Washington Guide Services - Welcome to Washington Guide Services. At WGS we strive to make your fishing experience a memory that will last a lifetime. We fish Trophy kokanee, Salmon, Walleye, Trout and others species in various locations such as Lake Chelan, Lake Roosevelt, Upper Columbia River, Banks Lake just to name a few. WGS takes pride in our services and customers. We look forward to fishing with you!
Report on my trip on Sunday July 1st with comments on other days...
After limiting on kokanee, I thought I'd give lakers a quick try... didn't really have the right cooler or ice for it, so it was just an after thought on the way in...
Mack Bar is between Rocky Pt where I was kokanee fishing and Wapato Pt where we were staying, so I tried there... tried my "Spot and Drop" jigging technique on the first likely suspect with no immediate bite... kept jigging for a minute or two after the fish left my depth sounder, then saw another fish up off the bottom maybe 10 feet. I wasn't using my line counter reel, so I cranked up 5 cranks and started jigging. On the second jig, I got a big hit. The fish immediately went to the bottom, then ran out. For probably 10 minutes I wasn't getting much line back. Each time I slowly raised the pole, the fish would take line back as I dropped and cranked, and sometimes some more. It felt like a pretty big fish, so I took it real slow. It took at least 5 runs back to the bottom from 90 on up to 50 feet from the surface. I could see my progress on the fish finder, then watch the fish sound. Finally I could see color, but couldn't really tell how big. I didn't have my big net ready! Shoot! Fortunately the fish's swim bladder was pretty inflated, so it wasn't diving much anymore... rod in the holder, quickly extend the net handle... pick up the pole and guide the brute into the waiting net... It weighed 20 # 9 oz after I bled it out, so I'm saying 22-23 pounds... after kokanee and this, I probably should have bought Lotto tickets!
Tried again for kokanee and lakers on Tuesday but got blown all over the lake. The wind gusts were probably over 20 mph, and it seemed to be swirling. I tried Rocky Point, but the wind downlake made it impossible to troll either way... Into it I couldn't control the boat, with it I was drifting over 2mph... tried a couple of other places that I thought would be protected from the wind, but no luck... I think I was paying the fish gods back for my success earlier.
My bro-in-law Tom fished with me on the 4th and we focused on lakers for him. I mainly ran the boat and let him drop first. He was surprised by how quickly he got bit after reaching bottom a couple of times. Tom got an 8 pounder, a 7 and a 5 pounder. We also let a bunch of the smaller 13-15 inchers go. They don't seem to have the swim bladder issue and go right back down.
Over the week I saw both of the Darrell and Dad boats on the water (and Anton gave me a kokanee tip - Thanks Anton) and Joe Heinlein's red sled as well. Looked like they were doing well with their clients! I did have one interesting run in with Allen's Guide Service. He jigs rather than trolls. There is a ledge near Wapato Point that usually holds a number of smaller lake trout on it. You can probably fish two or three boats on it if everybody drifts. On the 4th he had parked right in the middle of it, threw out a marker float and was using an electric trolling motor to try and station keep... making it so I couldn't get on the ledge, only fish the edges of it around him. Whatever... we kept a distance from him, got a bite or two, then moved uplake to the Rock Slide.
I've learned a bunch over the years, but also gotten good tips from Anton Jones over the years, too!
If your itch gets serious, let me know and I can try to help you with a game plan!
Two years ago the kokes were very small and not worth keeping. Last year we got them in the normal 10-13 inch range. This year they are topping out at 16-17 inches! And I think next year looks good too, because some of the 12-13 inchers we caught this year had immature eggs in then, which I think means they are next year's fish???
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Washington Guide Services - Welcome to Washington Guide Services. At WGS we strive to make your fishing experience a memory that will last a lifetime. We fish Trophy kokanee, Salmon, Walleye, Trout and others species in various locations such as Lake Chelan, Lake Roosevelt, Upper Columbia River, Banks Lake just to name a few. WGS takes pride in our services and customers. We look forward to fishing with you!
