By Dave Webb, July, 2026
My goal was to catch a few nice rainbows. I was fishing from a canoe, so not equipped to fish deep, and I hoped to find some fat bows up near the Indian Creek inlet, Renegade area. It was a good plan, and it probably would have worked, but big, pesky cutthroats keep beating them to my lure. I caught many nice cutts and only one rainbow.
People I've talked to say they caught rainbows fishing Powerbait near the bottom in water about 20 feet deep. Anchor up, float bait up off the bottom, and wait for the fish to bite.
I'm not a Powebait guy. I prefer a more active approach. I trolled and cast, working just above the weeds, and caught cutts.
With summer temperatures warming the water, fish will now be moving into cooler areas, and that generally means deep water. Inlet streams bring in cool water, and those areas can fish well, particularly early and late in the day. During the day, the best action will come from fishing deep.
I arrived about 5 pm and fished until just after sunset. I do have a graph on the canoe, and it showed scattered pods of fish all through the water column.
Lately, I've had fun making lures and using them to catch fish. I bent a piece of brass into an S-shape and attached a hook. It was my most productive lure this trip.
On some summer evenings, fish come to the surface and eat bugs, rippling the water in Renegade Bay. I wanted to go after some of those fish using fly patterns, but did not see the ripples this time. It has been breezy and maybe that kept the fish down. I cast and trolled woolly buggers and other patterns for a time, but did not connect with any fish.
It was a fun trip, even though I did not find my targeted rainbows.