My long-time fishing friend, Brian Anantatmula, had his boat ready for the first trip of the season and wanted me to join him on Lake Chelan. We both had heard that the kokanee were running exceptionally large this year and wanted to see for ourselves. We launched at the State Park and began trolling just above Rocky Point. There were several boats tolling just below us, so we figured we were in a good area. We ran out two rods on downriggers and two on lead balls, and it didn’t take long for the first rod to go off. I could tell it was a good one the way it fought, and sure enough when we got it netted it was clearly one of the 16-inch kokanee we were hearing about. We weren’t really marking that many schools but still picked up some fish as we trolled past Rocky Point toward the Red Roofs. Then the bite died, and we wanted to try the area off the Blue Roofs. However, the batteries were too low, and we limped home on the bow mount. We did confirm that there are 15- and 16-inch kokanee in Chelan this season! Can’t wait to go back.