Lake Chelan King Salmon Fail...sort of

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Winter is a great time to target Chelan's resident land locked Chinook Salmon. I've caught several while targeting Kokanee but have never purposefully target them.
Tackle featured in this video:
- Mack's DD Dodger: amzn.to/3XKI8vx
- Luhr Jensen Herring Dodger 2/0: amzn.to/3JLLwQZ
- Brad's Mini Cut Plug: amzn.to/47oMXyH
- Matzuo Sickle Hooks 1 and 1/0: amzn.to/3D0Mhlw
- Humminbird Helix MSI G4: amzn.to/44mp8pk
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[@returnofsid]

Pause, wait a minute, did you say you're fairly fatigued, after just 3 hours, INTO the wind??? Now you're just bragging! I doubt I could do it for an hour, without collapsing! Though I sure would love to be able to! Okay, back to the show!

[@IcicleTV]

Yes, more Chelan! It's the best one! Thank you!

[@anglersnw]

Interesting video, as always. I love fishing for all types of Salmon and do it as often as I can. The pocketbook suffers for me though as I have to travel long distances from SW Montana to fish for them in Oregon, Washington and Idaho. I have wanted to fish for Kokanee in Lake Chelan and wasn't aware there were Chinook in it. That just put this lake on my bucket list for next Spring. (I'm assuming they're "land locked"?

[@boise2Talay7886]

I watched a video you posted last year where you fished in Anderson Ranch reservoir in Idaho. In the past I had some fairly good success with catching landlocked Chinook in there and maybe you could give it a try if you ever travel back to that area. I had a friend send me a pic of one he caught in Anderson a few years back that was well over 30 inches. My best was just barely over 20 but there's definitely the potential in Anderson for catching a large Chinook. I think the trolling technique you were using from your kayak in this video would likely be much more effective than anything I was trying so that's helpful info, thanks for sharing!

[@brandonjelinek8963]

That’s a fly fishing only king salmon lake😂😅😂😅 I figure if I beat them to it, they won’t post it. More seriously, I did get that x3 motor with the lowrance 9 working on the salty. It really helped when king hunting on Columbia and in the bay when it was foggy.

[@spiltmilt]

Did you bow mount it? If so I'd love to know how you did that.

[@brandonjelinek8963]

@@spiltmilt yep bow mount. basically used a little wood to triangle from the drain hole 1.25 inch bolt worked well and 2 screw in spots for the bungees. Then fixed the quick mount block to the wood triangle. I did print a mount as well but still needs a little tweeking.

[@spiltmilt]

Okay you got me motivated

[@Carlb328]

I tried fishing today at Black lake by Olympia. I couldn't find a single fish, but I don't have a fish finder.

[@ezbake11791]

The end closer to town is more productive.. and still fishing seems to work better than trolling for me

[@asully70]

The one thing I like about Kokanee fishing is that I can do it almost all day on the lake. Switch it up to pulling two 360 rods on the Willamette in the spring, forget it. My legs are dead after about 2-3 hours.

[@ag8782]

Do you have any videos on how you fillet your Kokanee and recommend fillet knives? Also maybe a cooking video with some of your favorite recipes!

[@spiltmilt]

I don't have a how to video but I do have a knife video here kzbin.info/www/bejne/fZXKlZWKZ8uckM0

[@asully70]

Might be a silly question but do Mysis shrimp have a similar taste to normal shrimp? You said you were using shrimp scent due to the salmon targeting mysis shrimp. I figured they would have a totally different scent being in freshwater but I have no clue, never eaten them before 😂

[@spiltmilt]

This is a valid question for which I don't have an answer. I've never had the opportunity to mash up a bunch of mysis shrimp to see what they smell like.

[@Zhou-Bo-Tong]

First time ever kokanee fishing today at Detroit lake. Windy with some whitecaps. Got nauseous and quit after about an hour. But I caught a chinnook smolt 🤷 guess I'll try Dramamine next time.

[@MyExRebirth]

Take a "less drowsy" dramamine.

[@Zhou-Bo-Tong]

Went back today and caught three more chinnook smolt. Was at least calm and got four hours in. But bites dropped off pretty quickly. Still good to get out and learn in the beautiful weather.

[@tla1950]

How are you liking the Mustang Survival dry suit after using it for a while?

[@spiltmilt]

Love it. My favorite dry suit to date. There will be a review video coming soon.

[@jessetharp6319]

So, how long till you get one of the new Old Town EPDL kayaks? Looks like just the thing you’d need for that fishery.

[@spiltmilt]

$6k for a kayak...no thanks.

[@jessetharp6319]

@@spiltmilt it definitely seems overpriced. I wasn’t expecting it to be 1600 more than the autopilot when I looked.

[@tla1950]

Do you mind me asking you what height and weight you are and what size Mustang Survival dry suit you got?

[@spiltmilt]

5'7" 155 lb and I bought the medium. I was almost 200 lb when I first bought it so its feels a bit bulkier now.

[@jonmann3216]

I dunno...the health advisory on mackinaw is 4 meals per month...claim it's due to DDT which hasn't been in use in over 3 decades.

[@spiltmilt]

DDT and its derivatives are incredibly stable I 100% believe it.

[@verdeanpetersen8350]

Why do you think the kokanees I catch all year are never below 20 feet. I catch them here in utah in 70 degree water but still not below 20 feet.

[@spiltmilt]

I'd have to get a profile of the lakes thermal barrier to better answer that. Some lakes never stratify and they all stratify differently.

[@sgrunig90]

Ever seen any sturgeon in Lake Chelan?

[@spiltmilt]

No Ive not

[@UpNorthOutWest]

ive heard those rumors too. wonder if there is any

[@returnofsid]

Is it just the Mackinaw that are unsafe to eat? If so, why? It seems diet wouldn't be the reason.

[@spiltmilt]

Just the macks although I have not seen any data on the Kings. Kokanee and Cutthroat are fine. Burbot are borderline.

[@returnofsid]

Any idea why that is?

[@milomarcille2488]

So why are the macks not ok to eat but the kokes, and kings are ok to eat?

[@spiltmilt]

A few reasons. Mackinaw lives 12-40+ years so have more time accumulate toxins wherever Kokanee/Kings are 4-5 years max respectively. Kokanee feed on short lived plankton high in the water column away from the benthic zone where the DDT and its derivatives have settled. Kings do feed on mysis in a similar environment but also forage shallow on Kokanee and trout more frequently.

[@dbfishing8588]

First!!!

[@catfishman9516]

LOL