For this week's Holy Moly Report we got to cover some ground in Washington State. Fresh and Saltwater, big and tasty to small and feisty. This last weekend had it all. Starting with Saturday I got the invite to head eastward with my buddy Sean to chase some Lake Chelan Kokanee. We started at 2:30am Saturday morning and headed over the pass. Arriving on the lake just after sunrise we began searching for the Chelan silver bullets.
Fishing wasn't red hot to start out with and frankly it was a tough bite all day as the fish were spread out. But when we found a pod we got bit. It was a tackle box shuffle, trying to find the setup they wanted. I ended up finding success with the Rocky Mountain Tackle watermelon signature dodger paired with a orange/silver RMT squid with a mini smile blade. Sean had good success with and orange/white vance dodger paired with a mini pink squid. Both corn and maggots were effective in the morning, where corn took over the afternoon bite.
Our big fish came in pairs! Nothing is better than seeing doubles, and we found all of our big fish coming in two. Big, fat and healthy kokanee from Chelan.
Sunday brought a change of pace for me. It was the lingcod opener (one of my favorite fisheries) but I needed to catch up on some sleep from the lack of it the day before. I chose instead to hit the afternoon tides with the pontoon and had a blast. No lings for me but found some good flounder action to make it fun.
Sunday evening provided a great pit stop before heading home by hitting the local lake for some triploid trout. I was running one of my go to trout rigs; an Xfactor tackle miracle worm behind a wiggle fin disc. Creates a crankbait action to the worm and draws a lot of strikes. I set out and it was a perfect evening to rinse off the pontoon. The fish were active and on the bite. A fun night to catch and release on ultralight gear. (Look for this rig coming soon in a tip article)
As the sun was setting I found what I was searching for as my rod doubled over and line peeling. A nice 18" triploid was hooked. He can flying out of the water and put on a show. I was able to cradle him into the net and snapped a couple shots before setting him on his way. What a fun fight on 6lb test.
Monday morning came with a new day and new opportunity, big lingcod! I got the call to join an old baseball coach on his boat to go chase some lings on the sound. I jumped all over that opportunity and we set off to go catch some bait first. After loading up on flounder, we were ready to hit the bar to find the lings. Fishing live flounder in this location is best done with 4-8oz weights dependent on the tides as you are only in 60-80ft of water. For this I prefer the Dave's Tangle Free large weights. Not only did I fish them all day, I didn't snag up once. I even got to set my own personal best lingcod over 42" oversize ling. Absolutely amazing fish and something I wont forget. After a quick photo, she was safely released.
We ended up getting one keeper for the boat as well. Such a great day. Cannot argue with perfect weather and big fish. God blessed us.
Hope everyone had a great weekend and had a chance to get out and enjoy the wonderful weather. I can't wait for my next adventure on the water. God Bless and Fish On!