Had a few hours free, so hooked up and put in at the public launch at the lower end of the lake. Motored up to the lakeside area, searched there and across the lake at the chelan shores resort. Nada, so started trolling up lake. Started marking some scattered fish and a few small schools, assumed to be silvers, and finally hooked into one right above rocky point. They were holding in about 45-60 ft of water, and hit the bait set at 18 feet off the down rigger. By this time the wind had the waves whipped up to the point I wasn't able to manage boat control, so I motored up to Mill Bay and was going to "drift" troll with the wind. The waves were such that the rod tips had a couple feet of movement, so detecting the light bit of the silvers was going to be a chore. I noticed what I thought was a hit on one of the rods, and popped it off the rigger, took up slack and thought I could detect action other than the "Flash-lites", but as I made a few cranks on the reel, the rod bent double, and I could't gain nothing, at first I thought I may have snagged something, but then there was the unmistakable head shake. OK, 6# line, limber rod, with another rod on the other downrigger (2 pole endorsement), a fish on that was going to go where it wanted. Kill the trolling motor, pop off the other line from the release, and start the downrigger retrieve, All while maintaining pressure on the fishy rod. Did I mention wave action? to the tune of 2-3 ft whitecaps. I had my lifejacket on in case I didn't stay in the boat, and started reeling up the one reel in the rod holder, and takeing up any slack in the rod I was fighting. After what seemed forever, I had the extra rod reeled in, and stopped the down rigger weight a few feet under the water so it wouldn't beat a hole in the side of the boat. But hey, I still have one rigger ball down. so up it comes, thank goodness for electrics,. now to bring in the mystery fish. Still wasn't gaing any line and the boat was drifting, and bounching along. I got the net ready and had visions of a grand solo netting job. But alas, it wasn't to be. The line lost its pressure and I reeled in my catch. It was a Lil silver 7 inches or so which looked the worse for wear. One of the larger Predators of Lake Chelan had tried to dine on my lil fishie. Needless to say, I trolled around in the area regardless of the difficulty with the wind, and with no more hits. By this time I was bout worn out from the rough water, so called it a day and headed down lake to take out. Ended up with a couple 13 1/2 inch silvers, and the small chewed on guy. I used Flash-lites from Mack Lures in front of red, green, chartruse, and orange color wedding rings. Tipped this with berkley power honey worm and a crappie nibble. The three I caught were thin and not chunky like the last couple of years. The Lake Chelan Silvers are here and soon as the wind dies down will have to try them again. As always with the unsettled weather this time of year, Keep a weather eye out and enjoy your outings.

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