I got out several times this week to sample some of our fall fishing opportunities. I took Eric Granstrom to the Icicle River to try for coho salmon and fished Rufus Woods Reservoir near the net pens for triploid rainbow trout. I also tried the fall fishing for kokanee on Lake Chelan.

I had heard that good numbers of kokanee were being caught at Lake Chelan, and I just had to get up there and find out for myself. My brother in-law Tom Verschuren was willing to give it a try. We have actually had some great days fishing for Chelan kokanee in past fall seasons.

Launching at the State Park we drove up lake to the area I call the Stairs, where long flights of steps run from the cabins on the steep sidehill run down to the water’s edge. We noticed that the water is dropping on Lake Chelan, but all the docks are still floating at the State Park. One downrigger was dropped to eighty feet, and the other to 60. I just set the rod in the holder when the rod bounced. What hit the Kokabow blade and spinner was a cutthroat. One of several that pestered us that day. The other rod went off soon after and we landed a fat 11-inch kokanee.

Things were looking up but took a downturn. We did find some schools while trolling down toward the Yacht Club and lost a bunch of fish and put another kokanee in the cooler. We ran our baits through several schools of kokanee, which were scattered from the Stairs down to Green’s Landing. We talked to another angler that was having the same experience. He was trolling through fish but couldn’t seem to get them to bite.

I wanted to see if there were fish further down lake and ran to a spot below Rocky Point. We spotted several schools here and had the same luck. I was kind of surprised to see even more schools of kokanee clear down here at this time of year. We actually encountered more fish here than we did above the Yacht Club. We added to our catch but also reeled in a lot of bait-robbed hooks.    This week’s photo is of one of the kokanee we caught and the Kokabow blade and spinner it hit.
My good friend Buell Hawkins called and said he wanted to catch a triploid on Rufus Woods Reservoir. Buell was my first boat sponsor, when he added Smoker Craft boats to the inventory at Valley Tractor. Since then, we have had many fishing adventures. He got his first steelhead fishing with me, and we got his grandson his first salmon. Buell, Greg Meinzer and I stayed at the Grand Coulee Center Lodge on Tuesday evening. The folks here are always very friendly and helpful. They always ask if I am bringing my boat and will save a space for me to park it near a power outlet. I bring an extension cord to charge my bow mount electric motor.

 We used the new launch at the middle net pens the following morning. I thought something must be up. There was no one fishing from shore here, which is probably the most popular shore fishing area on the reservoir. There wasn’t a single boat fishing near the middle pens, and only two or three fishing the upper pens.

I realized why right away. There were very few fish around. We marked some but there was no current and the fish were scattered. I trolled bottom bouncers with spinners and nightcrawlers. We did put a couple of nice triploids in the boat, but the walleye were driving us crazy. We had at least a dozen walleye bites and landed none. I am sure the fishing will pick up this winter when the river returns to normal flows.

I got a call from Eric Granstrom several days ago, asking if I could show him the ropes of fishing for coho on the Icicle. He had never done it, and it sounded like fun. He met me in Leavenworth Tuesday morning and I took him to the river and put him on the handicapped platform.

I handed him a rod with a jig on it and made a practice cast to show him where to throw it. After this sixty-second show and tell we saw an angler hook a fish right below us from the shore. I had brought a net, so I went down to help him out. He managed to get a very nice coho to the shore and slipped the net under it. The fish was very bright and would be a good eater.

I left Eric and the net on the platform and walked up the river to see if I could find some fish in one of the pockets above. I had only made a few casts when I heard a commotion. I looked at the platform and Eric was gone. So was the net. When I got back down there Eric was down in the river scooping up a coho! It didn’t take him long to figure out how to hook coho on the Icicle.

According to Paul Hoffarth, with Region 3 of the WDFW the fall salmon fishing season that ended on October 17th, was very popular, but anglers success was mediocre. Anglers were spending double digit hours per fish when the season ended here. I am sure that most of the guides had much better success but were working hard and trying different techniques to get fish for their clients. The lower section, Hwy 395 to old Hanford townsite powerline crossing, will remain open through October 31 as listed in the Washington Sport Fishing Rules. WDFW is expecting another good week of fishing.

I want to remind anglers that many of our region’s most popular trout lakes will be closing to fishing at the end of this month. Although some lakes closed at the end of September there are even more lakes open through October. Be sure to look at the WDFW Sportfishing Rules pamphlet to be sure that the lake you plan to fish is open to fishing. There are still many opportunities at the year-round lakes in the region.

It was beautiful on Chelan on Saturday. We usually have plenty of days like this in the fall! Get out and take advantage of them!