I had a lot of catching up to do after being out of the country for a week, then getting back just in time for the Thanksgiving holiday. I hear there are some good angling opportunities for a variety of species, and I am eager to get out there and get in on the action.

Whether you want to catch rainbow trout, cutthroat trout, kokanee and even Chinook salmon, you can do it all at Lake Chelan. Every year, in November, the Department of Fish and Wildlife plant a bunch of catchable rainbow in Roses Lake. This year they put 25,000 catchables in the lake and even threw in some jumbos. There is a great boat launch and parking area on Roses and some good spots to fish from shore. The WDFW has created some very nice accesses for those who like to cast their baits from the bank. Anglers are also catching good numbers of cutthroat on Chelan. They can be caught from about any dock, and Mill Bay is a good spot, too. I have had good success casting from the Monument area on the south shore. I have found a good old Rooster Tail spinner to be a good lure to attract strikes from the cutthroat. Most of the cutthroat I have caught have been in the 12 inch class, but there are some bigger ones out there. Trolling is a good way to catch cutthroat, and many anglers will run a shallow rod or two, with a Mag Lips 3.0, while fishing for kokanee on their downriggers. Kokanee are being caught from the lower basin, near Rocky Point and Chelan Shores to above the Yacht Club. The reports I hear say the kokanee are running in two sizes: from 9 to 10 inches and then 11 to 12 inches. Chinook action can be decent this time of year, trolling 60 to 90 feet from across Mill Bay to below the Blue Roofs. Small plug-cut herring are still a good bait to present to cruising salmon. Another Chelan area fishery that is often overlooked this time of year is Antillon Lake for the brown trout. I had a good morning fishing for browns here from a float tube when there was three inches of snow on the ground. I didn’t last long in the chilly water, but I was busy catching fish with my flyrod while I was out there.

Whenever I mention that I am going to do a load of fish in my smoker I have people message me, asking how I do it. Some want to try smoking fish for the first time and others just want to compare what they do with my method. So, as I prepared a load, I took the time to take a series of photos. I show the big crock that I use layer the fish in as I add the Kosher salt, brown sugar and basil. I don’t ever measure anything, but in the photos, you can see the amount of salt, sugar and basil that I add to the fish. You can find this series of photos on the Fishing Magician Facebook page. This is basically the same process and ingredients that I have used for about 40 years. One thing that has changed in recent years is that I use Kosher salt instead of rock salt. I really think it improves the flavor. Also, after I rinse the brine off the fish and lay the fillets in the trays, I set up the smoker and start the heat. This gives the fish time to dry. I use a Bradley smoker that is a very well insulted box, so even on a chilly day, I can finish a full load of sockeye in about three hours. This smoker has an automatic feed feature, so I just need to watch my temperatures. I try to keep the heat at about 160 degrees. If it gets much hotter it can cook the fat right out of the fish and make it too dry.

One of the things that anglers here in Central Washington State can be thankful for is the tremendous returns of sockeye to the region. This year over 755,000 sockeye passed over Bonneville Dam, and the vast majority of them were headed for our area. This was a new record for sockeye returns to the Columbia River, and another record was set for a fishery much closer to my home here in Leavenworth. At Tumwater Dam on the Wenatchee River over 190,000 sockeye were counted. This beat the previous record by over 73,000 fish and was nearly double the preseason forecast of 97,000. When I first moved to Leavenworth in the late 90s, we wouldn’t get enough fish for a season maybe every four years. In 1999 only 1,172 were counted. The big numbers of sockeye that return to Lake Wenatchee are small compared to the huge numbers that make their way up the Columbia and into Canada. The count at Wells Dam totaled over 490,000 sockeye last year. Mother Nature is largely responsible for these terrific numbers. Good escapement from the spawning beds, good ocean conditions and available feed all combine to make sockeye the biggest return of salmon on the Columbia. I also wanted to mention that there is a tribal hatchery across the border near Penticton, B.C. that can release up to five million sockeye smolts. Several tribes and even Chelan and Douglas County PUDs have helped make this facility a real contributor to sockeye returns to our region. This week’s photo is of sockeye spawning in the White River.

Steelhead are still being caught on the Methow River, but not at the rate they were earlier this season. Anglers are taking fish on the main stem Columbia as well. Some are having consistent success this season.

If you drive over the I-90 Bridge in Moses Lake, you will probably see a bunch of anglers fishing from the bridge. The perch and crappie fishing is holding up well this winter. I want to get down there and get a bunch of perch. The last batch I cooked were delicious!