FISHING -- A group of players and friends from the Seattle Mariners took advantage of the All Star break to catch a nice pile of Lake Chelan mackinaw on July 11.

 At left, Aaron Laffey of the Mariners caught with the big fish of the day, an 18.6-pound laker.

The group fished with Anton Jones (the short guy above) of Darrell & Dad's Family Guide Service.

"What still continues red hot is trolling for big lake trout on the Lake Chelan “Bar” early in the morning," Jones said.  "We are trolling for those Mackinaw in depths of 120 to 150 feet on the Bar just out from the Mill Bay boat launch.  The uplake half of that piece of structure has been absolutely loaded with quality fish the past few weeks.  This pattern has been solid for over a month. 

"We have had consistent success pulling T4 and U20 flatfish in Purple Glow at 1.2 to 1.5 mph.  Mack’s Lures Cha Cha Squidders in glow colors with a purple blade also worked fine.  Additionally Silver Horde’s Ace Hi Fly in glow colors baited with a strip of Northern Pikeminnow also worked great. 

"Don’t forget that you can add an Action Disk from Wigglefin.com to give all those squid rigs a bit of a different action.  Big Smile Blades from Mack’s Lures are another fine choice. 

"Although early and late in the day continue to be best, we have caught nice numbers of fish throughout the day."