Darrell & Dads Family Guide Service - We fish on Lake Chelan and other North Central Washington waters in year round comfort.
You catch them in COMFORT! Bring your family and/or friends out on our 24 foot Bayliner Ciera Express. For your comfort, it features: enclosed cabin; cabin heat; private/inside marine toilet; games and VCR for children; hot and cold running water available seasonally; stove; and a full line of safety gear. Families and couples are welcomed and encouraged to book our service. The boat accommodates a maximum of six.
Large parties are accommodated. We also offer lodging at our home through VacationinChelan.com for visitors to the Manson area.
Arrived at Chopaka this morning to find a small "city" of people camping there.... lots of people are there, which is not unusual, especially for this time of year. Weather conditions were "interesting" with winds that seemed to constantly be changing directions with intermittent periods where there was little to no wind. It was cloudy and cool, but water temps on the south end shallows where I fished were perfect for active fish and bugs, and there were both. Only disapppointment was the absence of a callibeatis hatch, though there were some spinners flying above the surface looking to mate. Never saw any duns on the surface and throat samples did not turn up even one callibeatis nymph. That being said, the fish were crusing the shallows looking for chironomids, which there were plenty of today. There was a hatch when I started fishing at 9am that intensified as the day went on, continuing until I left the water about 1:30. Fish were caught tight to the bank in 1-2 ft of water out to about 4-5ft of water in the far south end. Fishing tight to the bottom under an indicator, I hooked fish on 6-7 different patterns today, with the most successful patterns being 14-16 bright lime green chironomids, size 12 black c-mid, and size 12 bloodworm. The predominant bug found in throat samples were lime green chiros that were fairly bright and about a 14 or 16 in size. Large black chiros (10-12) were also being eaten, along with some tiny chiros (22s) and sparse/random chromies (14-16) and other "oddball" food sources. Though I never saw one in the throat samples, red bloodworms were abundant in the vegetation I picked up when I brought up my anchor or a fish burred itself in the weeds after being hooked. Matching the hatch of lime green chiros worked well (really well during certain stretches) but it was not necessary to match the hatch exactly to catch fish.
Fish were feeding opportunistically and were on the move in the bottom 12inches of the water column, but were definitely looking for chironomids. A static presentation worked well, allowing only the wave action to impart movement to the fly with an occasional twitch, especially when fishing tight to the bank with bloodworms. As such, the key was depth and "moving" the fly- not letting it sit in one place for too long. If the fish were there, you would get bit right away. Takes at time were frustrating- lots of "hits and runs" and subtle bumps and take downs followed by a hookset with nothing there that left me saying "what??!!!". Still, landed 20 or so fish in 4.5 hours with many more strikes and hookups that I failed to land. Good day on the water......
Wow, you possess a wealth of knowledge that I can only hope to achieve one day. I just started fly fishing this season and have been out on four dedicated trips. I'm hooked! I plan to hit chopaka some time this season. When I'm out at the lakes I feel lucky if I see one thing the fish are eating and even then I'm not sure what I have to match it hah. Maybe you'll let me shoot you a PM of some things I've noticed hatching in the area and you can tell me the best flies to match?
Thanks for the report, I feel like I can take a lot away from this.
Dave, you're killing me!!! Glad you had fun. I only fished Chopaka once and remember it to be a fun little lake.
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Darrell & Dads Family Guide Service - We fish on Lake Chelan and other North Central Washington waters in year round comfort.
You catch them in COMFORT! Bring your family and/or friends out on our 24 foot Bayliner Ciera Express. For your comfort, it features: enclosed cabin; cabin heat; private/inside marine toilet; games and VCR for children; hot and cold running water available seasonally; stove; and a full line of safety gear. Families and couples are welcomed and encouraged to book our service. The boat accommodates a maximum of six.
Large parties are accommodated. We also offer lodging at our home through VacationinChelan.com for visitors to the Manson area.
