Stormy weather kept me off the water on Lake Wenatchee for several days last week.  This gave me the opportunity to do some fly fishing on the upper reaches of Icicle Creek.  I am not finished with sockeye fishing, but the fly fishing for small rainbow is terrific and a great way to keep cool on hot summer days.

My experience has been that a combination of unsettled weather and a full moon can have a negative impact on fishing, and when I fished for sockeye on Lake Wenatchee on Friday with Tom Verschueren we found the action way off the pace from previous trips.  Very heavy winds discouraged me from going again until this weather pattern settles down.  I wanted to do some afternoon to evening fishing on the lake, but this just wasn’t possible with winds to 30 mph coming up later in the day.  So, Friday afternoon I grabbed my light weight fly rod and drove up the Icicle Creek valley to a spot that I hadn’t fished for a couple of years.  Apparently the trout had missed me because they put on quite a show.  Just about every time I cast my fly there would be a small rainbow waiting to swat it.  I had a blast catching Icicle Creek’s little rainbow the day before in another area, and this time I decided to count every little fish I caught and released.  When I released my 50th I quit. All of the trout put together probably wouldn’t make a meal for many people, but what fun!  This week’s photo is of Tom Verschueren with a Lake Wenatchee sockeye. 

I ran into Travis Maitland, who is the WDFW area biologist in the Wenatchee office, and he answered my question about this year’s return of sockeye to Lake Wenatchee.  According to Maitland, there was a return of 99,000 sockeye a few years ago, and this season is beating that number handily.  I mentioned that the last report I saw said there were 102,847 over Tumwater Dam, and he said that was a few days old and that they lost several days of video counts.  There could be at least three to five thousand more fish in the lake by now.  We have had some stormy weather and the temperature gauge has bounced from cool to hot the past week, and I think that had something to do with a less than hot bite on the lake.  The mornings are still pretty good, but the bite dies off quickly.  Last Monday I had my niece and her friend Kellen out along with my brother Rick.  We got two fish right away and then they had to leave.  We dropped them off at the dock and Rick and I headed back out.  We were getting a few fish and when we got to the top of the lake, I noticed a boat that was rowing with a net.  We towed them into Glacier View and decided to head home before it got too hot out with seven for the day.

The popular Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW)-managed Glen Williams Access Area on Potholes Reservoir in Grant County will close for construction from Aug. 15 until December 15, 2022. People from all over the state come to Glen Williams to launch boats and take advantage of great fishing and water recreation opportunities. The ramp is in poor condition and improvements are necessary to keep it safe and usable for the public. Work on this project will include installing a new boat ramp and ADA loading area and paving and striping the ADA and launch area. This work is happening now to take advantage of low water levels. New toilets and a board float will be installed at a later time when materials become available.

“A little inconvenience now will mean a much more user-friendly and safe access area in the future,” said WDFW water access manager Josh Harmon. “The ramp is in poor shape so I think most folks will understand and appreciate the end result.” Funding for this project was obtained through a Washington State Recreation Conservation Office grant. 

For those who use the Potholes Reservoir, there are alternative launch areas nearby including at Mar Don Resort, Potholes State Park and at the nearby WDFW-managed Blythe water access area. Mar Don and the State Park launch are accessible at low water.

The daily limits for trout and other gamefish have been removed at popular Williams Lake in Spokane County.  This is to allow anglers to take as many fish as possible prior to the scheduled lake treatment.  The limits are removed until October 9th, when the lake will close to fishing.  Williams Lake will remain closed until April 21st, 2023.

The WDFW has announced that it will open fishing for fall Chinook on the Snake River, beginning on August 18th through October 31st.  These are the areas that are affected and the rules:  Snake River from the mouth (Burbank to Pasco railroad bridge at Snake River mile 1.25) to Lower Granite dam:  Salmon: Open 7 days a week. Daily limit 3 adult hatchery Chinook, no daily limit for jack Chinook (clipped or unclipped), release all other salmon. Min. size 12”. Barbless hooks required.

Snake River from the downstream edge of the large power lines crossing the Snake River (just upstream from West Evans Road on the south shore, approximately 3 miles below Clarkston) upstream to the Oregon state line:
Salmon: Open 7 days/week. Daily limit 3 adult Chinook (clipped or unclipped), no daily limit for jack Chinook (clipped or unclipped), release all other salmon. Min. size 12”. Barbless hooks required. 

The 2022 Columbia River forecasted return of upriver bright adults is 230,400, with a significant portion of these fish expected to return to the Snake River. Any angler who fishes on the Snake River or any other water forming a Washington boundary is entitled to have in possession only the limit allowed by one license regardless of the number of licenses in possession.   Anglers should be sure to identify their catch because returning coho salmon and steelhead are also in the Snake River during this fishery. All salmonids (salmon or steelhead) that are not kept as part of the daily limit cannot be removed from the water and must be immediately released unharmed. 

The hot weather forecasted means I will be spending early mornings on Lake Wenatchee and afternoons fly fishing the upper Icicle!