I usually try to find a clear and sunny day for a winter fishing trip, but sometimes I just have to go even if conditions aren’t that great. That’s what I did last Friday. My desire to try the kokanee fishing on Lake Chelan was greater than my reluctance to fish on a chilly day under overcast skies.

I usually get after the kokanee on Lake Chelan a little earlier in November than this. Weather and other commitments got in my way but I was very excited to be able to finally go. One thing that I wasn’t looking forward to was sorting out my gear. I have a bad habit of just throwing things in boxes and bags figuring I will clean up the mess when I get home. Sometimes that just doesn’t happen. I am onto the next fishing trip and things just keep piling up.

I pulled everything out and although it looked bad, I got things in order pretty quickly though. I can credit this to a couple of very handy items that I use to store my gear. I have some of those dodger jackets from Mauk Fishing Stuff. This is the best way I have found to store my Kokabow blades. It holds twenty of them and it folds down to a very slim size. The spinners and squidders go on a leader board made by FISHENG Products. You can put three of these boards, loaded with leaders, into a Plano box. I have 45 leaders tied with swivels so they are ready to go in a snap. These two products really cut my prep time for my trip to Chelan for kokanee. You can learn more about these storage items by going to the Product Review Page on my website.

Wow. November sure flew by. It was a frustrating month. The weather was so unsettled that it was very difficult to get out on the water. In spite of the cold weather forecast for last Friday, I talked my brother in law Tom Verschueren into going to Lake Chelan to try and see if we could find some kokanee. We have had some good days in the past on Chelan in the winter so he was willing to go. We ran from the State Park launch up to Green’s Landing, which is just above the Yacht Club channel. We got one bite here and then landed a fish right where the channel opens. We were getting a few hits but not hooking up. It was cold but calm, so I took the opportunity to drive the Kingfisher way up lake and tried above 25 Mile Creek. No dice. Heading back down to Mitchell Creek we did put a couple of fish in the cooler. I got one fish at 120 feet on a rigger, but most of the fish were taken at around 100 feet. The back rods had 4 ounce lead balls rigged to slide and they produced as well as the riggers. Kokabow blades in subdued purples and blues with orange or Ravisher spinners accounted for all our bites. This week’s photo is of one of the kokanee we caught.

I got a report on the fishing on Rufus Woods from my fishing buddy James Lebow. He fished below the net pens last week and told me that the fishing for triploids is holding up and is excellent. He and I like to troll bottom bouncers and spinners in about 50 feet of water. We often will get some walleye along with limits of triploids using this technique. Last week the first fish they landed was a 19-inch walleye. They didn’t get any more walleye on this trip, but they caught some dandy triploids.

Something that I have done a couple of times on Rufus Woods when I needed a few more fish to limit is I drop down to the second net pens, put the bow mount in anchor mode, and lower my bottom walkers and spinners down just 30 feet.

I have also seen anglers fishing with Wooly Bugger type flies here but they weren’t using fly rods. They were putting a weight on the end of their line and then putting the fly above that. It was like they were drop shotting for bass. They would just jig their rods occasionally and they always get their limits. They even got a 17-pounder this way.

If you are an active boater in the winter, it is good to know where you can launch. There are State Parks or Federal Parks on many of our popular waters. If you want to find out which State Parks are open in the winter, you can go to the website to get a list of them. Just log onto www.Parks.state.wa.gov. To explore the Federal Parks, like Spring Canyon, Keller, and others on Lake Roosevelt, log onto www.recreation.gov.

A maintenance project to the fishway at Tumwater Dam will require intermittent, one-lane closures of eastbound Highway 2 starting in late November.

The PUD is also planning an 8-hour, one-lane closure of eastbound Highway 2 in mid-December, depending on weather conditions and river flows. Chelan PUD will temporarily divert the river to allow crews to reinforce and stabilize the entrance of the fishway with concrete. Fish passage will be maintained during most of the $370,000 project. The viewing platform will be closed to the public.

The work is expected to continue through January 2021. If weather or river flows delay the project this fall, the work may last into February or March 2021.

Tumwater Dam was originally constructed at the turn of the century to provide clean energy for trains travelling through the long tunnel at Stevens Pass. Chelan PUD acquired the dam in the 1950s and rebuilt the fishway in its current configuration in the late 1980s. The fishway at Tumwater Dam is instrumental in helping Chelan PUD to collect adult fish to meet its hatchery obligations under its Habitat Conservation Plans for Rocky Reach and Rock Island hydro projects. It is also an important site for fish study for several agencies, including Yakama Nation Fisheries, state Fish and Wildlife and Grant PUD.

I may not be able to fish, but I will be sure and have some current info for you in my report next week.