Salmon Fishing on the Wagon Wheel

I have heard about salmon fishing at Drano Lake in Washington for years. Finally the girls and I booked a trip, but we had no idea it would be like this! Watch this video to see why they call it the Wagon Wheel at Drano.

This is what they call the Wagon Wheel at Drano Lake in Washington. If this video still doesn't do it justice, just think "It's A Small World" ride at Disneyland. The salmon come in from the Columbia River under the bridge into Drano Lake. That is the "honey hole" and all the boats travel in a counterclockwise circle trolling for the big one. We did this for 12 hours straight each day!

You don't want to get out of the circle of love because you might miss your only bite of the day. This is hands down the craziest way I have ever fished, but at the same time it was a blast! The salmon are huge and worth every single left turn we made  (I now know what a Nascar driver feels like).

The salmon come in waves, it's not a steady stream. So when they hit, the boats around the honey hole usually all get one or two on. If you are on the backside of the wheel (aka 6 o'clock) you hope to snag the ones that got through and it does happen. The weather kind of hurt of us because it went from really warm on Friday to cold and rainy Friday so the fishing was slow.

Karen landed this monster on Saturday, Anji got a jack (2 yr old juvenile) on Sunday and I hooked one that felt huge and got under the boat and got off (stupid barbless hooks!). Like I said, crazy experience and I would jump at the chance to fish in a circle again with TakeDown Guide Service! Can't wait for next year!