Eastern Washington Makinaw

[Florida_Native]

Are there any good lakes for makinaw in eastern Washington? Or is the closest one Priest?

I hit Loon lake today for the second time with no luck. Last time i had a big quickfish that trolls at about 40 feet. I had good luck with it at Flathead lake earlier this year but no results at Loon. This time i was using my new down rigger. I tried a much smaller quickfish, a fly, a squid rig and a spoon. All with no success. I was marking some big fish on the depth finder, though I guess they could have been schools of Kokanee. Most of the fish i was marking were between 30-50 feet. I primarily trolled this depth, but I did also troll the bottom at around 70 ft.

Anyone had any luck for Macks on this lake or any others in eastern WA?

[goosegetter79]

Deer lake another 5 miles or so to the north east of loon has em. Never fished for them but do know that they are in there.

[nwwanderer]

bead lake

[7mmfan]

If you want to head west a few hours, Lake Chelan is loaded with them. No limit, catch all you want.

[losdaddy7]

If you want to head west a few hours, Lake Chelan is loaded with them. No limit, catch all you want.

HUGE mackinaw in Chelan.  State record keeps changing due to fish caught in Chelan over the past few years.  Check out Darrel and dad's website for pics and info.

[Bill W]

Did you have your sonar set on "fish symbols" or "arches"?  Arches are a much better indicator of fish size as individual arches are shown instead of bundling a bunch of small fish into a big fish symbol. 

I've seen krill thick enough at Neah Bay fool a fish finder and show them as a fish symbol.  Switching over to returns (or arches) shows them as a krill cloud.

[MtnMuley]

As mentioned before, Lake Chelan. I don't think there's a better mack lake anywhere in the NW.

[Florida_Native]

Thanks for all the replies!!!

Anyone caught any monsters in Chelan lately?I heard its fished pretty hard.

[L-ofalab]

I think you have to fish near the bottom, 100-150 ft.

[MtnMuley]

More like 200-300'. I wouldn't say the macks get fished hard there at all. Darrell and Dad's Guide Service has a great website telling of the weekly action on Chelan and tips to boot.

[jasnt]

Deer lake does have some monsters, guys I know fish em at 70-100'