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Made my way over Chelan for a golf event so of course I needed to hit Antilon Lake to have a shot at catching my first ever Brown Trout.

I actually hit the lake last night for a the last few hours of day light. Lots of strikes but I could not get one to the net. 2 came off at my toon which made my anticipation grow to see one in person. Finally I netted one and one more later on. Cool looking fish, but not very big. Maybe 11” and thin.

Getting to the lake is pretty easy but the road narrows considerably as you approach the lake. I took the first left which lead me to a small steep hill to the water at about at the half way point of the larger portion of the lake. Super dusty and semi bumpy. I noticed a few angler loading up at the North end of the lake, so this morning I used this spot. Not as steep, but super weedy as just a small path in between the reeds.

I hit the water at Sunrise and there was some pretty good action. I started out with a Gold Flatfish and Pink Tasmania Devil. The Devil was getting the most action but the Flatfish perked up as the morning went on. I kept the Gold FF on one rod and tried pretty much all types of lures on the other rod. The Browns pretty much banged my rod no matter what was on it, except very light spoons.

Stuck with FF on both rods the most and managed 24 fish in 6 Hours. I had a very scary moment and wanted to warn others of this. At the far South end of the lake, there is rebar sticking up out of the water that looks like some dead reeds. Since I am rowing I do not always see what I am coming up on but at the last moment I saw what I thought was reeds. Not wanting the get my lines tanged in them I decided to go over them instant of around them. Mistake big time! I was lucky that they were bent slightly in the direction that I was going or I could have easily popped my toon and been in big trouble. I was super lucky as it could have been a really bad day. So if you venture down to the far South end, be carful.

I went back for the eve bite and fished 4 more hours. The sun was behind the steep ridge on the West side so the temp was perfect since it was about 78 degrees today. I ended up with 26 more but I’ll tell ya, single barbless hooks and Browns is not a combo for getting the fish to stay on for very long. I maybe netted 1 out every 10 fish that was on for a few seconds. Also, tons of Rod banging with no hook ups. Copper and Gold were the two main FF that I used in the eve.

Fish were pretty much everywhere on the main body of water. It really did not matter. They seemed to like more speed and or turns. They also hit quite often after rowing fast and then stop rowing and as I lost speed they would grab it.

Size wise, I was pretty disappointed. Nothing over 12”and some maybe 7”. They hit hard and fought right away doing spirals, but then it was hard to tell if you still had them at times as they came right to the boat. Better fight from the few that I while caught casting and retrieving and I am guessing a much better fight on a bug which I did not try yet.

Nice little lake that I will hit anytime I am in Chelan.

uplandsandpiper

4/28/2018 1:04:20 PM

Your experience mirrors mine. The lake is over-stocked and the fish are stunted.

TMBob

4/28/2018 5:15:54 PM

I am glad to have I read and watched your report from last Oct. I needed to catch a Brown, I also needed to fish on a planned Golf Trip to Chelan and use some vacation time, so It made sense to give it a go even though it was a different season. Glad I did and would do it again with far less expectations. Now I need to hit McGinnis again based on your reports. Need to check off Brook Trout from the list. Thanks again for your reports....I look forward to them even though I am on the other side of the Mountains.

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