I had a great time this week taking friends out on Lake Wenatchee for the sockeye season. I didn’t get limits for my boat, but everyone had a wonderful time and everyone got to take home some sockeye salmon.

As I expected, there was a large number of boats out on Lake Wenatchee for the opening of sockeye season. The upper end of the lake was crowded with trollers in boats of every description. I didn’t see the typical fast bite that usually occurs just before or at daylight. Unlike other seasons, there was a bite, but I just didn’t see nets scooping up sockeye everywhere I looked. I was pleased to be invited along the first day aboard the boat of Rollie Schmitten and joined by his oldest daughter and two grandsons. In spite of Rollie’s careful testing of all his motors, downriggers and other gear, a fuel line bulb cracked as we made our first pass up the lake. I had my boat tied to the dock and all my rods were in my truck, so we headed back to where we started and took off again in my boat. We wound up with four sockeye that morning. According to enforcement officers, the opening day average catch was two fish per boat. We heard of one boat that had nine, but overall, the fishing was tough on what turned out to be a windy opening day on Lake Wenatchee.

On Tuesday I took my long time fishing buddy Dr. Brian Anantatmula and his son Josh. The three of us have had many fishing adventures over the years  and one of them was fishing for sockeye on Lake Wenatchee the last time we had a season. Brian had tied up some very attractive leaders and matched these with some customized dodgers. These proved to work extremely well. Josh was in excellent form and never lost a fish that he had on the line. The day started at West Point and we got a couple of fish early. We picked up a few more fish here and there and had five in the cooler by about 9 a.m. Then we went for a long time without even getting a bite. The light breeze that was blowing in the morning disappeared and the day turned out to be a stunner. We had a great view of Glacier Peak when we explored the water at the top end of the lake. We just got one good hit off Glacier View Campground, in spite of the fish finder showing at lot of fish in the area. Brian was already planning to fire up the smoker when they left to return home. This week’s photo is of Brian with a dandy Lake Wenatchee sockeye.

I was out on Lake Wenatchee again on Wednesday and the friends on my boat got to see how fun sockeye fishing can be when there is a good bite. We left the launch with enough light to see where we were going and I motored down to West Point where I had been finding fish earlier in the week. Not long after I got the gear out, chaos erupted. First one rod bounced, then another and then another—we had a triple on! It was quite a scramble as anglers grabbed the rods and started reeling. I grabbed the net and was able to scoop up the fish and get them out of the net in time to land each one. I have to hand it to these guys, landing a triple without getting crossed lines or tangles is a pretty good trick. I have never had a triple on Lake Wenatchee. We got another one on the fourth rod before we got the other fish into the cooler. What a great start for a morning of fishing. We continued to troll off West Point and got four more fish in this area. Then the wind really started to blow. We fished with the kicker providing the speed and steering with the bow mount for a while longer. I managed to maintain the right boat speed but we finally gave it up and headed for the dock with eight nice sockeye in the cooler. I didn’t fish Thursday. Too windy, and I had to skip Friday.

I was on the water again on Sunday with my good friends Keith (Archie) and Kathy Archibald. Kathy was our vet in Leavenworth for many years and they joined one of our groups that we took to La Paz, Mexico a couple of years ago. We had fished together a few times before that trip, and last winter made a trip to Lake Roosevelt. Our trip to Lake Roosevelt wasn’t very productive and I really wanted to get them into some sockeye on this trip. I was surprised to start our day with a brisk breeze, but I ran down to West Point once again as it had treated me pretty well earlier this week. We trolled around her for quite a while before one of the rods went off and Kathy reeled in a nice sockeye. Archie landed the next fish and they traded off on another two. The fishing wasn’t as hot as I would have liked it and my friends Rollie Schmitten and Jim Passage both got eight fish in their boats then waved goodbye and headed for their docks. We tried a couple of different areas of the lake and stayed out and enjoyed a beautiful sunny and calm day but didn’t put any more sockeye in the cooler.

I am really looking forward to fishing on Monday. I am taking my neighbors, the Fiske family, and they are ardent anglers. Father Dan and Mom Holly are great about getting their kids outdoors. Eight-year-old Calder loves fishing and loves talking about fishing. He can spin a yarn like a pro. His little sister, Nevada, also likes to fish. This is the first time we have been able to finally get this family out fishing and I really hope the kids get to battle a couple of sockeye.

If you see me out on the water on Lake Wenatchee, be sure to say hi or give me a wave. Good luck out there wherever you are fishing!