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Fortunate to be able to spend a few days at the state park this week. Fished June 1-3. Had tons of fun and relaxing time out there. Fishing is still great. Water is warmer and fish seemed to be deeper. Marked schools from 60ft down to 150ft in 65ft to about 190ft of water. Tried using dropper rigs but only got a few hits. Probably wasn’t deep enough and didn’t have more than 4oz also my experience with droppers is lacking. You probably can get them with that set up but it was mostly a downrigger show for me. The sweet area seemed to be in front of the red roofs in 75ft of water. Did catch Kokanee fishing out deep (150ft+) looking for Macks East of Wapato Point. The pods there are scattered. Made for a lot of fun targeting marks. Wouldn’t recommend targeting kokes out there since they were spaced out. Arrow flash dodger 50/50 brass with a pink micro wedding ring and pink corn soaked in procure and tuna and wonder bread Paulina Peak Performer dogger with a chrome and chartreuse spin-n-glow with natural colored corn soaked in procure and tuna worked well. Didn’t need to change gear. Got fish from 1.1 - 1.5 mph with 1.3 being the most productive. Cooked a few up at the camp site and brought back more for the smoker.

I did have a question for folks out there. What’s the best way to preserve your catch while out camping and can’t process the fish for a few days? I always bleed and put right on ice but a few of the fish were a tad soft on the belly meat when I got home. Would getting them at the end of each day help or would it expose the meat too much?

Guitarfish

6/7/2021 1:59:58 PM

Hi there, I've done a lot of multi-day trips over the years, some on Chelan (Stehekin). I also worked for several years in commercial fish processing.. First, make sure you are getting a really good bleed. A lot of guys just rip the gills, and while that works OK, it causes a blunt wound that actually clots pretty quickly, and doesn't always do the job perfectly. The best way to fully bleed a fish is to NOT club the fish so that the heart is pumping at 100% strength, and then make a clean slice across the jugular vein and carotid artery at the base of the throat, with a sharp knife. The fully pumping heart will spurt the blood out of that carotid artery hole at least a couple of feet (look out). Next thing, you definitely want the guts out of there. IMO the best thing to do is just filet them, but if you don't want to do that, definitely gut them. Then put the filets or gutted fish in a watertight bag (ziploc), squeeze the air out of it, and absolutely BURY it in the cooler ice. The bag should be completely covered in ice on all sides, and as it melts and that starts to not happen anymore after a few days, then it's time to run to town for more ice. Hope that helps, good luck, and thanks for the report.

Salmonids

6/7/2021 4:57:03 PM

Thanks for the information! Will do for sure.

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