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.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS! man it is great to be back home and be able to get some real good fishing in.
SHORT VERSION: after a slow start (forgot a part on the motor, ended up using electric trolling motor to fish and commute) i found the fish. missed the first due to a poor knot on my hook) then hooked two more right away, got them in the boat. shortly thereafter i caught a real nice kokanee, released him then picked up a third. fish took a break, then found a fourth. i then caught the worlds smallest kokanee, and proceeded to catch my fifth and limit out. 20-30 feet on the rigger.
LONG VERSION:
Well NWFR, i can't express how nice it is to be home. Los Angeles is a hard city to go to college in when you wish you were always outdoors hunting, fishing, or hiking. But, it makes coming home on break all the more exciting.
I planned to hit the lake at first light, but due to a paper i stayed up writing the previous night, i slept straight through the alarm and ended waking up at 8:45. Since my start was already later than planned, i took the time to eat some breakfast and relax before heading to the launch. I had the boat in the water at 10:00 but was having some serious motor troubles. it took me some serious time to figure out i forgot the ripcord (like a dead man's switch, so if i fall out of the boat my motor quits and my boat does not zoom away. so, i got it to stay open by holding the plug with some pliers. the pliers kept slipping and the motor kept quitting. i finally became fed up with it and decided to just troll my way to my desired grounds.
lines in the water around 10:30, however, i was in waters way too deep to hold the cutts. i planned on fishing the center of the lake close to the eastern shore, but with my motor issue i decided to try a closer spot. upon arrival, i saw lots of activity on the surface and was shocked to find the soar marking so many fish. i was feeling good.
i hooked into my first fish around 11:45, but it got off along with my hook. i tied an extremely poor knot i guess and the fish pulled it right off. i quickly tied on another lure and trolled right through the same spot. i was 22 feet down on the rigger. sure enough, fish on. after a good long fight i brought the fish to the boat and it was a beautiful cutthroat, just shy of 20" and fairly chunky too. i handled the fish and sent my line back down, and went through the same area to see if any more fish were looking for some lunch. not more than 4 minutes later, another nice hit at the same spot. another nice cutt in the box. at this point i was pretty dang excited. i took a few minutes to celebrate my success and enjoy the beautiful lake i was fishing on with a granola bar.
i dropped down again and fished the same trolling pattern, same spot fish on! it was a really nice kokanee. released unharmed. dropped lines back in, trolled the same area, caught another nice cutt. these fish were hitting every time i ran through that area. it was incredible!
while i was dealing with that fish, i drifted a little off course. but after looking at the screen, i decided to stay. i was also joined by another boat who started following my trolling pattern (i love that), and he started catching fish right away as well. i trolled around for 30 minutes longer and was just about to pack it in when WHAM, my rod got smashed. a fish flew out of the water right behind the boat and it was fish on. another great cutthroat. at this point, i was one away from a limit and i had to stay. i decided to make one last pass, i caught the worlds smallest kokanee on the drop which was hilarious... i put the line back down and sure enough i got myself a delicious and healthy rainbow trout for the dinner table. thats a limit. i will be back tomorrow for more!
it was truly a fantastic day on the water and i could not have asked for a better day of fishing for my first outing in six months.
all fishing today was done 20-30 feet down on the rigger and between 1.5-1.7 miles per hour. the bait of choice was a watermelon dick nite dodger and a red wedding ring. worked like a charm.
i processed the fish and ended up with 10 beautiful filets of beautiful red meat. 3 of the 5 were females, so there were lots of eggs. i believe in only keeping what you will eat/use, so i don't leave hardly anything behind. my neighbor is using the roe and carcasses to make a hungarian fish soup that is absolutely unbeatable (recipe to come) . i encourage you to try eating as much as possible. (fish-head soup is wonderful as well... best parts are the eye and brain)
i am thinking about learning to brine eggs for future adventures. anyone know a good brine?
lastly, a helpful tip: in the month of december, lake Sammamish has a hatch of bugs on the lake surface called midges. there a millions of these guys all over the water during the month (my boat was covered in them by the end of the day) and that is what the fish are feeding on. similarly, the birds snack on these guys tooo. So, to find the fish, simply follow the birds! its nearly foolproof. these bugs are awesome because it keeps the fish on the surface, meaning you can have a great day of fishing just by flatlining or fly trolling.
thank you for reading and partaking in the joy i had today. i will be back out tomorrow and many more times this month in search of some huge cutties and other delicious fish. i was thinking of starting vlog my adventures and maybe make a short video on fishing on the lakes i frequent. would that be something of interest to you? also, if you want to get in the boat with me and hopefully catch some fish, drop me a message and lets see if we can do it. i am always looking for fishing buddies. (I've got hot coffee!).
as always, tight lines and i hope to see you on the water.
(p.s. mom and grace the wonder-dog will be joining me on some adventures soon (i hope) so keep a lookout for more posts)
Nice catch! We were out a week ago right before it snowed. Found the fish on the east side15-20 feet down up around the corner in about 60-80 fow.. Shasta Tackle Assasin in green/chartreuse behind a sling blade. Found we had to run the lines way back, 75-100 feet since the fish were so shallow and a little boat shy. Thank god for full canopies and heaters because it was cold and a little breezy!!! Didn't hook any Kokanee but sure did catch some nice cutties in the 15-18 inch range.
Previous post should have said Rocky Mountain Tackle Assassin not Shasta Tackle. Sorry about that.
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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.
