Lake Roosevelt levels continue to drop; boat launching limited

It took a little patience, but Lake Roosevelt gave up two limits of five plump, red-meated rainbow trout to my fishing buddy Jim Kujala and me on a damp but pleasant Monday.

We used a boat to access several shore fishing area and plunked worms and marshmallows. We averaged an hour per fish kept. We each caught and released one wild rainbow. New rules put in place this year require trout with unclipped adipose fins to be released.

The reservoir level was at 1,233 feet and still dropping on Wednesday. That means the only boat ramps that are still fully reaching the water were Hunters Camp reaching to 1,230, Keller Ferry (1,229), Seven Bays (1,227) and Spring Canyon (1,222).

The level of the lake is expected to continue dropping through the month of April. With the water supply forecast at 120 percent at The Dalles, the Bureau of Reclamation says Lake Roosevelt has been drafting aggressively to meet the end of April flood control elevation of 1,222.7 feet.

At that point, as the water levels start coming up again, Spring Canyon will temporarily be the only ramp on Lake Roosevelt to fully reach the water.

At 1,232 feet the Inchelium Ferry is expected to go out of service, probably by today, and will most likely remain out of service for five or six weeks.

The Bureau of Reclamation updates Lake Roosevelt level forecasts by 3 p.m. each day. Call (800) 824-4916 for the updated 24-hour forecast.