Monday, March 18

With the Methow River closing to steelhead fishing soon and the fishing really slowing on the main stem Columbia River, anglers have the Wenatchee River remaining to chase these prized fish.

The upper reaches of the river are providing the best action.

Other anglers are looking for something else to do, and there are a few good options.

I am getting reports of excellent fishing for really big kokanee on Lake Chelan.

Yup. Big surprise.

I will know more about this and will be sharing what I have learned in my next report.

I expect many anglers will be heading to the top end of Rufus Woods Reservoir now to fish for walleye.

It can be very good in the spring on the Buckley and Nespelem bars.

Don't expect to be bothered by the triploids this year.

They are scarce.

Anglers are also finding good fishing for big kokanee and rainbow above Grand Coulee Dam.

Get on the kokanee right now before they go deep.

If you like to catch really big rainbow, both Potholes Reservoir and Banks Lake are good places to look for them in the spring.

Also, the ice is off Roses Lake, and it's going fast at Fish Lake near Lake Wenatchee.

Wednesday, March 20

I made it up to Lake Chelan to see if those big kokanee were actually being caught, and yes they are.

I fished last Friday with Shane Magnuson, Upper Columbia Guide Service, and while we tried for kings for a while, we got into the kokanee off Rocky Point.

We got three fish right away and then it went dead.

We looked all over for fish but didn't get another one till be got back to Rocky Point.

I went again on Sunday with Eric Granstrom and Gary Feil.

We made one pass at Rocky Point and when I didn't see any fish on the sounder ran over to Peterson's on the other side.

We got into fish immediately. We had four doubles on.

We landed five kokanee and lost six in just over an hour.

Then the fish disappeared. We kept looking but never really got into another bite when the wind blew us off.

The fish were 15 to 18 inches, and we got them on small trout dodgers and hoochies on a short leader. They were all at about 75 feet. I am heading for the Yakima to do a float with the boys from Troutwater. I did a float with them last year and really had a blast. I can't wait to get on the water with Johnny Boitano again!

Friday, March 22

I had a great day on Wednesday, floating the Yakima River at the bottom end of the canyon.

I was fishing with Johnny Boitano of the Troutwater Fly Shop in Ellensburg and Rollie Schmitten. While many think that it is way too early to be fishing on the Yakima, Boitano has shown me that fishing can be terrific this time of year.

In spite of a mix of weather that included snow, rain and some hefty gusts of wind, we hooked over 20 rainbow on the float.

We caught many of them on stone flies with drop small nymphs below them, but we also got a good number of fish on dry flies.

The Yakima gets hatches of Skwala, which are large bugs that the trout really love starting right about now, and also see hatches of March Browns at this time, too.

The water was a little high and slightly off color, but not enough to prevent good fishing.

We pretty much had the river to ourselves, which is another reason to consider a trip on the Yakima.

The guys at Troutwater really know the river and what's happening on it and I would highly recommend a trip with them. The sooner the better.