The Fishin' Magician: Chief Joseph Dam opening

There is not just good fishing but great fishing available to anglers in Central Washington right now. I did some trout fishing at Fish Lake near Lake Wenatchee last week and had excellent action for rainbow and brown trout to 12 inches, and even got a triploid of about 6 pounds. Trolling a High Lakes Special and an F-4 frog pattern Flatfish did the trick.

The catching wasn't what it was expected to be on the opener of triploid fishing below Chief Joseph Dam on June 1st, but there were still a lot of triploids in the 5-to 7-pound class landed. Those that got on the water very early did the best, as there was a huge crowd out for this special fishery. The action will get even better as the water warms and anglers that know the holes in this stretch of river are doing well. Fish are being taken from bridge to bridge, from Bridgeport to Brewster.

The big news is the kokanee are BIG at Lake Chelan this year. Many are as large as 17 inches. Anglers are consistently taking bigger kokanee than anyone can remember. My brother Rick and I got 20 of them last Sunday and others were getting limits, too.