Northwest Fishing Reports

Here is the plan.

Arrive in Chelan wed. night. (possibly fish wed. afternoon on the ice) Mission on Thurs. Spend thurs. night in Chelan. Bring all my ice gear and fish Fri. Leave fri. night, gotta work sat. afternoon.. SO... any lakes near chelan with good ice?? (or any along the Hwy 2 corridor from the west) Anyone going out in the area Fri. that wants to hit the ice? I got plenty-o-gear, maybe some to spare. Even a portable if needed. What about a 12'er on Chelan? (possibly in the back of the truck)

Any advice/input....

RWR, I was on lake Chelan this past Sunday. Sure you could put a 12' boat on the lake if that is what you mean. Of course wind permitting. It wasn't windy for us at all. I wish that I new the surrounding area well enough to describe a few things to you.... but there was an area up lake from the Manson launch ( maybe 2-3 miles) and then the opposite side. Our guide said it was the best spot in the lake to just jig straight out from shore. The area of the shoreline had no houses on it, just hillside.

More importanly I was going to say that you might check out Rose lake in Manson. I have no idea if it is frozen. Don't know how big it is. Maybe a phone call to some local business might tell you that. The guide said the lake had 25 lb channel cats in it. The lake index shows some very nice crappie pics. etc. I will be back to this one for sure when it warms up.
Sorry I can't say anything about ice though.
If you had the time you really should check out Omak lake. Some really nice fish in there.

I am pretty sure Fish lake is iced over!

I am also going to recomend the lakes mentioned. Fish lake is one of the better lakes in that area, no matter what time of year you decide to fish.

Up around the Manson area there are some decent ice fishing lakes. Roses seems to be the most popular for ice fishing. But there is 3 other lakes in the area. Wapato is seasonal, but then you have Dry lake and Antilon lake. Last time I was there I couldnt find any access to Dry and antilon was covered with unfishable ice.

Thanks for the suggestions Quad, BM, GPC and BIG D. . I have never been to the area, and am REALLY itching to get on the ice. I would however, bring the 12' boat if need be, but that is just more hassel ( although Chelan is tempting....even got a setup to mount the downriggers on her... ). I know Fish is good, I just wasn't sure of the ice conditions this early....I'll just give a call. Rat looks nice....Roses may be an option.

Thanks again for the info, packing my gear up as we speak. I'll post a report when I get back......

Rollin with Rolland wrote:Thanks for the suggestions Quad, BM, GPC and BIG D. . I have never been to the area, and am REALLY itching to get on the ice. I would however, bring the 12' boat if need be, but that is just more hassel ( although Chelan is tempting....even got a setup to mount the downriggers on her... ). I know Fish is good, I just wasn't sure of the ice conditions this early....I'll just give a call. Rat looks nice....Roses may be an option.

Thanks again for the info, packing my gear up as we speak. I'll post a report when I get back......

I was over in the potholes last week and the entire reservoir was iced over. At lseast as far as the eye could see from the Mar Don dock. My buddys pond by George was completely iced over as well. My guess the lakes up around Manson will be iced over. I also heard fish lake had fishable ice and is supposed to be a banner winter this year. Check out darrellanddads.com. It might change your mind as far as bringing your boat. They are killing the macks on Chelan right now