Northwest Fishing Reports

I was up near Lake Cle Elum today. I saw an advertisement for their 3rd annual Mackinaw Derby. It will be May 19th 2012.
When I go back up next week, I'll get better info. on who the contact person is. I can say that it is May 19th, and the cost is $40.00 to enter.
Sounds like fun.

Sounds like a blast! I love Cle Ellum, one of my favorite lakes.

3rd annual!? How'd I miss the other two?

That be fun to enter.. Besides the macs I really wanna catch a burbot in there any tips?

kind of mixed feelings on this one. I'm not sure how sustainable the fishery is with heavy pressure. It's a fun place to fish, very scenic, but in my limited number of trips I've never done that well, not like Chelan, that's for sure.

That said, I'm off that day. Hmmmm.

Fished it last year, cold but lots of fun, did not catch any but nice day... As for the the Mackinaw they are alive and well in the lake, they are trying to cut down on the population of them in the lake. The tribes are starting a new re stalking program in the lake with new salmon smolts , the problem has been the mackinaws like to feed on them. Last year they had fisheries personal on hand to check and see what the mackinaws had been feeding on, there was quite a few smolts found. At this time the mackinaws are doing well, there is not a lot of pressure on them as they are very hard to catch (at least for me)... The entry's have been limited in the past, dont know how many are going to get in this year. I signed up last month and have not heard back yet...........hope this helps some..

The last I checked the tribe did not own the lake, even if they are trying to establish a sockeye run.

not sure who owns the lake has to do with the tournament, its just for fun, as for the tribes, I think its a great thing that they are doing by trying to reestablish a fish run that has been gone since the dam was put in........ again the tournament was going before the re stalking program was started. Also the tribes donate very good to the awards program , its good for everyone involved.........................................

Yeah i see nothing bad about this, they are a great easy fish to catch and dont belong there anyway. Besides what you rather eat sockeye or mack? be awesome if you get another lake like baker lake for sockeye

I agree. Sockeye would be way cooler and tastier than macks. And from what I understand, the macks won't go anywhere soon. It will take a lot of pressure to put a dent in the fish.

stryker17 wrote:not sure who owns the lake has to do with the tournament, its just for fun, as for the tribes, I think its a great thing that they are doing by trying to reestablish a fish run that has been gone since the dam was put in........ again the tournament was going before the re stalking program was started. Also the tribes donate very good to the awards program , its good for everyone involved.........................................

It's that this is a special lake for lake trout and shouldn't be cleaned out just to benefit an attempt to establish a sockeye run.

This might why the WDFW was attempting to increase limits on the lake a couple of years ago.

Last year bodo and i were out mack hunting and were doing great but the biggest suprise was the sockeye we caught put up a superb fight! it was prob a 6 or 7lber the biggest mack we have caught was shy over 10lb and all they do is shake their heads like reeling up a big old tyre.
Maybe they should speed up the process and do a bounty, i can help but think of baker lake sockeye and their red meat going on my BBQ Will lake washington ever open again?

So who is entering the derby and anyone know the prizes?

The point of contact is Keny Selzler. Phone # 509 674 9087. I just spoke with Kenny and he is mailing me the entry forms. He said that last year he capped it at 75 people. This year he is going to let it go to 150. He feels that there is strong interest, and that it will fill up soon.
He stated it was OK for me to post his contact number here.

Quad, any idea who or what cause benefits from the $6,000 in entry fees, besides prizes?

MotoBoat wrote:Quad, any idea who or what cause benefits from the $6,000 in entry fees, besides prizes?

Huh??

$40.00 x 150 = $6,000.00

I like this retired stuff as I can sit on the sidelines and kibbutz.

Also, it should be noted smallmouth bass, largemouth bass, lake trout, brook trout, most lake rainbows, brown trout, tiger trout and a number of panfish are not native to this area.

If you like native fish you could fish for sockeye, peamouth chub, suckers, squawfish, other salmon and cutthroat trout. A lot of the rest of the fish in WA state have been planted over the years so it's not fair (or wise) to single out lake trout as being an invasive species.

The Quadfather wrote:

MotoBoat wrote:Quad, any idea who or what cause benefits from the $6,000 in entry fees, besides prizes?

Huh??

Sure, more clarification is needed. Is the sponsor a rotary club, fishing club, City of Commerce, non profit. I was just curious. Those cities/towns are not very big and was wondering what group was holding the 3rd annual Mack attack derby and if by chance Kenny might have mentioned if a special cause was the beneficiary of any profits or whom was sponsoring the event?

or 150 entrants X $40.00 per entrant fee = 6 gronday in cash, prizes, and proffit.

I took a pic of the flyer while I was in Cle Elum last weekend. The bottom of the flyer says that $5 of each entry goes towards the local football team. I also included a pic of the beach launch next to the dam for those of you who haven't yet made the trek to the lake.

G-Man,

Is the launch that you pictured actually at Spealy Beach park, just uplake from the dam, or do you take take Lake Cle Elum Dam Road? If you Google map Lake Cle elum, you will see the Lake Cle Elum Dam Road, and a seperate park nearby.

Some reports have talked about needing 4x4 to launch, obviously the lake level will have some effect on this, I guess I will have to take a look at what the beach substrate is, pure sand or gravel, etc. Lake is currently 75% full from what I've read.

the beach is fine to launch at if you have 4x4. I might have a crack at this never entered a deby before.