Okanogan Valley GS - We are dedicated to making your hunting or fishing trip both successful and memorable. We are, first and foremost about making sure that you have the chance to harvest the trophy of a lifetime. We fish Spring and Summer Chinook, Sockeye, Steelhead, Kokanee, and Bass in waters across the Columbia and Central Washington including Brewster,Palmer,Banks,Chelan Lakes,Icicle River,Wenatchee area on Columbia and the Hanford Reach.
Looking at the forecast Monday night I was optimistic towards fishing this shallow lake the following day regardless of the moon phase not being ideal. The forecast called for air temps to be low to mid 50's with sunshine and a wind of 2-5 degrees. BULLLLLLPUCKY!! It seems they forgot the 1's in front of the forecasted wind speeds!! I arrived to whitecaps and gusts!
Not great this time of year, not great on a shallow lake you're hoping warms up throughout the day, but being the knucklehead I am and having driven up there I opted to launch and motor over to the far side and out of as much of the wind as possible. Give me the same conditions in two months on this lake and it could be lights out?! February...not so much. There was one boat on the water when I arrived, another boat arriving as I was backing in and another boat arrived as I was parking, so I'm not the only one with a mental disorder when it come to bass fishing! :)
The wind won today, I combed a few areas, couldn't fish my favorite very efficiently and the water temps I was hoping to start in the 45-48* range actually started in the 42-44* range, bummer. I made the rounds in and out of the "ditch", hit the outside edge of reeds and went really shallow throwing my four early favs for this lake and no action at all, not even a spooker. I even tried slow rolling a small swimbait out deeper but it was futile.
Not sure how the others did as I opted to retreat to Skagit County to do a couple drive by's and see if I felt like fishing any other lakes?
Skagit County: Clear Lake was packed and people still love parking past the "No Parking Beyond This Sign" area which makes launching a joy, add to that the folks fishing from the launch itself and I opted to roll over and take a peak at Beaver Lake instead to see how high the water was....
Beaver Lake: Not only is the parking lot so flooded you can't turn around a giant section of floating vegetation broke loose and lodged right in the parking area! I would not recommend anything on a trailer at this lake unless things change, I would also recommend backing in as you will launch right at the bottom of the 'driveway' and there's room for maybe two vehicles to park once launched!
Big Lake was wide open with the only issue being maybe the parking lot which if you fish this you know how soft and muddy the lot can get and it was pretty bad. This week of dry and warmth should cure that and all of these lakes should be capable of putting out largemouth by next week!
Ya, the wind here was 14 mph. I stayed home and worked on the truck. Today got the boat wet. Only caught an 18" to 20" rainbow. A few other bites, but probably all but 1 were perch. The other could have been a trout or smallie. 46.2 temps, slight breeze now and then, some sun for awhile.
Hey B8 thanks for the report. I've been itching to head up to Clear or Beaver. Hope we get some more dry weather to bring the water levels down. How was the level at Terrell? Last fall it was so low I was barely able to launch and got stuck in the "hole" on the bottom of the launch. C'mon sun!
AMX, smart man! Bothell, water level at Terrell is nice and high! Appeared to actually cross the road in the usual spot last week? Launching was no issue, except for the wind blowing into the launch, I would think next week it would be worth the drive.
Ya, I'm just a wimp when it comes to the wind, I hate it - most of the time, but in April the wind can make the bite HOT!!!!!
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Okanogan Valley GS - We are dedicated to making your hunting or fishing trip both successful and memorable. We are, first and foremost about making sure that you have the chance to harvest the trophy of a lifetime. We fish Spring and Summer Chinook, Sockeye, Steelhead, Kokanee, and Bass in waters across the Columbia and Central Washington including Brewster,Palmer,Banks,Chelan Lakes,Icicle River,Wenatchee area on Columbia and the Hanford Reach.
