Northwest Fishing Reports

Like new sitex 126 with df transducer and carrying case. Sonar shows actual length of fish (see pics). $350

Most recommend 4 carrier for bait casting and 8 carrier for spinning, however, I use only spinning and 4 braid for thinner diameter, better abrasion resistance, stronger per diameter, and no knot slippage.

There are two Diawa j-braids, x4 (4 braid), and x8 (8 braid). x4 is similar to the other 4 braids, smaller in diameter, rougher feel, stiffer, and more abrasion resistance than the 8 braids. All the brands I have used are similar but I prefer the 4 braids for small diameter/strength and less knot sl...

Unfortunately, most companies make landscape not portrait type screens. They turn a 5" screen into a 10" screen by making it wider side to side, not bottom to top. Since the active part of a 2D sonar is only the right border, the wider screens don't really have a benefit when used a fish finder. Sim...

Screenshot from 1670f Furuno on Odell Lake. Picture shows a large lake trout, 36" per accufish (actual length 35" C/R) chasing a 1.5 oz Zzinger and showing the thermocline (temp 65-45F) at 30'. Right margin below 0.00 is amplitude scope that is the live feed from transducer. Of the two lines going d...

Here is a screen shot from Odell Lake 2016 July where thousands of Kokanee stack up near Trapper Creek. The sonar is a Furuno 1670f with accufish which shows individual fish with the actual length of each fish. When accufish is turned on, the 50/200 frequencies blend togther. The fish length shows w...

Here is a link from the Washington trail blazers on lake trout stocking: http://www.watrailblazers.org/science/crawford/#misclaketrout" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; If the lakes have not been rehabilitated and they are over 70' deep, then the lakes planted with lake trout usually ha...

Most sonar companies make larger screens by extending the dimensions horizontally instead of vertically. Sitex imports an awesome FF from S Korea by Haiyang called SVS 760F. It has a vertical orientation with 800 x 480 pixels (7.5" tall) There is also a GPS combo unit. It has a fish size indicator s...

I agree with Mike, Chelan definitely has more fish than Cle Elum.

Bear lake was planted with mackinaw in 1996.

Montana has a lake with a similar history to those near Spokane that was planted in the mid 80's with Lewis Lake Strain lake trout. Montana manages the lake as a trophy fishery with a daily limit of one over 30 lbs. Those Spokane lakes probably have large fish also since they don't seem to get a lot...

I don't believe the Dragonfly units have a sonar recording or screenshot capability for the person who likes to play back their sonar recordings/history.

Furuno 1670F has a 5" screen, accu-fish, bottom discrimination, the best bottom lock, a 2 year warranty, and cost around $500. The HQ USA is in Camas, Wa and the units are made in Japan.

Josh, thanks for the update on Bead Lake. The saddle just north of mineral bay is a good spot. Here are two links to Bead Lake, an old cool looking fishing map and the original planting records for lake trout (you have to scroll down a few screens to find Bead on the planting records). http://news.g...

Here is a buzz bomb going down past a ball of kokanee and a mackinaw zigzagging up 20 feet from 98 feet to grab lure and head to the bottom.

Burbot are native to Cle Elum lake and are being trapped in the gill nets along with all of the other species found in the lake. Burbot,like walleye and perch, are physoclists which mean they can't expel air from their air bladders when brought up from the deep and suffer barotrauma. The agency gill...

All good comments. Just want to put in a plug for lake trout R/T fight. Cle Elum doesn't have mysis shrimp like Chelan so the majority of fish are 60-120' on the bottom even in the summer and average about 31" (10 lbs). I have only had one small fish about 6 lbs. that suffered barotrauma on Cle Elum...

Here is a link R/T the gillnetting of Cle Elum mackinaw on facebook.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set ... 538&type=3" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Since there is another mackinaw tournament scheduled, does that mean that the gillnetting has ended?

39" L X 25 G" X 25 G" divided by 800= 30 lbs 7 oz. We C/R all of our fish so this is the method we use without touching the gills. We usually leave the fish in the water in the net to measure but this one got her teeth tangled up, probably thought she had a hold of a big kok.