Dave Graybill: The Fishin' Magician

I finally made it up to Lake Chelan to try the kokanee fishing. I met Jeff Witkowski, of Darrell and Dads Family Guide Service, at the Mill Bay launch at 7 a.m. last Tuesday, and we headed up lake. Witkowski has been fishing above the Narrows, below Mitchell Creek, and that is where we found the fish.

The early morning bite is excellent. We were very busy for about two hours, getting lots of bites and even one quadruple hook up.

I was on a roll for losing fish, and I know I lost more than double the number of fish I had on. It was just one of those days. We were using Macks Lure Kokanee Pro lures, bait with scented corn, on three of the rods and I put my Kokabow blade and spinner on one of the outriggers.

They all caught fish. By 11:30 the bite dropped off sharply. We were just short of two limits and although we fished for a few more hours we only boated a couple more fish.

The kokanee were smaller than what Witkowski was used to getting, with most of them being 11 to 12 1/2 inches. Kokanee of 13 and 14 inches are fairly common this year.