I ran up to Fish Lake to see how the ice was holding up and how anglers were doing. It was a very scenic drive up the Tumwater Canyon, and the gauge in my truck was reading in the high 30s. I was actually surprised to see quite a few people out on the ice when I arrived there at about mid-day.

Wednesday, January 27

I ran up to Fish Lake to see how the ice was holding up and how anglers were doing. It was a very scenic drive up the Tumwater Canyon, and the gauge in my truck was reading in the high 30s. I was actually surprised to see quite a few people out on the ice when I arrived there at about mid-day. I went over to the dock and noticed that the snow and ice was deeply rutted where people were people were walking out onto the lake. There was a group coming off the lake and I could see them doing the soft snow shuffle. That means that with each step they were breaking through the thin top layer of crust and sinking into the softer layer below. This can wear you out if you want to travel far to get to your favorite fishing spot. I asked them how they did, and the answer was that for the six of them they had fewer than 20 perch. They said the bite was pretty good first thing in the morning, but it didn’t last very long. “All of this for maybe three bites of perch,” one of them said.

Friday, January 29

I had a great day of fishing for mackinaw on Lake Chelan with Jeff Witkowski of Darrel and Dad’s Family Guide Service. We picked a great day. It was flat calm on the lake and Jeff got a hit before he could even clip the second rod to a rigger. He was fishing with his own concoction of Macks Lure components, baited with a chunk of pike minnow meat. This is the same rig he was using when he landed a lake trout of over 26 pounds a couple of weeks ago. I wanted to try some spinners I made up out of blades from the folks at Dutch Fork Custom Lures, and Jeff was willing to let me try them in the afternoon, while he fished with his favorite set up. We fished in the lower basin in water that was 150 to 240 feet deep. He liked to keep his speed around one mph. I got to reel in the fish, and did so with ten nice lakers, that ranged in size from three to six pounds. At the very end of the day, after getting a few light bites on my spinner rig, Jeff hooked what turned out to be the biggest fish of the day. I was very impressed with Jeff’s ability to find and land lakers on Chelan, and the quality of the fish was amazing.