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Lake Chelan Fishing Report

Updated Fri, Oct 23, 2026 from live gauge and weather data

Lake Chelan: Washington's largest natural lake, where WDFW lists kokanee, lake trout, cutthroat and smallmouth among the catch.

3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Lake level
1094.52 ft
Air / High
64 / 66 F
Wind
NNW 8 mph

Sources: USGS gauge 12452000, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.

Satellite view
Friday
23
October 2026

Today's Fishing Report

Generated this morning from live readings: gauge, weather model, sun and moon. A fresh report is published here every morning.

3/5Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Lake Chelan rewards those who follow the bait as the water cools. The gauge reads 1094.52 ft, easing 0.92 over the week. Today brings clear skies, wind NNW around 8 mph, steady pressure near 1021 hPa and a high of 66. Water sits around 55 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 9:39 AM-11:39 AM and 10:10 PM-12:10 AM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

Lake troutGood

Spring and fall bring lakers into 10 to 30 feet of water (Michigan DNR), within reach of casters and shallow trollers; fall is also spawning time over rocky shoals.

Smallmouth bassGood

Spring pre-spawn and fall: Iowa DNR notes the larger bass come up to shallow structure, where a shallow-running minnow bait or a spinnerbait just under the surface works.

Chinook salmonSlow

Runs enter the rivers: drift roe or sand shrimp through travel lanes, plunk a wrapped plug, or float eggs in eddies and tidewater.

Tomorrow: Cooler at 61 F. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.Next report: Sat, Oct 24, 6:30 AMHow this report is made β†’

Before you go

Washington requires a fishing licence from age 16, from $39.95 for residents. What a Washington licence costs and where to buy it β†’

Chasing lake trout here? Check the size and bag limits with WDFW before you keep anything. The season dates for Washington, read off the agency, are on the Washington seasons page.

Water and weather

Live readings from LAKE CHELAN AT CHELAN, WA.

Water level, last 30 days

USGS gauge 12452000.

1095.211096.491097.771094.52 ft09/2310/0310/1310/23

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp64 F
High / Low66 / 47 F
WindNNW 8-14 mph
Pressure1020.7 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain0% cloud, 1%
Sunrise / Sunset07:32 / 17:57
MoonWaxing Gibbous, 91%
Water temp (seasonal)~55 F est.

Bite planner

Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today. Tap a bar to see why.

5 AM8 AM11 AM2 PM5 PM8 PMsunrisesunsetPRIMEPRIME

Which day to fish Lake Chelan this week

The best day on Lake Chelan this week looks like Wednesday Oct 28, at 4 out of 5, against 3 today.

Best day this week: Wednesday, Oct 28 β€” good at 4/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.

Today, Oct 23 β€” Fair

A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Solunar majors
9:39 AM-11:39 AM and 10:10 PM-12:10 AM
Minor period
4:05 AM-5:05 AM
Sun
07:32 to 17:57
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Overcast, 21 mph
Rain chance
1%

Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out: how the score is built.

Species guide

The species that matter on Lake Chelan: seasons, structure and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.

Lake trout illustration

Lake trout

Spring and fall in shallow water, deep in summer, and through the ice in winter

Lake trout are slow-growing chars of large, deep, cold lakes, native from Alaska and northern Canada to New England and the Great Lakes, and introduced in many western lakes. Spring and fall bring lakers into 10 to 30 feet of water (Michigan DNR), within reach of casters and shallow trollers; fall is also spawning time over rocky shoals.

Smallmouth bass illustration

Smallmouth bass

Best: spring and fall, when bigger fish come shallow

A bronze-brown black bass of clear, cool streams and rocky lakes, with dark vertical bars instead of a side stripe. Michigan DNR says its southeastern coast, from Port Huron to Lake Erie, is known nationally for both the size and the number of its smallmouth. Spring pre-spawn and fall: Iowa DNR notes the larger bass come up to shallow structure, where a shallow-running minnow bait or a spinnerbait just under the surface works.

Chinook salmon illustration

Chinook salmon

Seasons follow the runs: spring, summer and fall runs on the West Coast, and late summer into fall in Great Lakes rivers

The largest Pacific salmon, caught by trolling and mooching at sea and by drifting and plunking in rivers as adults return to spawn; also stocked in the Great Lakes. Runs enter the rivers: drift roe or sand shrimp through travel lanes, plunk a wrapped plug, or float eggs in eddies and tidewater.

When to come: the Lake Chelan calendar

Activity by species and month, and how the water warms through the year. Tap any cell.

Species activity by month

1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted.

J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Lake trout
Smallmouth bass
Chinook salmon
SlowPeak

Water temperature through the year

Typical surface temperature for this water type; today is around 55 F (estimated, not a reading).

304050607080JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~55 F now

Angler reports

Real reports from real anglers, reviewed before publishing. The water log below tracks each day automatically.

