Let’s see: what did I learn about various fisheries here in Central Washington? I can share insights on several, including Banks Lake walleye fishing, the opening day on the Icicle River for spring salmon, and Lake Roosevelt kokanee fishing. Read on.

The forecast was for some pretty good winds in the afternoon on Banks Lake, so I left especially early to do some walleye fishing. Putting the boat in at Northrup I went directly to the sand flats at the south end of Steamboat Rock. There were fish there last Friday, and I felt I had left too early to try other areas. Well, I could have passed this spot up as it turned out. One bite was all I got. So I decided to try my favorite area which is just below Rosebush and the near the Million Dollar Mile. I put the gear out and was immediately rewarded with a small, but keeper walleye. Then I got busy. I had tried a variety of lures but found that either a naked Slow Death Hook rig or a Slow Death Hook with a motor oil Smile blade was what the walleye wanted. I tried to keep my baits in 17 to 22 feet of water. The bite was good and about two and a half hours later I was headed for the launch with a limit of walleye. That was the best day of walleye fishing I have had this season. This week’s photo is of one of walleye I got trolling the Million Dollar Mile.

The fishing had been so good that I returned to the same area the following day. The fish were there again but they weren’t biting as aggressively as the day before. I got a lot of bites but didn’t get as many hookups. I went through an amazing number of nightcrawlers. I took home a bunch of fish but not the limit numbers as I had on the previous trip.

If you haven’t already heard, the Icicle River in Leavenworth has opened to fishing for hatchery spring salmon. This was actually quite a surprise as the spring salmon return to the Columbia River has been low for several recent seasons. However, the number of fish that are showing up in the National Fish Hatchery in Leavenworth has given the WDFW fish managers the confidence to open the river to fishing. I have been blessed to have participated in this fishery many times over the years, and it is one of my favorites. Many different anglers have taken me down the river and it is a very special experience. We usually are launching in total darkness to get to our fishing spot and to watch the world wake up around us. As the sun comes up it is always awe inspiring. There are few fisheries in the state that offer the same quality of scenic beauty as this one on the Icicle. I hope you can get a chance to experience this sometime. It reminds us of how important it is to keep our fisheries on a path to recovery so we can enjoy this for many years to come. On the opener there were six hatchery fish landed and four wild fish released.

A fishing buddy of mine texted me to say the fishing for big kokanee had really turned on at Lake Roosevelt. The water was so high that it was spilling over the dam, and people were launching at Crescent Bay and catching lots of kokanee. He said it looked as crowded as the Brewster Pool out there last Friday. He limited and even got a “bonus” clipped fish. He tried it again on Saturday and didn’t get a single kokanee. What can you say? That’s fishing.

For 28 years the East Wenatchee Rotary Club has been conducting their Pike Minnow Derby and they are again holding this year’s event on Father’s Day Weekend. They will be structuring the event to assure everyone’s safety and provide a great family activity. Working with Chelan County PUD in an effort to remove pike minnows from the Columbia River, the event has been very successful. Over 100,000 of these predators of salmon and steelhead smolt have been taken by derby participants. This has been a great benefit to outdoing salmon and steelhead and has provided an important family oriented event. The East Wenatchee Rotary Club supports many local activities. There are always terrific prizes awarded at the event and this year’s top prize is a 14-foot Smoker Craft boat and Mercury motor. The top ten finishers will all receive high dollar value prizes this year. The derby runs on a basic principle: the more fish you catch the more tickets you earn to be drawn for the prizes. You can get all the details on the derby start times and weigh in where tickets are sold. Tickets can be purchased at Hooked on Toys, Bi-Mart and Bob Feil Boats and Motors in East Wenatchee.

Those of us who fish the Columbia River know how important the current plays into a successful day of fishing. I try to avoid fishing on the weekends on the river as typically this is when flows are low and fishing is slow. It has always been frustrating as we don’t know what kind of flows to expect until we reach our fishing destination. Well, there’s some great news. Chelan County PUD has created an app that when downloaded to your phone, will tell you what the flows and river levels are at their two facilities: Rock Island Dam and Rocky Reach Dam. I got the app and it took just a couple of minutes to get it loaded onto my phone. Once there, it was easy to navigate the app and find out what the cfs was above each dam. There are other features, such as descriptions of the launch sites near the dams and water temperatures. Just open the Chelan PUD website and under the Parks and Recreation menu you will find a link to River Conditions and you can install the app. This a great tool for those of us who fish, boat, jet ski or kayak near these Columbia River facilities.

I will be busy at meetings and doing some traveling for the next week or so, but I will be keeping an eye on what’s happing in the region. I’ll share what I have learned in next week’s column.