Lake Chelan Report From 7/10/2016
LAKE CHELAN AREA FISHING REPORT FOR 7/10/16
What continues hot is trolling for Lake Trout on Chelan early in the morning on the Bar with the best chance of the year for big fish. Also continuing hot is trolling the face of Manson Bay for numbers of Lake Chelan Lakers.
On the Bar, look for depths from 120 to 170 feet deep.
Evenings are best in Manson Bay in depths of 120 feet near Wapato Point and up to 270 feet deep in the center of the bay. As always, fish within 3 to 5 feet of the bottom and keep your speed around 1.2 mph. The Mack’s Lure Bead and Blade combo our guide, Jeff Witkowski has developed has been very productive. He uses a bead combo to give the rig about a 4” long profile. Similar in profile, the Needlefish squid rig by Silver Horde / Goldstar has also worked. Bait these rigs with a chunk of Northern Pikeminnow. The T4 Purple Glow Flatfish seems to be the “go to” lure for bigger fish on the Bar.
Your fishing tip of the week is to rethink how you fight fish on Lake Chelan. Remember, the only way these fish will get away is if they tear or shake the hooks out of themselves. They are trapped in open water with no structure to get into and they are not a fast swimming / hard fighting fish. The trick is to do everything in moderation. The rod tip should be at a moderate rod angle. Don’t point it at the fish, but don’t raise it to a high angle to increase the leverage the fish gets when it twists and turns or shakes it’s head. The retrieval speed should be moderate. Not glacially slow, but not fast. When the fish isn’t doing anything, go a bit faster to keep moderate tension. When the fish is twisting or shaking, slow down to reduce the leverage the fish has. Keep your drag moderately light. A good average is netting 3 of every 4 hooked fish. If you are getting less than half, review what you are doing.
The kid’s tip of the week is to suck it up and let the kid make mistakes. Guide them and instruct them, but you doing it / explaining it over and over again without them getting their hands dirty will not teach the skill or hook them on the experience. They have to try and make mistakes to become that fishing partner you want. While you’re at it, be gentle with the criticism…
Your safety tip of the week is to really keep your head on a swivel now that we are in the heart of our busy summer season. There are lots of inexperienced boaters out there traveling at various rates of speed. Remember to get your head around and look before altering your course. Also, with hot weather coming, I can’t say enough about keeping hydrated!
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