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.
I wanted a dry day to patch the hole in my raft. And, of course, go fishing!
Well, that was not meant to be. Somehow I snuck past Ma Nature yesterday and didn't get wet, but today was back to normal. I got to Bitter Lake about 15 minutes after it started raining. I sat in the car a bit hoping it would stop. So I got out and threw some lures, no bites, it kept raining. I really didn't feel like bait fishing today, I wanted to catch fish on hardware. So I drove to Greenlake and threw lures there for about an hour or so. In the ceaseless rain.
Spoons, spinners, nothing. I even broke down and rigged up a quick drop shot with the pieces of dead worm sitting on the dock. Still nothing, not even a rock bass! Well, I wasn't about to end such a great weekend of fishing with a skunk, so when I saw a riser out about the limit of cast range I went back to gold castmaster. And then I was thinking ... I can't really see this thing very well in the water. Probably the trout can't either, hence I'm getting no bites. The water is murky, it's overcast, dim, raining, they probably just can't see a quarter ounce spoon or sixth ounce spinner, which is the majority of my tacklebox. Or smaller heh. Well, I dont do anything half way, so I went to the tacklebox for the most flamboyant, obnoxious, heavy for long casting range cartoon lure I could find. Was it way too big for planter fishing? Sure. It was labeled as a steelhead lure. But I dont fish Greenlake for meat anyway. I'm not interested in eating planters.
I kid you not, 2nd cast I feel a tap tap. I almost stop reeling in amazement. Clearly it must have been my imagination, because there's NO chance a trout would hit this cartoon freak show lure I'm throwing. But I have to admit, visibility in the water is WAY better haha. So I cast a few more times and again ... tap tap. I'm looking at it, trying to figure out if wishful thinking is causing a hallucination. So a couple more casts and WHAM, 10 feet from the dock there is CLEARLY a fish on! It falls off of course, because this lure is twice the size of appropriate.
So now all thoughts of skunk are passed, as a hookup on something too big for the target counts as a fish to me. I am feeling SUPER good about myself. I observed the conditions, called an audible, and got a series of bites and even a fish on where I had not even a nibble prior.
So just for the pure entertainment value, I threw that lure a while longer. A few more hits right away, then nothing for about 10-15 minutes. I tell myself, next bite I'll pack it up. It's raining harder. I'm not getting 1 more bite. So I tell myself as the lure hits the water, this is the last cast, I'm getting out of here, and then 15 feet from the dock BAM fish on! And ..... this one is actually successfully hooked? How did it manage that?
Turns out it managed it by being a solid 13 inches. I didn't know they planted 13s.
Well, it had torn itself up pretty badly by the time I got a picture taken, so I decided to take it home and eat it. Upon butchering, this fish was well fed. Full of little bugs. FULL. Bulging stomach.
Long story short, got super wet, didn't get much action, but in the end switched to a ridiculous lure and not only got bites but got a fish. And got to take a ridiculous picture. So a good 2 hours. I'm giving it a 4 just for ridiculous value.
It appears in the picture that the fish is missing an adipose fin. If so, that may be a steelhead that was planted in the lakes because of the WFC lawsuit. Good job sticking with it in tough conditions.
whorde... Good job sticking with it... nice fish. FYI... WDFW is planting thousands of Steelhead in Green Lake this Fall. They average 12" to 14" and the last plants (8,000+) are in the 1.7/lb range (14" to 15" range). The fish will continue to grow during the Fall and into winter, so we will be seeing 16" to 18" fish by Spring, of those not caught this Fall. BTW, the Steelhead are much more aggressive than the normal plants, hence the willingness to attack your "cartoon" lure! Also, the fish are exquisite tablefare... I smoke most of those I catch and they are exquisite! PTL!
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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.
