Fishing Magician Report - April 15

The golden triangle, which is made up of Lake Roosevelt, Banks Lake and Rufus Woods Reservoir, continues to keep anglers busy.

Lake Roosevelt remains one of the hottest spots in the state for rainbow trout fishing. There are times, when Roosevelt is dropping, that even the fishing from shore can be fantastic. Anglers can expect rainbow from 12 to over 20 inches to take their Power Bait cast from the shore at Spring Canyon.

Trolling for trout is excellent, too. Banks Lake is producing good catches of big trout and whitefish from the dikes at Coulee City Marina, but the perch just haven't shown up in good numbers yet.

Water temperatures on Banks remain chilly, at 42 to 44 degrees. There are some walleye anglers having success trolling the line from Barker Flats to Steamboat, and I hear that a whopper weighing 13 pounds, 8 ounces was taken here recently.

Anglers are finding walleye at 30 to 60 feet deep and smallmouth are being taken deep, too. The best depth seems to be 20 to 26 feet.

There are anglers taking some good-sized triploids on Rufus Woods when the current cooperates. Fish to 8 pounds and larger can be taken from the shore on by drifting jigs on the bars across from the net pens.