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And this report is Part Two of my wife JoAnn and my trip to lake Cle Elum. This report focuses on a under-utilized kokanee fishery on the lake.

I’ll start with a couple factoids:

Cle Elum has a kokanee limit of 16 (yes, that’s sixteen) fish. In year’s past they have had a rule requiring anglers release all kokanee over 14”. The reason for this is Cle Elum is being studied as a lake which may host a sockeye return, like Baker and lake Wenatchee. The tribes have truck sockeye into the lake, and they don’t want people bringing them home, hence the 14” limit. I was not able to find this restriction in the regs or special rules on the WDFW site for this year. That said, I decided to be cautious and release anything over 14”.

We fished Monday evening and Sunday morning using only two rods (stacked) as the other downrigger and rods were dedicated to lake trout. Cle Elum allows two rods if you have the endorsement. We used standard kokanee gear, and shrimp+corn for tasty treats for the kokanee.

I had expected to find dinky 7-9” kokanee and lots of them. What we found was a total surprise.

I’ll say this – Cle Elum is a totally over-looked kokanee fishery. We have virtually no fishing reports on the kokanee in this lake. I had assumed because of that it wasn’t worth bothering with. Well, at only 85 miles from Seattle, after this report maybe we’ll see a few more people taking advantage of the resource. Yesterday and today JoAnn and I had the lake totally to ourselves. There was not one other boat fishing the lake. This is a 4,000 + acre lake with zero fishing pressure! Remember we were all flooding to Chelan for its excellent spring kokanee fishing? Well, here’s your tip – give Cle Elum a try!

Monday evening we started fishing the kokanee around 6pm and really only had about two hours. It was tough because the wind was up, but even so we got two fish to the boat and lost two. But the biggest surprise was these were not dinks, but chunky 13-14” kokanee! I was shocked, amazed and impressed. And of course, scratching my head because no one is targeting these fish.

Tuesday morning we had moored the boat, so I had lines in the water by 5am. The fishing was slow. I began to wonder if all the fish were down closer to the dam were we had fished before. Then it started. A fish here, a fish there, gradually picking up steam as the morning progressed until at 10:30am we had a hot bite going on. I found the fish to be VERY aggressive to changes in depth. I would see fish on the fish finder, and bring the rigs up 5-7 feet quickly. This triggered a bite several times. Also effective was to release the line when I saw fish and let the gear come to the surface. This would trigger a fish bite as well. It got so if I saw a group of kokanee marks I was pretty certain we would get bit. The kokanee were scattered so you just have to keep on the move until you run into a group.

I ran my gear at 75 ft and 60 ft, and first thing in the AM at 60 and 45 ft. We used classic colors, pink/white and red/white mini hoochies and dodger-type attractors. The bite was not a classic first thing in the AM bite. It really got rolling 8-9 AM. We ended up catching seven nice kokanee and losing 2-3 others. And this was only using two rods. So OK, not killer fishing, but pretty darn good AND I think running another rod or two would have really upped our catch numbers. BTW, we also caught one of those sockeyes that (I assume) have been put in the lake. Unfortunately the video didn't turn out of it. We did not bring it into the boat. The bite died at around 11am and we called it a day.

So there you have it. Another kokanee lake for your exploration. Please post a report if you go. I’d like to hear what your experience was.

Mordalphus

7/2/2013 7:55:00 PM

You make me wish I had a boat, Mike!

I grew up spending whole summers around Easton and Cle Elum, our family had property right on the Yakima River, so we were akalways fishing and crawdadding around there. Makes me yearn for my youth again!

Great report, if I get a boat some day and learn how to use it, I'll be sure to fish Cle Elum.

downriggeral

7/2/2013 8:00:00 PM

Beauties Mike. So just a curious question; why do you stack with only two rods in the water instead of running one on each downrigger?
Thanks - Alan

downriggeral

7/2/2013 8:06:00 PM

Answered my own question....read first report. Thanks Mike.

