10-24 REELLIFE digital - Flipbook - Page 20
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mike
Looking out over the field,
darkness still obscured our
vision. Out there beyond
the field we set up in
we could hear the rapid
gurgling, gobbling sound
made by male turkeys in
their tree roosts. Daylight
would be coming soon,
but meanwhile, I couldn’t
get the image from The
Blair Witch Project out of
my head. I subconsciously
swiped at my nose,
suppressing a cough,
desperate to not make a
sound. Daylight would be
coming soon and I didn’t
want to be “the new guy”
blowing our cover and
scaring away our target.
It was my first ever turkey
hunt. Joining me, were
Dave Mason of Toyota and
Dan Gabriel of The General
Store. Our host, Rick
Wakefield, owner of Buck
Canyon Lodge, had invited
us on this Opening Day of
turkey hunting to check
out the fine hunting he
offers guests on his lodge
properties. It was part of a
“Cast and Blast” adventure
Northwest Fishing Reports
were enjoying. The “cast”
part of the trip were upper
Lake Roosevelt walleyes
with Lake Roosevelt
Charters.
I had arrived late Friday
evening after driving across
the state from Redmond
to the lodge, located near
the town of Gifford. In
normal conditions it would
have been a not-too-bad
five-hour drive, however, a
traffic accident going over
the pass had set me back
a good hour and a half. I
arrived tired but excited for
what the weekend had in
store. Meeting up with the
NWFR crew Aaron Borg
and Rob Holman, I crashed
into my comfortable
fleece-covered bed in
anticipation of a leisurely
6:30 start time with guides
Scott and Todd of Lake
Roosevelt Charters. I was
excited because of reports
they had been posted
about deep water jigging
for walleye. The pictures
of healthy catches of nicesized eating walleye had
my hopes up for bringing
home plenty of one of the
Pacific Northwest’s tastiest
fish, the walleye.
We met at the Hunters boat
launch, which was high and
dry, but still useable, if a
little muddy. No matter, in
short order we were off and
cruising to a few preferred
locations that Scott and
Todd had been having
success at.
I don’t know that Lake
Roosevelt Charters were
the first to deep jig for
walleye, but I can say they
were the first charter I’d
ever seen promoting the
fishery. I remember being
instantly intrigued – jigging
up walleye from 121-50 foot
depths was so foreign to
