This was a Banks Lake week for me. Fishing had been so good I just kept going and going and kept catching fish. Like all good things, seems they have to come to an end. My luck finally ran out last Sunday.

I was confident about catching walleye on Banks Lake. I was vacuum sealing a bunch of walleye and my wife asked me set some aside for dinner on Sunday. I told her that we would be dining on fresh walleye and put everything in the freezer. I made a rest stop at Coulee City, and someone approached me. He said he had been fishing Banks every day and had a great time—until Saturday. Then the fish disappeared. No one was catching anything. He said he talked to someone who had a few on Barker Flats. So, when I met Dennis and Monica Beich and launched at Northrup that’s where we went. We got nothing there. We did get some bites on the hump off Steamboat and that was it. We tried different spots that had produced for us all the way down the lake to below the campground at Million Dollar Mile and got nothing. We made one stop in Poplar Bay on the way back and talked some anglers that said they had three fish for the day. Slow isn’t the word I would use for the action on Banks. It’s like the walleye had just disappeared. Shucks.

Walleye fishing was so good at Banks Lake on Tuesday that I talked my friend James Lebow into going again on Thursday. I wanted to fish crankbaits in the Million Dollar Mile section of the lake, and we launched the boat right there. We ran out to about 20 feet of water and were into fish right away. We ended up running the largest Flicker Shads and Bandits I had. We were dealing with a pretty good breeze but were able to troll from just below Rosebush all the way down the point, and back. There weren’t many other boats out there and we watched the people in one boat we passed getting fish, too. We had a few small fish, but most of them were 15 to 20 inchers. We did release one that was 25 inches long. We started with perch patterns and eventually were using anything that would dive as deep as 17 feet. When we wandered into 30 feet of water we marked a ton of fish. It would be worth pulling bottom bouncers at this depth right now. I think Banks is fishing the best it has in about three years. It’s a lot of fun. This week’s photo is of the 25-inch walleye we released.

After a dismal performance on Moses Lake on my part, I wanted to get Dennis Beich back out on the water, and this time to Banks Lake, which was his original idea. We headed up there Tuesday and I chose to start our day on the sand flats just down lake of Steamboat Rock. It turned out to be a good choice. We were into walleye immediately. We were getting them mostly in 18 to 24 feet of water, on the Sparkly Green or Blue and Silver Smile Blades on Slow Death hooks. This was great fun, but the fish were all small. When we had one limit of keepers we pulled our gear and headed to the Million Dollar Mile area. We started just below Rose Bush and were marking good numbers of walleye. The bite wasn’t as hot as it was at Steamboat, but we were landing more “hammer handles” and got one that was 20 inches. My bow mount, which had been working hard all morning, started to run out of juice, so I said, Heck, let’s put out some crankbaits. We got two of our nicer fish of the day pulling Flicker Shads. My first trip to Banks was a good one!

Washington’s Free Fishing Weekend – the annual event when anglers across the state can fish without a license – will have a new look in 2023. In past years, nearly any species of fish or shellfish open for harvest could be harvested without a license during Free Fishing Weekend. Beginning this year, any fish requiring a catch record card (including sturgeon, salmon, steelhead, and halibut) and all shellfish will still require a license on Free Fishing Weekend. All other species open for harvest can still be harvested without a license.

"Free Fishing Weekend can't be as 'free' as it has been in the past," said Kirt Hughes, Fish Management Division manager with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW). "This event is still a great opportunity to be out on the water and enjoy fishing for the first time, or for the first time in a long time, without having to buy a license up front. Most importantly, we have to balance opportunity with conservation, and Free Fishing Weekend was presenting challenges for certain species."

Also not required on Free Fishing Weekend: Vehicle Access Pass (which comes with a fishing license). A Discover Pass will not be required on WDFW, DNR, or Washington State Park lands on Free Fishing Weekend, in recognition of National Get Outdoors Day on June 10 and Free Fishing Day on June 11. A Two-Pole Endorsement.

The spike in participation during Free Fishing Weekend in past years put excessive pressure on certain shellfish beaches, leading to some beaches seeing seasons close earlier than expected. Harvest on beaches not open for shellfishing has also occurred, along with concerns about crowding, parking, and trespassing.

There is another pike minnow derby coming up in June. This one is the 31st annual East Wenatchee Rotary Club’s event. It is supported by Chelan County PUD and there is over $10,000 in cash and prizes to be awarded at this derby. It is scheduled for June 17th and 18th. Anglers can weigh in their catches at both the Wenatchee River Front Boat launch in downtown Wenatchee and at the Orondo River Park launch in Orondo. Tickets and rules are available at Hooked on Toys in Wenatchee or Bob Feil Boats and Motors and Bi-Mart in East Wenatchee.

I hope you can take advantage of the Free Fishing Weekend, and give it a try.