Lake Roosevelt and Lake Chelan

[caw]

I'm traveling to Seattle to have new canvas installed late April or early May. Plan to spend a few days on Lake Roosevelt and then Lake Chelan while in transit. Does anyone have experience with the weather conditions at these two locations in mid-April. Is this too early for these two lakes?? I thought I might try to beat the crowds.


Charlie (CAW)

[Jeff & Mimi]

[starcrafttom]

Chalen can be windy in the after noons with out any place to hide, but thats all year. lots of great camp grounds up and down the lake with docks but no protection from the wind. 25 mile camp , which has gas, is the only dock on that end of the lake with a outer wall to protect you from the wind. not sure is the fuel pumps are open in april. You can drive to it and camp in the camp ground with your boat at the docks. No sure if its open in april but a really nice set up.

[lloyds]

Did you ever fish there tom?

[Anita Marie]

Just be aware that the Lake Chelan gets drawn down for the power plant and at that time of the year the lake may be low. I have seen 25 mile campground were the water was so low that you can't launch or get gas and that was in May.
We have had a mild winter with a small smow pack so the lake may be even lower than usual.

[Overload]

Charllie,


The lake is drawn way down through out the winter and early spring to make room for the spring runoff (going to be a lot less this year). I don't use 25 mile this time of year due to this. The best launch is actually at Wapato Point just before Manson on the north side of the lake. About 15 min above the City of Chelan. The launch and parking there are excellent. Tom is correct regarding the wind on the lake in the afternoons, as well as the numerous campgrounds. One catch though, you must have a Federal permit to use the campgrounds as they are USFS and NPS facilities. Depending where you come through the area, you can check with the Forest Service in Wenatchee at the west end of the US 2 bridge over the Columbia River by the stop light on Easy Street or the Chelan Ranger station at the end of Lake Chelan just out of down town.

Hope this helps.

Doug
Lil' Brother

[hardee]

Doug said:

[localboy]

We used to do a Banks Lake campout every July. Beautiful lake. May be another option.

[starcrafttom]

when I was there I did not get to fish because of engine trouble on the old boat.

the lake has trout and lake trout With no limit on the lake trout. Its a downrigger or jig show in deep water.

http://www.darrellanddads.com/

this guy is the local expert that i have heard good things about. His report page is worth reading.

[Pat Anderson]

Does my Geezer Permit that I got for Powell, covering federal recreation areas, cover Lake Chelan campgrounds, or are you talking about some other permit?

[Catch 22]

if you want the big trout in chelan, fish just on the chelan side of the narrows right on the bottom, its really deep, but if you get your stuff to the bottom they are very plentiful. Pop gear right on the surface in the evening along the shore will yield plenty of small rainbows

deer point is the best campground in my opinion. nice dock, sites, and bathrooms. pics in my album

[T.R. Bauer]

I have never fished Chelan, but I have fished the heck out of Roosevelt. In fact, I consider the fishing so good in Roosevelt I bought a boat and left it there as every year I visit family in Spokane and need something to do on the days they are working or busy. At any rate, Roosevelt will likely be drawn down then, but that doesn't mean the fishing will be lousy as it will be very good down near Spring Canyon by the dam. In fact, the launch at Spring Canyon is almost always open. Here is a link that tells the lake elevation and which launches are operational at what level: http://www.lrf.org/Rec/Rec-CampBoatLaunch.html. From there you can just compare the elevation of the launch to the actual lake level and launch accordingly.

While I hate to let the secret out, the fish are right near the surface that time of year and all you need to do is stop by one of the outdoor stores and by a giant fly and troll it around at 1.8-2.5 mph. You want it to be in the top 10 feet of the water column. The perch colored ones work well, as do the white ones. You will catch a number of 4-5 pound hard fighting rainbows if you follow this advice. Some good areas to troll around are Split Rock, the sand cliffs right near 7 Bays to Hawk Creek, and the big giant rock that sticks up like 1200 feet in the air just past the Sterling point boaters campground.

[Overload]

OK, Charlie, Harvey, Pat, et.al.,

I too have the "Old Geezer" pass and unfortunately, that doesn't do it!

What is required is a Lake Chelan Federal Dock Site permit. You can get a one time $10.00 (I think) or a Season Permit $40.00. (It's a $50.00 fine if caught without one!) With this you have use of the campgrounds associated with the docks at those locations. The Twentyfive Mile and Lake Chelan State Parks require the usual State Park permits/launch fees. The other 16 Boat-in Camp Sites (including Stehekin at the head of the lake) are covered by the Federal Permit. A regular state fishing license is required for Lake Chelan.

There is a real good fan fold borchure titled: Discover Lake Chelan a Self Guided Boat Tour and Walking Tour of Stehekin. This shows the full 55 mile length of the lake, all camp sites and a few paragraph narative of each site.

For those interested in more information, the best source would be:

US Forest Service/National Park Service
Chelan Ranger District 428 W. Woodin Chelan, WA 98816
509-682-2576 www.fs.fed.us/r6/wenatchee

Good luck to all and enjoy!

Doug
Lil' Brother

[hardee]

Thanks Doug,

I've been up and down the lake a dozen times, canoed most of the length once, and did the whole thing in a 12 ft Zodiac one time. Even boat hitchhiked from Cold Water Creek to Chelan and back one time. Back then the forrest camps on the lake were pack it in and pack it out, and no fee.


Thanks for the tip on the brochure. I used to have one that had the whole lake and bottom contour as well.

Harvey
SleepyC

[caw]

Thanks for all the imput on these two lakes. I will factor all this into the equation before I decide on an early spring trip. May just go for it. If anyone plans a trip to either lake ,let me know.



Charlie [CAW]