For FishingMagician.com, I'm Eric Granstrom. To the average observer, it sure seems like Lake Chelan has been putting out more Chinook the past two seasons. So I decided to call up Travis Maitland and ask him about what's going on. Travis is the area biologist in Chelan and Douglas Counties with the Department of Fish and Wildlife. He told me that the numbers of Chinook in Chelan have risen over the past two or three years, but it's by no means booming. He said the continual run of Chinook Salmon land-locked in Chelan ebbs and flows just like everything else. He said the fish today are from the gene pool of salmon that were raised in net pens from 1974 to 1993. From 1994 to 2016, Chinook destined for Chelan were raised in hatcheries and because of lack of space, they were smaller when released, which didn't work. It got to the point after 2016 where the program was discontinued. But Maitland says there's a strong run that returns each fall to the Stehekin River and spawns. He says if you're lucky enough to land a Chelan Chinook, it's going to go very nicely on the grill. Until next time, Good Fishing!