Northwest Fishing Reports

Me and the wife are spending 7 days on Lake Chelan in July. The resort we will be staying at said there are SMB in the lake. I know that it is primarily a TROUT lake and I don't recall seeing any reports about Bass in the lake reports. Can someone out in the membership confirm or contradict the presence of Bass in the lake. Any info would be appreciated. :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce:
THX WAYNE

Yes there are bass, Smallmouth and Largemouth. My 'old' neighbor caught a 5 lb bass, called me on the phone a couple years ago to tell me. I told him some things about bass fishing and took him fishing a couple times before he moved. He said it was a largemouth. He moved about 4 years ago, and lives at the north end someplace now.

chelan has some giant smallmouth in it. They hold an annual Open tournament there, and there are numerous other club tournaments held there as well. I don't know if any members of the Chelan Bass Club are on this site, but if so I'm sure they can chime in on more specifics. Have a great trip!
Dave

There are record size smallies in Lake Chelan. My biggest out of there was 5lbs. I had one come unbuttoned at the boat that was easily pushing 7lbs. I know first hand of several 7lb+ smallies coming out of their. The lake can fish tough during the summer. Don't be afraid to fish deep. When I say deep, I am talking starting at 40' and going deeper. You can see bottom in probably 35' or so. This could easily be the clearest lake in the state. I like to drag a lizard on the edge of deep weed beds. A dropshot is also a must here. Go small and natural and you should put fish in the boat. In the evening and mornings, topwater will be hot. Good luck and have fun there.

I've texas rigged some smoke with gold glitter gitzits and have done very well! Most of the bass I have heard are below 25 mile creek. I have never caught any further up. In and around campbells is good when the boat traffic is slow. On the north shore just down lake from mill bay is also good. On the south shore I have done good in about 30 ft of water all along the highway and out in front of Lakeside park.

This is my most favorite lake in the state for fishing for smallies. July is one of the best times to fish top water baits in the mornings.

In fact two July's ago I stuck 5 fish in a 30 minute time frame that went over 25 lbs. My best haul to date for 5 fish especially smallies.

Russ

Uhhh, there no smallmouth bass in this lake. No one should ever try to catch smallies here. The two 5lb smallies in my Avatar picture were not caught at Chelan ,and that is just a figment of your imagination if I happen to be standing at the Mill Bay Launch at Chelan.
Dude, this lake absolutely ROCKS the GIANT smallies. I have also seen a few largies in the lake, but it predominantly a smallie lake. For largemouth, there are a couple of smaller lakes above, Wapato and Roses that have HUGE largemouth.

Mark

My dad is a Fish Biologist at Chelan County PUD. And as far as they know... there are not any largemouth in there.... but yes there are a TON of smallies in there, rumor is the next state record will be caught out of there..... but yes Wapato and Roses are horrible bass fisheries for largemouth....

Jordan wrote:My dad is a Fish Biologist at Chelan County PUD. And as far as they know... there are not any largemouth in there.... but yes there are a TON of smallies in there, rumor is the next state record will be caught out of there..... but yes Wapato and Roses are horrible bass fisheries for largemouth....

My theory on the Largemouth is someone has recently transplanted from Wapato / Roses into Chelan, it might also be possible for the largemouth fry to make it into Chelan from those two lakes via irrigation from those two lakes up above. Either way, we had a club tourney there a few years ago and about 20 of us seen a couple largemouth right at mill bay launch cruising right under the docks.

mark

My GF pulled an 8 inch LMB out of the river, about 50 feet north of the bridge above the dam, That little park in town.

i fish the lake every year at least once. i like to throw a deep or medium diving crank bait in either a rainbow trout or perch pattern are my go to lures for the lake. i normally get a limit of small mouth every time. ive never tried plastics there mainly because i don't have the patience for it, i have seen some big bass pulled out of the lake with people using plastics. about 5 years ago my dad caught a 7 pound large mouth out of the lake. the hardest part about the lake is just trying to find them.but they are there.

marktfd88 wrote:

Jordan wrote:My dad is a Fish Biologist at Chelan County PUD. And as far as they know... there are not any largemouth in there.... but yes there are a TON of smallies in there, rumor is the next state record will be caught out of there..... but yes Wapato and Roses are horrible bass fisheries for largemouth....

My theory on the Largemouth is someone has recently transplanted from Wapato / Roses into Chelan, it might also be possible for the largemouth fry to make it into Chelan from those two lakes via irrigation from those two lakes up above. Either way, we had a club tourney there a few years ago and about 20 of us seen a couple largemouth right at mill bay launch cruising right under the docks.

mark

interesting..... that is not good that they are in there..... I am surprised they can even survive with how cold it is and there are not any weeds for them except right at Wapato point... and I would think the Smallies will out compete them..... and eat all the little guys....

Just wanted to thank all of the members who responded.