As I expected, there was a big number of boats out on Lake Wenatchee for the opening of sockeye season. The upper end of the lake was crowded with trollers in boats of every description. I didn’t see the typical fast bite that usually occurs just before or at daylight. There was a bite, but I just didn’t see nets scooping up sockeye everywhere I looked. I was pleased to be invited along the first day aboard the boat of Rollie Schmitten and joined by his oldest daughter and two grandsons. In spite of Rollie’s careful testing of all his motors, downriggers and other gear, a fuel line bulb cracked as we made our first pass up the lake. I had my boat tied to the dock and all my rods in my truck, so we headed back to where we started and took off again in my boat. We wound up with four sockeye that morning. According to enforcement officers, the opening day average catch was two fish per boat. We heard of one boat that had nine, but overall, the fishing was tough on what turned out to be a windy, opening day on Lake Wenatchee.
Brian Anantatmula holds up a nice Lake Wenatchee sockeye, caught on Tuesday.