Lake Chelan

[Scrminbanshee]

So i have been planing a trip to lake rosevelt as you might have seen some of my posts. Looks like it just got canceled. I herd a report that said chelan was starting to turn out some huge Kokes im talking 17+ already. So im scrapping my plans for rosevelt and im headong over to chelan this weekend. Never fished for macs either but im gonna give it a shot. Any advice I have never fished it and this is kinda late to plan a trip when i will be leaving friday morning or thursday evening?
Heres a pic of those monster kokes. Would love to catch a few.

 

[Scrminbanshee]

Could someone point me in the direction of where the hump, rocky point, yacht club, and the trench is located at? Feel free to pm me.

 

[Scrminbanshee]

Well i got up at 2 yesterday morning i drove for 4 hours to get to chelan. 1st off man what a pretty lake! I still cat get over the water, its so clear and its just perfect. I loved the scenery its just beautiful! So on to the fishing. well its every bit as good as i hoped it would be; i got there a little late should have launched about 30 mins earlier. I started off trolling in front of rocky point and nothing for about 30mins, but one guy was getting some so i trolled through where he picked up and i found the school!!!!! Talk about a double header of a life time 2 kokes and the smaller one was in the 16in range and the bigger in the 17in range! and so fat. I then kept trolling through the school and picking up one here and one there. Wound up with 4 by ten and then the bit turned off. Well it didnt so much turn off as all my gear kept getting tangled. Time to invest in that other down rigger I've been looking at, i know i could have had a couple more but every time i stacked for a while they tangled. As soon as i turned to one rod i got anther hook up and lost it at the boat. By this point is was about 230 and decided to run down to the yacht club. Got down there marked it on the gps and decided to call it a day. Back at the truck and on the road home by 340. Probably the single best day fishing since last year. Now i cant wait for that tax return so i can pick up another rigger. If you have any doubts about the when to go to chelan its now! Already planning my next trip and i cant wait!

 

[Kokanee-Toni]

Nice report. How deep were they?

 

[eenakoK]

Well that sold me.. I will be making the drive soon.. Thanks for the report and Pics!

 

[Scrminbanshee]

Nice report. How deep were they?

I started the day at 65 and 25 i went through the first school and had the double header then slowly moved on down and followed them. I will say that without the new depthfinder, i dont know if i would have had a shot. I would also add that the water temp was mid fortys im gonna go back in a couple weeks and hopefully the temp will come up some and the bnite will be better... like it was bad yesterday. Anyways one more pic and the caption reads does life get any better.

 

[Torres]

I started the day at 65 and 25 i went through the first school and had the double header then slowly moved on down and followed them. I will say that without the new depthfinder, i dont know if i would have had a shot. I would also add that the water temp was mid fortys im gonna go back in a couple weeks and hopefully the temp will come up some and the bnite will be better... like it was bad yesterday. Anyways one more pic and the caption reads does life get any better.
View attachment 6023

Nicely done!
Those carryovers are only going to get much bigger as the season progresses.
The lake is definitely going to be popular this summer!

 

[Scrminbanshee]

Nicely done!
Those carryovers are only going to get much bigger as the season progresses.
The lake is definitely going to be popular this summer!

I remember reading somewhere that they can grow almost 2 inches a month in the right months. I wonder if we could be looking at a koke that is pushing the 24inches by august? I hate to say it but i also wonder if we could have a new state record out of there. I cant wait to go back!

 

[SuperD]

I've gone with 2" in a season, not a month.

 

[kokanee_slayer]

Awesome work and thanks for the report!!!

 

[calamari]

I've taken the boat to Stehekin at the North end during the summer. Your boat looks to be exciting in the waves we saw when the wind came up. Big Horn sheep came to a lick on the shore and we pulled right up to them. VERY pretty lake!

 

[Scrminbanshee]

I've taken the boat to Stehekin at the North end during the summer. Your boat looks to be exciting in the waves we saw when the wind came up. Big Horn sheep came to a lick on the shore and we pulled right up to them. VERY pretty lake!

This sounds awesome. How crowded was the lake in the summer and what is at stehekin?

 

[Scrminbanshee]

So im planning a few different camping trips back over there. 1st of which will be in may just an overnight for fishing on saturday. Anybody got any places where you can camp that has a launch or a dock?

 

[SilverBullets]

Great report and pictures!! If your interested in some good trout fishing i'm not sure if this is still do-able but years ago i did a trip into a fly-in lake up towards Stehekin called Domke Lake. We took off from the town of Chelan by float plane with loaded back packs. Once up there we rented a row boat from a old hermit trapper that lived up there in a log cabin (has since passed away.) On the last day we hiked out to the shore of Chelan and got picked up by the Lady of the Lake Ferry for a ride back to town (if i remember correctly it was around a 50 mile boat ride.)

http://www.chelanseaplanes.com/

http://www.pbase.com/mad_monte1/image/75293134

 

[calamari]

This sounds awesome. How crowded was the lake in the summer and what is at stehekin?

There were two boats that went to Stehekin. One was basically a big party boat that had been converted to a large cabin and seats and the other was a catamaran. The party boat took hours to get to Stehekin ( it's over 50 miles from the dock at Chelan) while the cat did it in about half as much time. The slow boat would stop and pick up and drop off campers and hikers on the shore so camping must be allowed.
Jet skiers would come out from shore as soon as we left the dock to jump the wake the slow boat put up. It reminded me of the "smokers" in the movie,"Water World." I don't know how many came out, 50-60-more? They'd blast over the wake and then would drop off as the boat got too far for comfort from where they stayed and new ones would take their place. It all made for quite a mess from a fishing standpoint until the boat made the turn more to the North and left the houses, maybe 5-8 miles from Chelan.
North of there and there was nobody because you were too far from anyplace. I saw a couple of boats fishing just beyond that last point for the jet skis but nothing North of there.
Stehekin is a small community that has tourist shops and a road with a few vehicles. How they got there I don't know, maybe by boat. It's a place to get some simple foods, googaws, nick knacks and not much else. I don't know if there is gas to buy or even ice for that matter unless you can buy it from the tiny store that was there.

 

[Scrminbanshee]

Thanks for info calamari! looks like my trip next weekend is going to be postponed until i can get a little bit of work done on the boat. But am currently planing a trip at the end of may for a few days and hopefully bring home a cooler full of kokes and macs. Still trying to figure out where to camp. Would like to have a camping spot with showers, electric and a dock with launch? Anyways anybody with any advice?

 

[calamari]

Scrminbanshee, go to Google Earth and you can get some good views of docks and such by clicking on the the little photo icons. There are houses on the West side a greater distance North of what's on the East side. There is a state park at 25 Mile creek too that looks to have docks. You may have to rent a house to have a dock to yourself. Call a local realtor or motel to get phone numbers for sources of information.

 

[washingtonlakes]

My wife and I just returned from a two day trip. 30 fish caught, 3-4 lost. They ranged 13-18", most were 16-17".

View attachment 6085

 

[Winterun]

Mike,I don't want to hijack this thread. But I just read your report over on WL. Thanks for sharing the info by the way, as I would have gotten after them with my westside gear also, small dodgers and short leaders glad to here of your success in doing so. But I had a question......did you and the missus camp while you were there or did you stay in a hotel or cabin??? I think I already know the answer to this question given I'll be taking my wife on my trip over, I think you know what I mean! Any recommendations for inexpensive lodging???
Thanks,
Joe

 

[mrmike]

Excellent report read your info/nicely done