Lake Chelan Reports From Anton Jones

On Chelan fishing has been somewhat inconsistent with a pretty decent number of fish one day and a struggle the next. The area above the Yacht Club and in the indeterminate flat below Wapato Point are our primary locations, but the majority of the fish are being caught below the Point. Worden Lures Flatfish, Silver Horde’s Kingfisher Lite spoons, Mack’s Lures Cha Cha Squidders as well as Silver Horde’s Ace Hi Flies baited with a piece of Northern Pikeminnow were the lures that worked. Speeds of 1.2 to 1.7mph down within 5 feet of the bottom triggered the bite. Rufus Woods is eking out a few fish for still fishing anglers, but it can be very tough. I would recommend Pautzke’s Fire Bait in American Wildfire for this work. Roses Lake has water on top of the ice as well as many fissures so I would not recommend getting out on it. Your fishing tip of the week is to remember the location and presentation equals success formula that the In Fisherman folks came up with decades ago. When it comes right down to it, the only things you can change after a period of time not getting bites are your location and presentation. If you are seeing fish on your sonar and not getting bit usually it means that you need to change your presentation, not your location. If you don’t see fish on your sonar usually you need to change location. Although luck does play a part in fishing, usually logic and the elimination of variables can make you successful. The kid’s tip of the week is to remember the rule of thumb for attention span. Although there is tremendous variation between kids, the average is one minute of instruction for each year of age before a fun break. So if you’re teaching a 6 year old how to cast, have them practice for 6 minutes then take a break for 3 or 4 minutes to play a silly game or eat a treat. Trying to do long blocks of continuous instruction with young children can get frustrating if you don’t keep that in mind. The safety tip of the week is to make sure that your fish cleaning knife is sharp. My old Scoutmaster used to say that a dull knife was more dangerous than a sharp one because you have to push so hard to make it cut. You tend to lose control of the blade when you push hard.