Dave Graybill: The Fishin' Magician
Austin Moser, of Austin's Northwest Adventures Guide Service (left) and I show off a nice catch of walleye. We were fishing with blade baits on Potholes Reservoir. Anglers are making catches like this of walleye right now, along with some very fat yellow perch.
I had heard of good ice and great fishing for perch at Fish Lake, near Lake Wenatchee, so I ran up there last Saturday to see for myself.
Wednesday, February 4
I had heard of good ice and great fishing for perch at Fish Lake, near Lake Wenatchee, so I ran up there last Saturday to see for myself. The first angler I encountered showed me that the ice was a least four inches thick and he had a few perch. The next group was doing much better. This family was working their way to 25-fish limits of perch a good clip and landed some while I snapped a few photos. There were groups of anglers scattered from one end of the lake to the other and it appeared that they were all catching good numbers of perch. Those that I talked to were having good success with Swedish Pimple lures, baited with perch eyes. The ice was good last Saturday, but warmer weather is in the forecast, and caution everyone that plans an ice fishing trip to check on conditions before going out on the ice. Things can change quickly. Some other lakes that should have safe ice are Patterson, near Winthrop and Bonaparte Lake near Tonasket. Patterson has both kokanee, trout and perch, and Bonaparte is know for kokanee, triploid eastern brook trout, tiger trout and lake trout.
Friday, February 6
I had the pleasure and fun of fishing with Austin Moser, Austin's Northwest Adventures Guide Service, and his Dad Don on Potholes Reservoir on Wednesday. Moser called me to say that the walleye fishing can be good and if I would like to go. As many of you know the walleye fishing Potholes has been nothing short of spectacular this season, and I had fished it with great success this past spring, summer and fall. I jumped at the chance and we found conditions good when we arrived. We headed out across the lake to where Crab Creek enters the reservoir and started looking for steep drop offs where walleye would be laying. We used blade baits to attract strikes and Moser landed a good fish fairly quickly. I had a hot blade bait that was whacked by a 20-inch walleye. I lost this lure, and although I got some other strikes on my replacement, didn't hook another fish.