01-02-2025 REELLIFE DIGITAL - Flipbook - Page 8
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Central Washington offers
some great opportunities
for anglers this year
including river fishing, open
water fishing in big lakes or
reservoirs, and ice fishing
in smaller lakes. Here are
five solid bets for you this
winter.
well. Brad Wagner, owner
of Bobber Down Guide
Service out of Wenatchee
(www.fishwenatchee.com)
reported one of his guides
took a couple of clients out
on a trip and they came
back with not only lake
trout, but several kokanee
and burbot.
LAKE CHELAN
Wagner says the kokanee
last year were averaging
14 to 15 inches long. So far
post-spawn, the kokanee
are running around
12-inches long and most of
them are being caught up
the lake.
This 50-mile-long lake in
North Central Washington
is known for its lake trout,
the largest often caught
during the winter months.
One person who knows
this for a fact is Wenatchee
resident Phil Colyar,
who hauled a 35-pound,
10-ounce Mackinaw out of
this lake in 2013. It’s a state
record that stands to this
day.
While lake trout fishing
gets a lot of attention,
there are other fish that
can be caught during
the winter months as
As for the burbot, they were
a common sight at the lake
until about 15 years ago
when a virus nearly wiped
them out. Wagner says
the burbot population has
bounced back though and
if you jig for them in rocky
areas about 150-feet below
the surface, there is a good
chance you will tie into one.
RUFUS WOODS
RESERVOIR
The record lake trout may
have been taken at Lake
Chelan but the record
resident rainbow trout
was caught out of Rufus
Woods Reservoir. Norm
Butler accomplished that
feat on Veteran’s Day of
2002 when he reeled in a
29.6-pound triploid rainbow
trout from the 51-milelong impoundment of the
Columbia River above Chief
Joseph Dam at Bridgeport.
Many anglers will jig for
these trout out of boats
near the net pens operated
by the Colville Tribe. You
can fish from shore on the
Colville Reservation side of
the reservoir, but you will
need a tribal fishing permit
to do so. You can also fish
from shore on Washington
State land just above Chief
Joseph Dam or from a
federal site called Brandt’s
Landing on the Douglas