No angler reports yet this weekBe the first: your report helps every angler who checks Lake Chelan today, and we feature the best catch of the week.

Water log, last days

Auto-logged from live data
Thu, Oct 22

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Lake trout led the card at good. High of 66 F, wind to 20 mph.

Wed, Oct 21

2/5 Slow. Work for them. Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing. Lake trout led the card at good. High of 67 F, wind to 8 mph.

Tue, Oct 20

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Lake trout led the card at good. High of 67 F, wind to 7 mph.

Where roughly, what depth, what bait. Skip anything you want to keep secret.
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Before you go

License

Washington requires a valid fishing license for adults. Buy online from the state agency; one-day options exist for visitors.

Regulations

Washington fishing license. WDFW directs anglers to the Sport Fishing Rules pamphlet for this lake's specific rules; two-pole fishing is allowed.

Access

Lake Chelan State Park (boat ramp; $7 daily watercraft launch fee) and Twenty-Five Mile Creek State Park (boat ramp; park closed November 1 to April 1). Ferries to Stehekin leave from Chelan and Fields Point. Federal dock permit needed for docks in the national recreation area.

About this water

A 32,622-acre natural lake (WDFW), nearly 1,500 feet deep (Department of Ecology), running over 50 miles from Chelan to Stehekin, Chelan County, Washington.

Fishing Lake Chelan: the full guide

Fifty miles from Chelan to Stehekin

WDFW describes Lake Chelan as stretching over 50 miles from the town of Chelan to Stehekin and calls it the largest natural lake in Washington, at 32,622 acres and an elevation of 1,102 feet. The Department of Ecology has described it as the state's largest and deepest lake at nearly 1,500 feet, and the National Park Service calls it the third-deepest lake in the United States. The USGS gauge Lake Chelan at Chelan on this page reports the lake level.

What WDFW says about the fishing

Kokanee fishing is usually best from mid-April through June, according to WDFW, and catchable cutthroat trout are planted in June and July. The agency notes that the state lake trout record has been broken several times here, most recently in February 2013 with a 35.63-pound fish, and that landlocked chinook reproduce naturally in low numbers and are mostly caught incidentally. It describes a fairly good smallmouth bass fishery in the lower lake near Chelan and Manson. Two-pole fishing is allowed.

The roadless upper lake

No outside roads lead into Stehekin, and Lake Chelan National Recreation Area cannot be reached by car, says the Park Service. Lake Chelan Boat Company runs between Chelan and Stehekin with stops at Fields Point and Lucerne, and Stehekin Ferry runs from Fields Point. Of more than 16 public docks along the lake, four are in the recreation area, where a federal dock permit is required from May 1 to October 31. WDFW notes that the upper shoreline is mostly Forest Service land.

Consumption advisory

The Washington Department of Health issues fish consumption advisories for Lake Chelan; WDFW links to the list by water body.

Common questions

How deep is Lake Chelan?

The Department of Ecology describes it as nearly 1,500 feet deep, and the National Park Service calls it the third-deepest lake in the United States.

Can I drive to the upper lake?

No. The Park Service says no outside roads lead into Stehekin; visitors arrive by boat, floatplane or on foot, and the passenger ferries leave from Chelan and Fields Point.

What does WDFW say about lake trout?

That trophy lake trout and landlocked chinook are possible, and that the state lake trout record has been broken here several times, last in February 2013 with a 35.63-pound fish.

Is fishing good at Lake Chelan right now?

Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Nearby waters

Icicle Creek37 miRufus Woods Lake43 miBanks Lake48 miSkykomish River70 miMoses Lake71 miPotholes Reservoir78 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

River and reservoir readings
USGS 12452000 β€” LAKE CHELAN AT CHELAN, WA
Read from the USGS Water Data API (api.waterdata.usgs.gov). Latest value timestamped 2026-10-23 at 18:15 UTC.
Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 47.9500, -120.2000 in this water's own timezone. A model, not an observation.
Moon and solunar windows
Calculated on this site
Astronomical calculation from these coordinates and the date, not a third-party feed. How much weight it deserves.
Pages checked
The facts in the written guide were checked against these pages, from the agencies and operators that manage the water, on October 7, 2026. Anything we could not verify was taken out.
The written guide on this page
Pablo Ruiz Quintero
How this page was made. The daily report is computed by our scoring engine from live readings; nobody types it. The written text was drafted with AI assistance from the official pages listed above, and its facts were checked against those pages by automated verification on October 7, 2026; anything that could not be verified was taken out. Pablo Ruiz Quintero sets every guideline, the data-verification system and the minimum standards a page must meet to be published, reviews page structure and approves what goes live; the responsibility is his, and the AI carries out the work. We work this way because it is how one person can keep every page current with named sources. Errors are published in the verification log; the full policy is in the editorial policy.

Readings refresh on a 30-minute window. The full method, with every figure and its source, is on how our reports are made. Something wrong here? Tell us and it goes in the log with the date.