I was able to get out on the water before the weather turned nasty. I spent an afternoon fishing for kokanee on Lake Chelan and last Friday ran up to Banks Lake. I tried for walleye and smallmouth bass while on Banks.

I hadn’t been on Chelan for a while and wasn’t sure where I would find the kokanee. I was sure that they were well into the lower basin, but I didn’t think they would be all the way down to Lakeside Park.

I launched at the city launch above the dam and had the gear ready by the time I reached Lakeside. I did see a few boats up ahead of me but chose to run further up the lake. The last time I was on Chelan, I started off with fast action. Not this time. I spent a lot of time searching and looking at the depth sounder for signs of kokanee schools on the screen. It was blank pretty much the whole time I was out there.

I did hook up not long after I put the lines out. One of the downrigger rods popped off and line was streaming off the reel. When I first grabbed the rod, I was convinced that I had snagged on the bottom. However, when I gave the limber, 7-foot rod all it could take, I could see that I was gaining line. It took a lot of pumping, but I finally saw a brown and white shape emerge from the depths. It turned out to be a lake trout and must have weighed over 10 pounds.

I got the gear out again and started getting kokanee. I was just below the Blue Roofs and out in the middle. I got a fish here and there but never saw a big school on the screen. I just put seven fish in the cooler by the time I needed to head home. The kokanee were still biting, but the wind was blowing just hard enough to bounce me around more than was fun. I got all the fish on Kokabow Copper Series blades and orange squids. The fish definitely favored the white corn soaked in Graybill’s Guide Formula Kokanee scent, over the pink stained corn. The fish ranged in size from 11 to 13 inches. Plus, after talking to a boat on the way in, I decided that I had run up too far. Next time when I can get started earlier, I will fish just above Lakeside.

I finally got up to Banks Lake. I have had some great reports on the walleye fishing, and I am a big fan of fishing for smallmouth bass on the big impoundment. The fishing day began in Devils Punchbowl. When I was setting up the gear I noticed that I had forgotten my bottom bouncers! It took me a while to figure out how to add weight to my set up, but I came up with hanging some large egg sinkers on a length of leader material. I have had good luck here in the past at this time of year, but not on Thursday.

I marked a few fish but didn’t get a single bite.

So, I headed out and around the corner to the sand flats at the bottom end of Steamboat Rock. There were fish here and I got five bites and landed one nice walleye. The bites came on a Rick Graybill special spinner, which features a Colorado blade and blue and pink beads, and my favorite Dutch Fork Lures Blue Tiger Turtle Back spinner. The action wasn’t fast enough so I ran over to Barker Flats and trolled a couple of paths, one at each end of the flats. I was marking some fish, but they weren’t interested in my baits. By then I just wanted to catch some fish and ran over the broken basalt rock and shale slide shore to fish for smallmouth.

My tried and true method is to add a small bullet weight to my line and tie on a size 2/0 Diachi offset worm hook. I like the 4-inch Zoom watermelon with red flake lizards. I cast these right next to the shore and bounce them back to the boat. I was getting fish after fish, and they were mostly ½-pound smallmouth. The photo this week is of a smallmouth taken on a lizard.

Later on when I got to a sloping shoreline, I noticed some larger fish cruising along. I tried casting a crank bait and a spinner bait without success. Then I tried casting a Whopper Plopper topwater lure, and Bang. This was great fun. That’s how I ended the day.

June 1st was a great day. State Parks, Department of Natural Resources and the Department of Fish and Wildlife began to reopen public lands in 22 counties across Washington State. This was very welcome news for those who enjoy the outdoors and have had to deal with limited access.

What little access that has been available has been jammed by the public who are trying to get outdoors, after staying home for so long. It is important that people visit the websites of these agencies to confirm the location you want to visit is actually open, and there are some other guidelines that need to be followed. An example is a request that you limit your group size to five, unless they are of the same household.

These agencies also assure those who had reservations prior to the lockdown will receive full refunds for the days that they lost. More good news is that State Parks will have three free days in the month of June. The first one is Saturday, June 6th, the second is Sunday, June 7th and the last on Saturday, June 13th. Please visit websites for State Parks and the other agencies to learn all the details.

Anglers here in Central Washington State have a lot of options available to them now, and better than usual good fishing for this time of year. The lack of pressure on the lowland lakes means there are good numbers of fat trout available. The fishing for walleye and bass on our big impoundments is going well and may even get better as we move into the summer months.

I plan to get back up to Banks and take my bottom bouncers with me this time. I am sure I will do better.  Look out walleye!