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Here's the quick story: Stayed at State Park, fished three days, didn't get into the fish until the third day with 11. Go to the Yacht Club! The third day gets a 3, the others were 1's.
Came here two years ago and it was lights out. Three of us went to Chelan in hopes of finding Kokanee this time around, but we wouldn't really have much luck the first two days. This trip was my first time trying to stack lines on the down rigger. I had almost no problems with this until the last day. Friday, got on the water at about 6:00 and tried looking for other boats. My previous trip we tried in front of Lakeside area (not sure of names on the lake). We get all our lines out and within 15 minutes, first fish. Thought it was going to be a good bite- but it was just a lucky start. We continued to fish for 2 1/2 hours with only a couple more drive by's.
We went back out Saturday with the idea that there might be more fish at the 'Lakeside' area. This was a very deceiving spot and gave us more issues later. We hit three fish fast, with one being a 16". Thinking that we had found a school, we continued to work the area with no success. We stayed a little longer than we should of but we finally thought that maybe they are moving up the lake. I had heard that they move more north as the water levels come up and water temp gets warmer. We go right in front of the state park and we hit another fish but it took an hour and a half to find it with nothing else after.
Saturday about noon, went to Manson to get some grub. Had my Spuds Mackenzie dog with me and two bars said we couldn't sit outside with him and be served. We went to Tony's Pizza on a corner of Manson and got the HOOK UP. We sat in front with a shade cover and great service. The owner was welcoming and even brought some cold water out for the dog. Make sure if you're in the area to get his "Pizza Fries" appetizer and his "Pulled Pork Pizza." BBQ pork, smoked cheddar cheese, cabbage, red bell peppers, onions, with a BBQ sauce and an awesome crust- flat out made us forget about the slow fishing.
After talking with Tony, he said "try the yacht club." Two pitchers of Rainer and a whiskey later, we were on our way. The fishing started slow at the yacht club. In fact, I don't think we were in the right spot at the time. However, I talked to a gentleman on another boat and he said he'd 'fished all day with five fish,' but he just caught them in the afternoon. We made about two passes and my deckhand was asleep from probably his double-short whiskey nightcap. I was OK with this because me and the other skipper reeled in two fish on his line without waking him up. Nothing for a bit after that and I was feeling sleepy as well. We didn't go back out for the rest of the evening. (I've heard of night fishing for kokanee in other lakes, does that happen here?)
Sunday morning, I made the mistake of going back to the "Lakeside" spot. I saw five boats in a tight circle and we made a group choice to head down. We gave it a little over an hour and said screw it. Went back to the marked spot by the Yacht Club. Started trolling against the wind and saw a couple other boats. A long time passes without seeing a fish in the net and we spot finally the first one caught for the day by another boat across the lake. We immediately turn port and head right to where they caught it. Bam- fish. Turn around and go over that same spot- fish. Turn around and go over it AGAIN- fish. FINALLY, we found a legitimate school. We make another pass and TRIPLE. Another pass, double! One fish tangled all three rods that were stacked together but we got out of that mess and hooked more! This reminded me of two years ago.
However about noon, the bite stopped and we were a four hour drive away from home so we started to clean fish. I will tell everyone exactly where this school was at, in hopes that someone does the same before I head up there again:
Below the Yacht Club, on the western shores. There is a scarlet red roof cabin with a matching water slide into the lake. We hit the fish right in front of this place, in about 100-110 foot of water, running north to south and back. We had three lines stacked on ones side at depths of 69, 49, 29 and the other side was stacked at depths of 65 and 45. I didn't buy any Mac's lures, just tied up two #4 hooks with a white/pink corky and a pink hoochie. I cut the skirt down to about 3/4 inch in length and cut the head almost down to the eyeball, with pearl/pink beads with a smile blade in front. I also put some extra walleye stickers on the backside of the cowbells for some extra flash (this pole did well). We also ran the large, chrome smile blade flashers and 00 dodgers. Dippin' sauce was also a must with every corn filled lure. Will I come back? Not until next year went I see more 4's and 5's on the reports.
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