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.
Made a half day trip to the south end of Hood Canal looking for some Chinook action. Wanted to avoid the early morning madness,so I arrived at the ramp at around noon. Boats were returning from the break of day bite. There was a fish checker taking data at the ramp. I talked with her for a bit to get the scoop on where the fish are biting and if any had been checked. While I was talking with her 3 or 4 Chinook were brought up to be checked. Nothing very big,4-6lbs. Another 2 or 3 boats pulled up and had Chinook. A couple more smaller fish in the same range. Then came the 40 gallon trash bag with a nice fish in it. Out came a Chinook around 25lbs(picture on measuring board). I weighed it on my brass spring scale. It was close to 23lbs after being bled and sitting in a bag for awhile in the boat. My scale is a little light,so the fish was probably close to or at 25lbs. Got the boat ready and headed across the channel where the boats were trolling. Started trolling around 2pm. Was calm on the boat launch,but a good 10-15mph wind was blowing on the trolling area. First time fishing this area of Hood Canal,so had to make about 4 full passes to figure out the bottom. Also,where the fish were holding or traveling and what the troll line was. There were about 10-15 boats in the general area,but people were picking up and heading up towards Hoodsport with the tide flushing out. Not an option I had in the "Tiny Tyee". I knew the fish would be back and fish were kinda scattered everywhere. I was using a 5 inch spoon and a new dark colored flasher I wanted to try. Figured out not the best color set-up. The water is crazy warm(70 degree surface temp). It is very murky and a lot of eel grass. Thus why a change of trolling gear was in order. Didn't like the action on the 5 inch spoon with not a lot of hard current. Went to a 4 inch spoon and bright flasher. Tide had started moving back in and made it halfway up the beach. Was occupied doing something else and sure enough......bump,bump,Takedown! Fish on! Grabbed the rod and wasn't sure of the size with the flasher drag and wind pushing me while trolling. Then the fish realized it was hooked and burned off some line. Oh,yeah! Could feel it was good size. Made 3 or 4 real good hard runs. Had a boat off to my side a bit and trolling behind me. I gave a wave to let him know I had a fish on. He responded and steered off the trolling line to give some room. Thank you! Oh,but wait for it....Sure enough some knuckle head in his fancy new boat sees this is where all the fish must be and cuts right between me and the boat behind me. So,I gave him some informative advice we'll say.Luckily I had the fish mostly under control and the warm water slowed her down after a good fight. But, of course chowder head was clueless just like his trolling style and efforts.The fish gave me a few barrel rolls and twisting runs making for some good excitement next to the boat. Can't say it enough.....sharp hooks,sharp hooks! Also keep the motor in gear so the fish can't spit the hook as easily. The water was so warm it made the mouth of the fish really soft. My hook on the spoon wore a hole the size of a quarter in the bottom jaw. You could see right through the hole. If the fish would have got any slack in my line or swam ahead of the boat, the hook would have just fallen out. Netted the fish and bled it. Then stuffed in fish bag with ice blocks. Fish weighed 13 1/2lbs. Ok,so one fish in the boat and the tide is high and not flowing much. But,now there are about 30 boats in the area and the wind is 15-20mph. The stronger wind and tide moving in pushed a lot of eel grass and jellyfish into the area. Which made it very difficult to troll and was twisting the line up from jellyfish on the swivels/beadchains. The upside of all the stuff in the water meant bait and Chinook were there too. Keep a few cotton hand towels ready to use for rubbing off the jellyfish on the swivels/beadchains. Picking it off is difficult and some jellyfish have irritating stingers. Not cleaning off the jellyfish will cause severe line twisting and not give your gear proper trolling action. This was the big difference between the boats that had fish and ones with no fish...cleaning gear! Took around 3 hours to get my first fish and now more boats,more wind. To get a consistent troll speed and tracking line,I now had to stand. It was very hard trolling into the wind. I needed to constantly work the throttle and steer side to side. I probably was trolling a little faster than most all the boats to maintain good action on my fishing gear. Don't have a speed reading on my fish finder. I watch my rod tip for angle and movement from current or junk collecting on the line. It was getting close to 8pm and I had just set down my phone after taking some pics. Looked up at the rod.....Takedown! Fish On! This fish feels smaller weight wise,but is fighting twice as hard compared to the first fish. The wind was pushing the back of the boat all different directions. I'm trying to fight the fish and reel while steering/throttle. Several times the fish was at the side of the boat. I would pick up the net and he would run again. Did this 6-7 times at least.I would pull the fish up into the warm surface water trying to exhaust him more. Finally the fish started to tire out and was scooped into the net. Nice 9 1/2lb football shaped buck. Both the fish were bronzed a bit from being in the warm cloudy water. Put them on ice and they chromed back up. Both had beautiful meat. The hen was a little soft textured,but firmed up good after being chilled. Both were being put in the smoker,so firmed up more soaking in brine. Trolled for a total of 6 hours. Got soaked on the ride back across with a 20mph head wind. Every single wave sprayed in the boat. Had 2-3 inches of water I was standing in and all my gear was floating. Nice 70 degree water though!Each fish around the 3 hour mark before hooking up.(2 bites,2 fish in the boat) Flasher/spoon with 54 inch leader 30-40 feet down on the rigger.
Thanks! Happy to have some success fishing that area of Hood Canal for the first time. You could use your 10 footer. There were a couple guys at the ramp that launched in the morning with kayaks. They were leaving as I was launching. Was calm where I put in, but the wind was blowing on the other side. Fish are probably moving all around depending on where the tides are pushing bait,fish and cooler water. That day may have been blowing harder than average. Was a lot of hot air coming off the mountains. Parking is tough on the weekend(especially with trailer). Good luck!
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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.
