Mornings are becoming downright chilly throughout the region now. However, daytime temperatures are mild, even warm. This should encourage anglers to get out on the water to take advantage of some of the many good fishing opportunities. Some very popular fisheries are closing at the end of the month.
As we get closer to the end of October I wanted to remind anglers that there are many lakes closing to fishing until next spring. Looking through the Washington Sportfishing pamphlet, I see that Okanogan County has the highest number of lakes closing. Many of these are very popular with trout anglers, and the fall fishing for trout has been good to excellent this fall. Here are a few of the lakes that are high on angler’s lists to fish each year: Alta Lake, near Pateros, Big Twin, near Winthrop, Conconully Lake and Conconully Reservoir and nearby Fish Lake, north of Omak, Blue Lake, in the Sinlahekin Valley, Blue Lake, near Wanacut Lake, Wanacut Lake and Lake Chopaka, east of Oroville, Pearrygin, near Winthrop, and Spectacle, north of Tonasket. Some of these are multi- species lakes and several of these lakes are “quality” lakes with special rules, like single barbless hooks and no bait. There are a few lakes in Grant County also closing at the end of October. These include Park, Blue and Deep lakes, north of Ephrata. Also, a lake that is producing some large trout this fall is Jameson Lake in Douglas County.
The sun was shining and it was a beautiful day earlier this week, so I thought I would take a short road trip to Fish Lake. The drive up through Tumwater Canyon was exceptionally scenic with the fall colors in bloom, and the construction delay was brief. When I arrived at the Cove Resort I saw that the small rental boats were stacked on the shore, but the pontoon boats were still at the docks. I also saw a good number of people on the fishing dock, and I walked out to see if they were catching any trout. Were they ever! I saw two trout landed as I stepped onto the dock and a couple showed me the bucket that they were keeping their trout in, and it was filling fast. I am not certain, but it appeared that there must have been a recent plant of rainbow in Fish Lake, as the trout were abundant and hungry. Most of them were 11 to 12 inches. Last winter people were catching 15- to 17-inch fish so the carryovers could be 18 inches or longer. This is an excellent time of year to troll Wooly Bugger flies on Fish Lake.
Last year at this time I traveled to Moses Lake to do a video project for the city, and my friend James Lebow took me around the lake in his boat. When we were driving down the lake and passed under the I-90 Bridge we found a bunch of boats fishing on the down lake side of the bridge. We told ourselves that when we came back we were going to find out what was happening there. Turned out that they were all fishing for crappie. We tried but couldn’t get a bite while people all around us were catching fish. While under the bridge we watched an angler, who was fishing above us on the bridge, pull in fish after fish. He yelled down that we needed to put on a bright green jig. James dug through his tackle box and found one and he started catching crappie, too. The screen on his fish finder was filled with a crappie, but without the right presentation they wouldn’t bite. I have heard that crappie are back in this spot on Moses Lake and I plan to get down there soon, armed with several different jigs that are green of course! This week’s photo is of me with a Moses Lake crappie.
When I was living in Chelan about 30 years ago, most people started kokanee fishing in May. I remember being part of a big fleet of boats trolling off Lakeside Park. This fleet would disappear by July. Local anglers figured that the kokanee had moved up the lake and stopped fishing for them. Since then, the attitude about when you can catch kokanee on Lake Chelan has changed. Now you will find anglers out chasing kokanee every month of the year. I used to fish for kokanee in the fall and winter starting above the Yacht Club. I would usually start around Green’s Landing and fish up the lake to the White Fences, and then work my way down, and even catch kokanee in the Yacht Club Channel. In subsequent years I learned that I could even catch them in the Lower Basin, which I consider to be down lake of Mill Bay. One of my favorite places to start in the winter is Rocky Point. I don’t even have to change tactics. I used the same blades, spinners, and hoochies I fished in the spring and summer. I may slow my trolling speed a bit, but that’s about it.
If you are like me and frustrated when trying to set my trolling speed with the throttle handle on your kicker motor, you’ll want to check out the Innotech Marine Accutroll system. When you have installed the device on your kicker motor, it locks onto the exact trolling speed you set and maintains it, no matter the wind, waves or current. The Accutroll device reads your boat speed from GPS or paddle wheel sensors, then makes precise trolling speed adjustments. There are video and text instructions on how to install the device on the Accutroll web site, and there are two ways you can use it. I chose to go with the app. After scanning the QR code, I just followed the prompts and was able to control the kicker from my phone in no time. It was easy to set my idle speed and trolling speed range on my phone. There are several features and “add ons” that open even more information from your kicker motor. I am very impressed with the ease of use with the device, and you can learn all about it at Accutroll.com.
