Darrell & Dads Family Guide Service - We fish on Lake Chelan and other North Central Washington waters in year round comfort.
You catch them in COMFORT! Bring your family and/or friends out on our 24 foot Bayliner Ciera Express. For your comfort, it features: enclosed cabin; cabin heat; private/inside marine toilet; games and VCR for children; hot and cold running water available seasonally; stove; and a full line of safety gear. Families and couples are welcomed and encouraged to book our service. The boat accommodates a maximum of six.
Large parties are accommodated. We also offer lodging at our home through VacationinChelan.com for visitors to the Manson area.
This day was hard to define by a single number. It was pouring rain. And I mean really pouring! My son-in-law Chris has Mondays and Tuesdays off now, so we haven't gotten to fish much in a while, but being the holiday Monday, we had it scheduled. So low marks for the weather, but high marks for that.
Low marks for the bass. They were there last fall, but the speed boats kept most of them off the lines. This may be early, but we had high hopes for some. Nope! After fishing what we thought would be the most productive 1/3 of the lake without a bite or follow, I figured I'd try trolling for trout.
So far this year, trolling for rainbow trout has been hugely successful, everywhere. In no time I had a 12" and 11", trolling from my ~6 week old Mariner 4, with a 30 lb electric motor. I told Chris that was working, and so he gave it a shot in his 1 person pontoon rig. He didn't have a motor but gets around quite well rowing. 10-15 minutes later I'd caught my limit, keeping 3, and circled back to him. He hadn't had a bite! I handed over a wooly bugger/bead concoction of my own, and told him I'd pace him because I thought he might be rowing too fast. It turned out he was moving more like a 4 on my motor, and within a minute of slowing it down, he got his 1st hit! Since he'd hardly been fishing this year, he kept all 5 of his catches and was done within the next 20- minutes or so. He was a very happy camper!
And then the rain slowed and stopped altogether! None too soon either, because my boat had about 2" of water in the bottom and all I had to bail with was my coffee thermos cup! Slow, but it kept me from gathering 3"-4" of water! We spent another half hour trying for bass in another part of the lake with similar bass luck - none!
Not the best day out on the water, but certainly a memorable one, that I don't regret in the least!
Bob: Initially I stayed out of there because last fall, all I found were lots of small ones. I had concluded that that's where the young grew up, avoiding the adults and fast boats in the deeper main body. But as the day and rain continued, with little sign of larger bass, I thought maybe they had gone in that bay preparing to spawn. So in short, yes I did eventually go there but couldn't find anything. Granted I mainly used Rapalas and they may have wanted something else.
I caught my biggest bass at Haven Lake back in the cove at the far end. There is a photo of that fish and the shoreline with reeds where I caught it. That fish hit a floating Rapala and weighed over 5 pounds. I have also seen several big fish back in the cove that wouldn't bite. Good luck Rick.
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Darrell & Dads Family Guide Service - We fish on Lake Chelan and other North Central Washington waters in year round comfort.
You catch them in COMFORT! Bring your family and/or friends out on our 24 foot Bayliner Ciera Express. For your comfort, it features: enclosed cabin; cabin heat; private/inside marine toilet; games and VCR for children; hot and cold running water available seasonally; stove; and a full line of safety gear. Families and couples are welcomed and encouraged to book our service. The boat accommodates a maximum of six.
Large parties are accommodated. We also offer lodging at our home through VacationinChelan.com for visitors to the Manson area.
