while sweating!
When in doubt Belly Flop it out!
Thursday morning was likewise calm from Farley down to Red Canyon so we headed back to North Wash in hopes of a repeat of a river boil and some sight seeing up river to Mille Crag Bend. The stripers didn't repeat their noon boil so we hung out in the shade of the cliffs at the mouth of North Wash to avoid the afternoon heat. As all of North Wash came under late afternoon shade small boils started to rise on the east side of North Wash "bay". After chasing them for about an hour and having boated another bucket of fish we retired to a rock bar for fresh fish tacos and our final night on the lake. After breaking camp Friday morning we floated around North Wash and at the end of our boat breakfast- boils started to erupt on the sun - shade line as the sun hit the water on the west shore of North Wash. They ended after we boated about 12 fish. We spent the remainder of the morning cruising the upper lake and explored the Red Canyon - Blue Notch area before taking out a bit after noon. Again the primitive boat ramp at Hite was managed with ease.
In summary- fishing over this unseasonably hot week was slow with the exception of those moments when we were in the right place at the right time and we happened to come across the odd boil. Our total harvest was around 60 stripers and of this number most were fat and healthy though 2 were so weak that they did not yield edible fillets. Of note we observed hundreds of dead or dying mature Threadfin Shad floating or flopping dispersed across the upper lake from Good Hope to Hite. Attempted to use chunks of one of these in place of anchovies with no success.
Thanks for maintaining such a wonderful fishery!
Craig
Friday morning
We launched our 20' Lund at the primitive ramp at Hite with ease on Monday the 2nd and headed down lake in search of stripers. Monday and Tuesday produced a few stripers and Small mouth trolling Shad Raps and Wally Divers in 13' - 20' and one nice walleye (in the mouth of Four Mile Canyon). Best productivity trolling was around the islands between Castle Butte and The Horn. After waking up to a boil in our little camp cove in Farley and boating 8 or 9 fish (5 from shore) the remainder of Wednesday morning was slow so we returned to the ramp to restock beverages and to get a bit more fuel at the Hite Outpost (more on the outpost in a following post). While shuttling ice from the mother cooler in the truck to the boat (about noon) we could hear a commotion about 1/2 mile across the river at the mouth of North Wash (with my hearing aids left at home this was quite a commotion if I could hear it!). After motoring around the tumbleweed covered sand bars in mid-river we found stripers boiling across the entire river channel about 100 yards upstream of the mouth of North Wash. Over the next half hour we fished this continuous boil following it for over a mile upstream- boating our first significant number of fish. After the boil subsided we headed down lake and hunted fish from Striper City down to Castle Butte with minimal success.
In the heat of the afternoon we had to follow our family tradition of Belly Flopping to break the monotony of scanning the horizon for boils while sweating!
When in doubt Belly Flop it out!
Thursday morning was likewise calm from Farley down to Red Canyon so we headed back to North Wash in hopes of a repeat of a river boil and some sight seeing up river to Mille Crag Bend. The stripers didn't repeat their noon boil so we hung out in the shade of the cliffs at the mouth of North Wash to avoid the afternoon heat. As all of North Wash came under late afternoon shade small boils started to rise on the east side of North Wash "bay". After chasing them for about an hour and having boated another bucket of fish we retired to a rock bar for fresh fish tacos and our final night on the lake. After breaking camp Friday morning we floated around North Wash and at the end of our boat breakfast- boils started to erupt on the sun - shade line as the sun hit the water on the west shore of North Wash. They ended after we boated about 12 fish. We spent the remainder of the morning cruising the upper lake and explored the Red Canyon - Blue Notch area before taking out a bit after noon. Again the primitive boat ramp at Hite was managed with ease.
In summary- fishing over this unseasonably hot week was slow with the exception of those moments when we were in the right place at the right time and we happened to come across the odd boil. Our total harvest was around 60 stripers and of this number most were fat and healthy though 2 were so weak that they did not yield edible fillets. Of note we observed hundreds of dead or dying mature Threadfin Shad floating or flopping dispersed across the upper lake from Good Hope to Hite. Attempted to use chunks of one of these in place of anchovies with no success.
Thanks for maintaining such a wonderful fishery!
Craig
Friday morning
