Sockeye fishing opened on Lake Wenatchee on July 26th, and I have been hard at it. I wasn’t alone either. In spite of the long lines at the boat launch, the upper end of the lake was crowded with boats filled with happy anglers trolling for sockeye.

It was a different opening day of sockeye fishing than usual on Lake Wenatchee. Typically, there is a great early morning bite, but not this year. My crew of Ellie Coen, Kellen Drake, Justin Whitman, and I were trolling my traditional path toward West Point by 5:30. But no nets were out, and we saw maybe one fish landed. I was starting to question my decision of running all lead balls instead of using my downriggers as I have always done in previous seasons. At about 6:30, when the morning sunlight started hitting the water, things changed, and we got busy.

I was testing a variety of rigs: pink hoochies with two hooks, pink hoochies with three hooks, no hoochies and three bare red hooks and we got fish on all of them—except the three bare hook rig, which usually is a winner on Lake Wenatchee. From 6:30 to 7:30, we landed 10 nice sockeye, and even landed all three fish in a triple hookup. This was more like it. What a blast. We had a deadline to be back at the dock by eight, so we packed it in and headed for the dock. We weren’t the only boat that cashed in on the late bite. We saw a lot of fish landed, mostly toward the top end of the lake.

The following morning, I had my brother-in-law, Tom Verschuren, and the new owner of Dan’s Market in Leavenworth, Jonathan Koincz, with me. We left Leavenworth at 4:30, so we started a little later than the day before, counting on a later bite in the morning. This time I pointed the boat toward the top end of the lake, and pretty much on schedule, we got our first fish at about 6:30. The bite wasn’t hot, just steady, although we did get one double.

The water was calmer than the day before, which made navigating through the boats a lot easier, but may have accounted for the slower catch rate than the day before. Once again, two-hook rigs with hoochies worked very well. We stayed at the top end of the lake, making long loops, and like I said, we enjoyed steady action.

On days like this, you can really appreciate the natural beauty of fishing on Lake Wenatchee. Someone commented on the scent of pine, even out on the water. That sure beats the smoke that we fished in later in the season last year.

This time, I was the one with the deadline to be back at the dock. I had to drive to Seattle to meet some friends for lunch and stop at Seattle Pottery for supplies for my wife. I was running a little late, as there was a good bite just about the time we were due to leave. Still, we had nine nice sockeye in the cooler when we pulled our gear and headed for the dock. This week’s photo is of Jonathan with a nice sockeye.

On Saturday, I had Kim Kozelisky, Keith Hiatt, and Jim Smith from Upper Valley Excavation on board. I reminded Kim and Keith about the last time I had both of them on the boat for sockeye fishing, we started the day with a triple! We laughed about what a fire drill that was, and that we landed all three fish. On that day, the bite died early and didn’t start again, and we struggled to put a few more fish on the boat. There was a stiff breeze blowing when we launched, and although it dropped off for a short period when the sun came up, it picked up again, and we were getting bounced around all morning.

We hooked a good number of fish, but it was difficult getting all of them to the net. The wind made it a challenge to dodge all the boats at times, but we made it through the day without mishap. Oh, maybe one issue. One of my riggers didn’t stop as it is supposed to, and when the ball hit the boom—snap my weight sunk out of sight. Oh well, that happens. We were all getting hungry, so we headed for the Squirrel Tree, and I sent them home with five sockeye.

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife has sent out a notice that the Chinook salmon fishery boundaries have been extended on the Entiat River. The new boundaries are from the railroad bridge at the mouth of the river to the Mad River Road Bridge, near Ardenvoir. Fishing opens on August 1st. If you have ever tried fishing on the Entiat for Chinook, you know that there are very few locations that hold salmon, and hopefully, the new boundary will provide more opportunities for anglers. River levels on the Entiat, and others throughout the region are very low for this time of year. There are a few holes that are deep enough to hold salmon, though, and I expect them to be hit pretty hard. The daily limit, according to the official release, is six salmon, with a minimum size of 12 inches. All other salmon are to be released. When I think of fishing the Entiat River, I remember the many great days I had fly fishing above Entiat Falls. My wife loves wading the small water and casting to small trout near the Spruce Grove campground. It’s beautiful up there, and we rarely encounter any other anglers.

I took Sunday off, so I did the repairs on my downrigger, tied more leaders, and got the boat ready for the next trip. I have friends from Moses Lake coming early in the week, and my brother Rick and Rollie will be fishing with me, too. I am really looking forward to that. Rollie and I used to fish together quite a bit, but since he’s let me tie to his dock, we are both taking out separate groups. It is going to be great, whether we get a bunch of fish or not.