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JoAnn and I got to fish Chelan for a long Easter weekend, our first fishing/camping trip of the year. New for us this year is the addition of our dog, Diesel. Diesel is a “puggle” that JoAnn got at the rescue shelter this winter. At around 30 pounds we figured he would fit in our Seaswirl cuddy cabin and be a new fishing companion for us. So this trip was a trial run.

We arrived in Chelan Saturday afternoon and fished for a few hours with sunny skies and calm waters. Such a relief to get away from Puget Sound rain! We fished the Monument area with the usual four rods off downriggers. What’s new this year at Chelan is the kokanee are running much deeper. I was prepared and worked the meter marks on my depth finder from 60 to 150 feet deep. I could have gone deeper in some cases. The first day we caught three fish for three hours efforts, and lost one. I’ll have a summery at the end of the report the exact depths so you can get a sense of how deep these fish are.

As to bait, all rigs had corn. One side of the boat I ran mealworms, and the other I ran shrimp pieces marinated in various scents. Last year shrimp did better, this year it was the mealworms. Trolling speeds ranged 1.1 to 1.4 mph.
The next morning was the true test. Wake up at 6am, get Diesel out of the boat, walk him for 10-15 minutes, and launch the boat. All seemed to go pretty well. Diesel did great Saturday in the boat after some initial anxiety.

Sunday he acted like he had been in a boat all his life. I was curious if the fishing would interest him. Mostly, sleeping in the cuddy interested him! As to the Sunday fishing, again, another nice day on the water, and the bite was a bit better, but not outstanding. We caught seven and lost two. Biggest fish were three 14” fish, the others were 11-12”. Not exactly the monster kokanee I have been used to catching the past couple years. We again started at Monument and fished there until 11:30am and then took a half hour break to walk Diesel at the state park. For those of you interested, they are adding a bunch of water front camping spots and about a dozen moorage docks. I’m not sure when these will open, but they do look close. They should be highly prized reservation sites. After lunch I ran use up lake to the Yacht Club area. We marked fish but had no luck getting them to bite. We then ran down lake to Rocky Point. Again, I marked a couple promising clusters of fish, but could not get them to bite.

Monday morning the rain started coming down as we hit the Monument area and dropped our gear. And it kept coming, until 11am when I had had enough. The wind picked up and I’ll be honest, I was cold! If we had been catching fish to keep warm I would have kept us fishing, but it was dead slow. We only managed two fish, although the second one was a beautiful 17” kokanee. We only had two bites all morning, and from others they reported the same slow results.

So we ended the trip with 12 fish, not bad, not great. But it matters not (much). Our Chelan trips are now adventures in their own right, and catching fish is only part of it. And with Diesel our trips have taken on a new dimension. First time I’ve ever had a dog, and I’m really enjoying it. Dogs are great companions.

We’ll be back to Chelan the weekend of May 2nd for the Lake Chelan Get Together. I hope to see lot’s of you there. Don’t forget to RSVP on our Forum thread, and if you have no boat check out our list of half price guides. We have some great deals with some outstanding guides that will get you on the fish. You’ll be able to fish kokanee, lakers, trout, or bass depending on who and what you want to target.

See you May 2nd!

Saturday:
1pm – 105 ft deep, orange hoochie, mealworm, 14”. 1:50pm – lost a fish at 110 ft. 1:53 – 110 ft, orange hoochie, mealworm, 14”. 4pm – 80 ft pink hoochie, shrimp, 12”.

Sunday:
8:10 – 115 ft, mealworm 14”. 9am – 145 ft, pink hoochie, mealworm, 14”. 9:40 – 120 ft, pink hoochie, snrimp, 14”. 10:30 – 115 ft, orange smile blade, mealworm, lost. 11:00 – 70 ft, kakeda orange/green fly, shrimp, 11”. 11:20 – 115 ft, pink hoochie and mealworm, 12”. 11:20 – 145 ft, pink hoochie and mealworm, 11.5”. 11:30 – 150 ft, pink hoochie and mealworm, 11”. 1:50 – 150 ft, pink hoochie and mealworm, lost.

Monday:
8:13 – 130 ft, pink hoochie and mealworm, 11”. 8:40 – 65 ft, purple/pink hoochie and shrimp, 17”.

motley

4/7/2015 12:52:00 AM

Great report! My wife and I have a pug and they are great dogs! I'll be over there on April 9th-11th staying at a hotel on the south end. I'm not very familiar with the lake and was wondering where monument area is from the south end? Thanks for the tips and it's hard to beat a Koke!!

Toni

4/7/2015 5:27:00 AM

Nice report. I am glad Diesel adapted to fishing.

atroutfisherman

4/7/2015 5:42:00 AM

Very detailed report and interesting pictures. Can hardly wait to get out in new boat and make reports! Just curious Mike, do you bleed those fish. In the cooler?

ncwflounderer

4/7/2015 9:05:00 AM

Great report as always! My dog makes a great fishing partner, but always wears a life jacket because she sometimes goes in. I am going to try again this weekend, then it probably won't be until May 2 that I get up there again, lets hope for good weather.

Mike Carey

4/7/2015 9:14:00 AM

The Monument area is directly across from Wapato Point. There is a rather large private dock that sits below the rocky hillside behind it. The road runs right along. It's about 1/2 mile south of the state park.
When I catch a fish I string him up on a metal clip stringer, cut the gill and let him bleed in our motor well which has water slushing around. It's a great system.
I doubt this dog will ever go in. He has showed zero interest in going in water. When we go for walks he walks around puddles. :-)

salmonbarry

4/7/2015 7:57:00 PM

Great report and we have a puggle that looks a lot like yours but probably double it's weight! I showed him the picture of what he should look like and he is embarrassed now! Same here on both our dogs and water- they hate it! See you in a few weeks!

Mike Carey

4/8/2015 12:43:00 PM

Ha ha, that's funny salmonbarry. Will your dog be joining us in Chelan? I'm walking more than ever now so that's another side benefit. Sleeping in the cuddy with a farty dog, not so much.

salmonbarry

4/8/2015 5:02:00 PM

No he is too spoiled and needs to be home with the other dog to keep my wife company over the weekend but he has the same gassy issue... and loves to be covered with blankets when resting! I'll show you some photos in Chelan- will crack you up!

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