Lake Cle Elum - Lake Trout

[DuckDogTitus]

Has anyone taken their C-Dory to lake Cle Elum? I am wondering about available facilities (boat launch.. is there a dock to moor up and sleep or can we anchor up somewhere, etc). My brother and I were going to chase some Makinaw this weekend and the only two lakes I know of with good Makinaw reports are Chelan and Cle Elum, with Cle Elum being 1/2 the drive.

 

[chromer]

Thats a reservoir we used to fish in high school. at that time (70's) the lake drained mostly for irrigation and so there were on dirt ramps. Where ever you could back down ,you could launch. I recall only catching trout (not many) but didnt try from mackinaw. I think the Chelan idea is better if you can go that far

 

[DuckDogTitus]

someone on WA Lakes recommended Wish Poosh campsite and boat launch.... I am thinking we will leave early enough on Friday that if the boat launch is not reasonable for the 22 we can just keep on trucking to Chelan. Cle Elum is 1/2 the drive (and Sun Country golf course is great) so it would be nice to learn their fishery if we could. I have seen big Maks come out of there but never tried for them myself.

 

[DuckDogTitus]

Looks like we will indeed by going to Chelan tomorrow. If all goes well, we will have had the boat for about 4 weeks, with five outings on four different bodies of water.

 

[digger]

On Lake Chelan a caution. Make sure you go downlake towards Stehekin in the morning. The lake can get some nasty storms in the afternoon. Also, there are limited safe areas to duck in out of the wind, mostly on the port side going uplake. lucerne has a landing, and there is another a couple of miles prior to it. Have a lake map and check for safe areas. Right downtown on the lake near the outlet is located, and where the Chelan Ferry departs there is a forest service office that has maps, and can provide boating advice. Watch for whitecaps. There is a launch at 25mile creek, which brings you a good way uplake, however the parking is limited. About 12 miles further uplake there is another safe harbor. Lucerne is about another 10 miles uplake past that safe harbor. After Lucerne, it is about 9 miles to Stehekin where there is more camping, and fuel (usually). I would check all details at the USFS in Chelan, or with the Ferry dock people. Ron

 

[starcrafttom]

what are you fishing with? I love large broken back flat fish for lakers. Lots of action at a slow speed.

 

[DuckDogTitus]

On Lake Chelan a caution. Make sure you go downlake towards Stehekin in the morning. The lake can get some nasty storms in the afternoon. Also, there are limited safe areas to duck in out of the wind, mostly on the port side going uplake. lucerne has a landing, and there is another a couple of miles prior to it. Have a lake map and check for safe areas. Right downtown on the lake near the outlet is located, and where the Chelan Ferry departs there is a forest service office that has maps, and can provide boating advice. Watch for whitecaps. There is a launch at 25mile creek, which brings you a good way uplake, however the parking is limited. About 12 miles further uplake there is another safe harbor. Lucerne is about another 10 miles uplake past that safe harbor. After Lucerne, it is about 9 miles to Stehekin where there is more camping, and fuel (usually). I would check all details at the USFS in Chelan, or with the Ferry dock people. Ron

thank you for the my info Ron! one of the things I searched out on this trip was possible refueling stops before we launched. I'm venturing further and further these days. my first trip to Chelan a few years ago was in the Lund and I never ventured far from launch with that boat even though it was a great and somewhat large-for-its-class boat. Even so, Within a mile or so of the launch I recall how nasty the weather and waves had been so its something that is always on my mind. I have a goal of exploring stehekin this year for the first time, but I'm working my way up in baby steps. Been doing a lot of research everywhere I go these days, looking for marinas with fuel, overnight, launches, etc. I found Kellys Resort at Chelan and after we trolled through the entire 2 stroke tank we refueled at Kellys. From there... we drove East a few more miles to explore some of those USFS campsites you mention. There are some really neat finds up there, planning on coming back this summer!

This weekends trip was our second overnight on the boat, and the 5th outting so far... my brother and I drove over to Chelan yesterday, launched and fished for a couple hours before mooring up all alone the lakeshore park for the night, then put in a long day today.

Tom, we tried a few things but that's what got them eventually, flat fish trolled right along the bottom down by the yacht club.

all in all, spent another night on the boat, got some time out with my brother, clocked about 58 more miles and caught fish.

:thup