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.
Before I tell you about the incredible day my crew and I had on Sunday, let me tell you about the tough day I had on the previous day. I would also like to mention that a few of my future (Columbia River Salmon Reports) and my next Kokanee report will be filed under Secret Lakes Report.
Saturday was a beautiful day to go fishing. Lets just say the catching wasn't so great. I would rate the day a 3. All five of my guests were able to land a big bright kokanee, but it took all day to do so. Overall I was quite happy to send every one home with a trophy kokanee. We chased marks all day with the down-riggers from 30-60'. The fish seemed a little sluggish and didn't have quite the fight I've come accustomed to. The fish seem to be in transition stage and in my opinion the water needs to heat up to get the fish settled on their summer grounds.
Sunday the fishing was so much fun. It will probably be one of my most memorable trips so far this year. We started off our morning with down-riggers at 30, 40, and 50'. For the fun of it I decided to toss out 2 colors of lead out the back. The depth sounder was pretty much absent of fish and would remain that way most of the day. I wasn't too excited to start my day off in an area void of marks, but figured I would give the spot a go for 30 min. First rod to go off was my two colors of lead, and produced a planter rainbow. Followed by another, and another, and yet another. Around the time we released our 5th rainbow one of my guests noticed something in the water. It was clouded up with plankton. I told him it was kokanee food and about that time the lead rod went off again. This time it was a koke. It took me a minute to put the puzzle together. At first I couldn't figure out why a koke would be hanging out at 10' on a sunny, calm, warm day, but then realized the food must be near the surface. I decided to move one of the riggers up to 15'. On our next pass we landed a few more rainbows just before we reached the "spot". One of my guests was checking out the plankton cloud when he saw a rather large fish swim out from underneath the boat. I was amazed to see a great big Kokanee swimming lazily away only 5' under the surface. At first I thought something might not be right with this fish and then after scanning the water around us we spotted several more kokes swimming around just under the surface. I cant explain how much fun it was watching big trophy kokanee just meandering around my boat. About that time my 15' rigger rod exploded as we tied into our biggest koke of the day. 22.5" Weighing almost 4.5 pounds. At this point I moved all my riggers up. One at 5, 8, and 11'. We managed to hook into 3 more of these kokes in the next couple of hours, and ended up landing all but one. The fish on this trip fought way harder than any of the Kokanee we have caught in the last 2 weeks. These fish were all over the place and put up one heck of a fight. With only a couple of hours left of our outing I decided to make the move to another area for our last two fish. While on the way to that other spot we passed another spot that I have caught a few fish in and decided to give it a quick fish. As I throttled down I asked my guests to "drop em" while I started the kicker and swung out the riggers. I had three generations on the boat and grandpa got his 100 out first. I clipped his line to the weight and dropped it 10-15' just as I heard his grandson click over his real after he reached his 100'. It wasn't two seconds later his rod was nearly ripped from his grip by yet another monster koke. I could hardly believe it. We were less than 3 minitues off of plane and we just hooked up. No, wait, make that a double!!! Grandpa's rod just ripped free of the rigger 10 seconds after the first rod went off. Both of these fish were hot. Jumping, taking line, crossing lines fighting for their lives. We were fortunate enough to land both of these beauties which made limits for my crew of three. 4 of these fish weighed over 4 pounds making for the largest average weight of any of my limits.
After I dropped off my crew I headed back out to try my luck at catching dinner. I tossed out 2 lines on the riggers and started to tidy up the boat. Five minutes into my troll I looked at my reel and saw that it was loosing line. Fish on, and another feisty one at that. Landing one of these kokes solo is no easy task. I figure it's a fair fight that might go either way. This time I won and 15-20 minutes later I won again. Those two kokes fed 8 people tonight and we even had leftovers. Wednesday will be my last kokanee trip until August. If you would like to fish with me then feel free to contact me and make a reservation. My last koke report I plan on posting under secret lake along with several of my salmon reports. I plan on sharing several of my kokanee set-ups with you in my next report so make sure you look for it this week.
Thank you all so much for your support so far this season. This kokanee season has truly been something special. I hope some of you can join me fishing for some great Upper Columbia Chinook and Sockeye Salmon, and back at Roosevelt this August. Its been nice meeting so many of you.
Until the next time, Captain Dave
Captain Dave's Guide Service, Booking Now! Columbia River salmon - including Summer & Fall Chinook and Sockeye, and Lake Roosevelt Kokanee and Trout. 509-939-6727 Captain Dave's Guide Service Official Digital Anglers Sponsor
What a great report and one hell of a fishing day!! I really wish I had the chance to fish with my grandfather it is really nice to read these reports of 3 generations fishing together and sharing the outdoors. Finding the bait like that and seeing those monster swim around had to be the highlight of the day what a great read. Can't wait to see what stories come next!
"RRRR" Capin Dave", This is walleygator77 have not been able to make it out for the past two months my Dad just recently passed away in mid May and I was appointed executor of his estate and have been overwhelmed with this responsibility. I enjoyed reading your report and brings back good memories of amazing Kokanee trips me and my son Amos had earlier. Those are some of the most amazing fish I think I have ever seen and caught. Salmon season is just right around the corner and I am ready to once again get my line in the water, I will be fishing up at Brewster for the month of July and I hope to run into you up there? Again thanks for the amazing report, I could almost picture everything and felt like I was on the boat with you. As always "Tight Lines and Keep Reelin"!!!
Walleygator - Sorry to hear about your dad, my condolences to you and family. Captain Dave - never know what those crazy Kokes are going to do; do we? Thanks for the report. Looking forward to the salmon reports - Alan
Wow What a day Dave. Im back from the Great Lakes State and all I could think about was getting back here to chase Kokes.
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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.
