I spent most of my week on Lake Wenatchee fishing for sockeye, and got limits most of the days I was out there. I did squeeze in a morning on Potholes Reservoir but was back on Lake Wenatchee to take my daughter and her friend sockeye fishing on Sunday of last weekend.

My daughter Whitney called asking if I was going to be around last weekend. She wanted to come over for a short visit and bring her friend Henry Tsai. Well, sure, I said, I never get to see her often enough. I told her about the great sockeye fishing on Lake Wenatchee and she got really excited.

I warned her that we would be getting up very early on Sunday morning and she promised she’d be up and ready to go. She, Henry, and I left Leavenworth at 5 a.m. and were on the water and fishing before the sun came up over the lake. We had a fish on before I had all the rods out and I thought we would be off the water with our limits in short order. Not so. We got two fish in the boat and lost two more by 8 o’clock, but there was a very long interval before we found any more biters. I trolled up the lake and across toward Glacier View campground, and wham, wham, we got two more fish fairly quickly. She and Henry were thrilled to take four nice sockeye home. Check out this week’s photo.

I was surprised that we didn’t get our limits of sockeye on Sunday. I had been out just the day before with my friend Brian Anantatmula and his son Josh and we did great. We dropped down to the area off West Point, where I have had good success this season, and I was actually a little worried as we weren’t into fish immediately. The fish finally decided to bite, and we got busy. Fish were hitting the downrigger rods and the back rods with lead ball sinkers, and we had our limits by 7:30.

I had been out earlier in the week with a couple from Leavenworth, and we were pretty successful. We were fishing the upper end of the lake and found good numbers of fish willing to bite. Fishing wasn’t as fast as I had experienced most of the days I have had fishing for sockeye on Lake Wenatchee, but I sent them home with limits of nice fish.
Once again I was running two or three hook rigs, tied on 10-inch leaders with a small pink hoochie on the top hook that has worked well for me. I have recently started running three-hook rigs without a hoochie and have had good success. Red hooks of course, and size 1/0 or 2/0 are good. I am running two downriggers to much deeper depths. We are getting fish at 90 and 100 feet now. I also run two rods out the back. One with an 8-ounce sinker, the other with a 10. I let these out 100 to 125 feet and they get a lot of fish.

My trip to Potholes Reservoir was frustrating. My friends James Lebow and Brian Neilson were willing to take me out for a short trip last Friday but weren’t too excited about it. This isn’t their favorite time of year to fish Potholes. It’s too hot. We started early, launching at Mar Don, and had to wait until the store opened at six to pay our launch fee. We headed for one of our favorite spots on the big reservoir and started trolling bottom bounces and spinners baited with nightcrawlers.

James hooked a big fish, which he was sure was a walleye, but lost it near the boat. We got lots of bites, reeling in parts of our nightcrawlers, but we just couldn’t hook up. I did land one catfish, but they weren’t impressed. We looked at photos on our phones of trips that we had made on Potholes in past years and agreed that we needed to get back out there in the early fall.

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife has announced that the Snake River will open to fishing for fall Chinook, beginning on August 18. The season is scheduled to run through October 31.

A)  Snake River:  From the mouth (Burbank to Pasco railroad bridge at Snake River mile 1.25) to Lower Granite dam: Salmon open 7 days per week. Daily limit of three hatchery adult Chinook (adipose fin clipped) and no limit on jack Chinook (clipped or unclipped). Release all salmon other than jack Chinook and hatchery adult Chinook.

B)  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 seven days per week. Daily limit of three adult Chinook (clipped or unclipped) and no limit on jack Chinook (clipped or unclipped). Release all salmon other than Chinook.

Reason for action: The 2021 Columbia River forecasted return of upriver bright adults is 361,500, with a significant portion of these fish expected to return to the Snake River. This forecast is large enough to allow for Chinook harvest in the Snake River. All salmon that are not kept as part of the daily limit cannot be removed from the water and must be immediately released unharmed. WDFW is requiring that all Washington licensed anglers cease fishing for the day once they have retained their adult daily limit. In addition, anglers must use barbless hooks when fishing for Chinook in the Snake River. Anglers should be sure to identify their catch because returning coho salmon and steelhead are also in the Snake River during this fishery.

In recognition of the National Park Service system’s 105th birthday, Washington State Parks, Washington Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) will offer free entrance to state lands on Wednesday, Aug. 25. On this day, visitors to Washington state lands will not need a Discover Pass to park. Discover Pass free days apply to all visitor parking on DNR and WDFW lands and in day-use areas at Washington state parks.

I will be pulling my boat off Lake Wenatchee soon and I am looking forward to doing some more salmon fishing on the upper Columbia!