Fishin' Reports

I mentioned in my report about the kokanee fishing at Lake Chelan that we were pestered with cutthroat. As most anglers who fish Lake Chelan know there are a lot of cutthroat trout in the lake. You can catch them in the lower basin, and I have encountered them all the way up the lake in places all the way to Stehekin. The Department of Fish and Wildlife has been planting the lake with these trout for many years. I remembered that there are folks who like to cast for them from the Monument area on Chelan and have even done this myself with success. Tuesday was a beautiful day and I decided to run up there and try it. I arrived in the afternoon and the steep hillside put the water in shadow. I found a likely spot to cast a Rooster Tail spinner and tossed it way out into the lake and let it sink. On my third cast, which I made parallel to the shore something grabbed the lure. Oh boy, I thought, a cutthroat. Nope it was a smallmouth bass. Emphasis on small. I watched the water and saw nothing rising, which is usually a sign that cutthroat are present, and decided to try again another day.