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The word is getting out that kokanee fishing on Lake Chelan is a year round affair. Recent reports have been showing some nice catches. I hooked up with Jeff Witkowski of Darrell and Dad’s Family Guide Service to see what the action is like. Jeff took me and his friend Pepe of Blueberry Hills Restaurant for a day of kokanee action.

Because Jeff wants to promote this fishery for Darrell and Dad's Guide Service I’m with-holding some of the specific details, mainly the locations he is finding the fish.

We started at 8am and fished until 3:30pm, a full day trip. The weather was very tolerable, mid 30s in the AM to low 40s at the end of the day. I hit it perfect as we had calm waters, but fog did descend on Lake Chelan and I never got to see the snowy hilltops this day.

We ran four rods, two on downriggers and two as “outriggers”, off either side of the boat. The outriggers ran medium sized Mack Double D dodgers, and the downrigger rods ran the small Double D dodgers. All rods ran Mack mini hoochies with smile blades, orange or pink being the preferred color. Scented corn rounded out our gear.

The downriggers we used to go deep. We marked and caught kokanee all the way down to 225 feet deep. Most of our fish came at 65-100 feet deep. The outrigger rods we used 5 oz of weight to get down, and the medium Double D dodgers pushed them away from the boat even with the extra weight. These rods were running around 60-70 feet deep.

Our action started immediately and held up pretty well throughout the morning, and slowing down in the afternoon, however, Jeff told me they have been having success throughout the day and mid-morning to the afternoon has been good. It was nice to not have to get up quite so early! I would say all rods generally did well, I didn’t notice a huge difference between the downrigger rods and the outrigger rods. The fish are looking great, averaging 12-15” for us. Nothing smaller than 12”, and most were 14” with a couple 15s. I’ll take that mix any day!

We ended up with 17 fish, and lost 9. Jeff says he has been having some 20 fish days, so it’s been good. We had a bit of prospecting to do to get these fish, but when we found them they were cooperative. If you want to book a trip Jeff has openings and a warm boat (canvas and a heater). So give him a call (509-687-0709) and get in on some winter koks! They have a special running through Feb 15th, $290 for 6 hrs, 2 adults and 2 kids.

http://www.darrellanddads.com/kokaneespecial.pdf

hewesfisher

1/28/2015 6:42:00 AM

This fishery is tempting me, but commitments and the 3hr road trip are keeping me closer to home. Awesome day for you and I see you did some "painting" too. ;-)

N E 1 FISSION

1/28/2015 10:31:00 AM

Sounds & looks great, but yes, quite the commitment,..maybe one of these days,...

GoingtoFish

1/28/2015 4:40:00 PM

I've been out with Jeff on 3 different trips and have not be disappointed. He always puts us on the fish.
There are lots of places to stay. I think Darnell's lake resort is right there in Chelan and is only about 10 minutes from the launch at Mill Bay.

kenbarb

1/29/2015 2:53:00 PM

Mike, That is a beautiful bunch of Kokanee's, sounds like they are scattered at different levels. How do you think the fishing would be at 25 Mile, did your guide say anything about fishing up lake? I was just getting ready to submit a report from our fishing yesterday when I saw your report, sure makes me want to head for Chelan.

Mike Carey

1/29/2015 7:17:00 PM

I think if you're willing to run up to 25 Mile you'll be fishing over fish that see no pressure. We didn't run that far, not saying where or "if" we ran anywhere, sworn to secrecy. Of course, harder to hide location in the soon to be released video.
Chelan is so nice, and you'll have the lake almost to yourself.

kenbarb

1/30/2015 10:28:00 AM

I was thinking of camping at 25 Mile State Park, we have parked there quite a few times when boating up to Stehekin in the fall. We camp at a park directly across the lake from Stehekin, the Kokanee fishing is really good there, with quick limits. Really looking forward to the video you made, hope you used the Reel camera, after reading your comments on the camera we are about ready to get one. We have been doing videos with a couple of Canons's, but the Reel camera would be so much better.

Mike Carey

1/30/2015 12:50:00 PM

You've fish kokanee up at Stehekin? That's one "the rest of the story" I want to hear!

The REEL cameras are nice, but we do still use canon camcorders. Those underwater sport cameras are best for specialized shots, and camcorders for interviews and close ups. Taking footage with both opens up a whole new world of video editing possibilities.

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