G-Man

7/2/2013 8:11:00 PM

Very interesting indeed! The kokes I have caught in this lake were much like the ones I've caught in Kachess, in the 6 to 9 inch range and lots of them. Makes me wonder if the fish in Kachess are bigger this year as well.

Mike Carey

7/2/2013 8:14:00 PM

We have the two rod endorsement so with two downriggers we run two rods off each downrigger. So for this trip we ran two kokanee rods on one DR and a laker rod on the other DR.

buzzbob

7/2/2013 9:36:00 PM

There is a new slot limit on kokanee (7"-14") on Cle Elum and Cooper lakes starting 7-3.

Mike Carey

7/2/2013 9:40:00 PM

I would guess that is for the sockeye protection. I predict a lot of the kokanee in this lake come August will be 14-15" and have to be released. Guess I could have kept the big one we released. It was around 22" I'm guessing.

buzzbob

7/2/2013 9:54:00 PM

Sorry for the confusion. The fish have to be released if they are >14'' or <7". Here is the reg:

Cle Elum Lake, Cooper Lake get 7 to 14 inch slot limit for kokanee
Action: Adopt a minimum size limit of 7 inches and a maximum size limit of 14 inches total length for retention of kokanee in Cle Elum Lake and Cooper Lake

Effective date: July 3, 2013 until further notice

Species affected: Kokanee (landlocked sockeye salmon; Oncorhynchus nerka)

Locations: Cle Elum Lake (Reservoir) and Cooper Lake in Kittitas County

Reason for action: The Yakama Nation and Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife are continuing the reintroduction of anadromous (sea-going) sockeye salmon in the upper Cle Elum Basin that began in 2009. Very few, if any, anadromous adult sockeye will be smaller than 16 inches and few landlocked kokanee are greater than 12 inches, therefore a 14-inch maximum size limit will allow kokanee fisheries in both lakes to proceed without inadvertently harvesting adult sockeye dedicated to the reintroduction effort and needed for natural spawning in the fall. The 7-inch minimum size for retention will protect juvenile anadromous sockeye rearing in the two lakes from being inadvertently harvested before they smoltify and migrate to the ocean.

Other information: The daily limit in Lake Cle Elum remains the same (16 kokanee), see Page 87 in the 2013-14 sport fishing rules pamphlet. The daily limit for all trout (including kokanee) remains five fish in Cooper Lake.

salmonbarry

7/2/2013 10:05:00 PM

Where did you launch from Mike?

MotoBoat

7/2/2013 11:06:00 PM

Mike, last day of fishing at Chelan. There was mention in your report. That there was some concern there may not be 2 stroke oil in the gas for the kicker. Was that he case? How long was the kicker running on non mixed gas? Kicker worked fine, on this two day trip?

Mike Carey

7/3/2013 6:46:00 AM

Launched out of Wish Poosh ramp. Lake is full-plus, water into the brush/trees. BTW, two moms and their kids decided they were going to set up on the ramp - blankets, giant sun shade, and kids wading and swimming,. They asked me were they in the way? Seriously? I told them, well it is a BOAT RAMP. They got the message and left in a huff. Unbelievable.

MotoBoat, motor runs fine. I dodged that bullet.

Mike Carey

7/3/2013 6:49:00 AM

So I'm betting in the next month catching incidental sockeye on kokanee gear will be not unusual. It was obvious to me what it was so I had no question about releasing it. It was cool to catch one.

Steelheadin360

7/3/2013 7:13:00 AM

I was thinking they were gonna be dinks too. Thats one of the reasons I havent gone and fished it

Trouttrakr

8/2/2013 12:05:00 PM

Well we have decided to take the boat and family out there on the 9th. I've never fished it myself due to the reputation of being wind blown and not much fishing, but I'm liking what I hear and its a much easier trip then Chelan. So, I will let you all know how it goes that weekend. Probably going to fish the rivers as well.

Mike Carey

8/2/2013 4:05:00 PM

Great, yes, please post a report . We will be back August 11th.

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