Graybill’s Central Washington Fishing Update Leave a reply
I am showing off the king I caught on opening day of salmon season at Chelan Falls. I was with Shane Magnuson, of Upper Columbia Guide Service.
by Dave Graybill
I had a fantastic week of fishing. My adventures included another trip to Banks Lake for walleye, spending opening day of salmon season with Shane Magnuson at Chelan Falls, and even an afternoon at Evergreen Reservoir for smallmouth bass.
I spent Tuesday at Banks Lake with Lars Larson, the Coulee Dam Chamber auction winner, and his guest Jim Harrington. They met me at the Northrup launch at 8 and we took off in search of walleye. I tried the area behind Steamboat Rock and didn’t find any fish, so we ran down to the bay below the mid way launch.
Lar Larson holds up one of the walleye he caught while trolling crank baits with me on Banks Lake.
We fished a mix of Dutch Fork Lures Turtle Back spinners in the Blue Tiger pattern and Slow Death Hook rigs. We picked up three in this bay and then I switched to crank baits. We started just above this bay and were into fish right away. I think the first fish we got was a smallmouth, but we only got one more. The walleye were in here and were hitting my Flicker Shads in the silver with black back, perch pattern and the bright chartreuse. I was trolling at about 2 mph in 15 to 17 feet of water. We were using the size 7s, and if I got into 14 feet of water we would get weeds. We picked up seven more walleye here and a whopper perch that we kept.
This is really a fun way to get walleye and I was glad that the crank bait bite was working for us that day. The walleye we got averaged about 15 inches. I know there are bigger ones in Banks we just didn’t get them this day.
Shane Magnuson and I have a long-running tradition of spending the opening day of salmon season together. For at least eight years I have joined him with whatever group he has put together to celebrate the salmon season on the upper Columbia. This year we spent the morning at Chelan Falls. This has become the “hot spot” for salmon anglers, and produces a very high ratio of hatchery reared fish.
We were using lead balls, with Pro-Troll flashers and a mix of Super Baits and Hilebrandt spinners. As Shane predicted the first two fish came on a Mountain Dew Super Bait. He made a round of checking baits and changing leader lengths and wham, my rod went off. We all knew it was a good one, the way it fought, and it was. He then turned the boat driving duties over to Cody Luft, who will be running a boat for him this season. Shane was checking something in the back of the boat when the rod next to him bounced, and he got to land a salmon, which is a rare thing as he is always at the tiller. After a short break I jumped ship and the group headed up to Wells Dam. Here they trolled for kings, too, and got two more, for a total of six kings on opening day!
When I left Shane and his group that were heading up to Wells Dam, I drove down to Evergreen Reservoir to meet Tom Verschueren, my brother in law, and Jerry Day at Evergreen Reservoir. I fished here with Tom last year, and he had a blast catching smallmouth. He is breaking in a new boat and wanted to try it out on Evergreen.
Jerry Day had a great day for his first time bass fishing. At Evergreen Reservoir he caught smallmouth bass, largemouth bass and even a walleye!
Using the launch at the east end and then started down the south shore. We were casting Senkos in the watermelon with red flake or the 3-inch in brown cinnamon. We were catching smallmouth, but our baits were constantly being pecked at by small perch. I had heard that the perch population in Evergreen had really taken off, but I had no idea there would be so many of them. They were everywhere, and all about three or four inches. We managed to hook them even with the 4-inch Senkos. I really think we would have done better on the smallmouth if the perch weren’t hitting our baits.
Don’t get me wrong, though, we had a blast. We got 20 or so smallmouth and some of them were 2-pounders. Both Tom and I saw one flash past his Senko behind the boat that had to be 3 or 4 pounds. This was Jerry Day’s first time bass fishing and he had a hot rod. He not only caught the most and biggest smallmouth, he also landed a walleye on his Senko, and a largemouth bass and pumpkin seed. It was a great day to be on Evergreen. Although it was over 90 degrees we had enough of a breeze to keep it comfortable. I hope the tigermuskie take care of the exploding perch population in Evergreen. Bass fishing would improve as a result.
Now that the summer-run salmon season is underway, it is time to plan for the salmon derbies in the region. The first one to come up is the 6th Annual CCA Wenatchee River Salmon Derby. It will be held from Friday, July 14th through Saturday, July 15th. There is a mandatory driver’s meeting on Thursday, July 13th at 6 p.m. at the Eagles Hall on Wenatchee Avenue. The boundary for the derby is from Rock Island Dam to below Wells Dam. Entry free is $60.00. This is a very well-run derby and grows every year. To register on-line and learn all the details visit www.wenatcheesalmonderby.com.
The next derby is the 12th Annual Brewster King Salmon Derby. The derby will be held from Friday, August 4th to Sunday, August 6th. There is a free seminar the night before the derby at the area next to the boat launch in Brewster, starting at 6 p.m. This is easily the biggest derby with the largest amounts of cash and prizes awarded each year. There are only 275 tickets sold for this derby, and they sell out every year. Ticket sales end on July 31st, so don’t miss the deadline. Tickets are $50.00 for adults, $20 for youth under the age of 15, and kids age eight and under are free. You can register on-line and get all the details on the derby by visiting www.brewstersalmonderby.com.
This is the first year of the return of the release of summer-run salmon from the Colville Tribal Hatchery in Bridgeport. This will mean more hatchery fish available to anglers, and good fishing above the Brewster Pool.
I am very eager to get back out on the water this week. It may be for salmon on the Columbia or walleye on Banks Lake. I sure hope I run into you there on the water!
Dave Graybill
Outdoor Line Blogger – North Central Washington
The Outdoor Line
710 ESPN Seattle