I know I will soon be getting a lot of inquiries about the status of the Lake Wenatchee sockeye fishery. The early forecast for sockeye to the lake was for a below escapement return. But that was before the huge number of sockeye showed up. Even if a small percentage of the total run made it up to the lake we should have a season. I want to remind everyone that we need 23,500 fish to meet escapement goals, and if we get a few thousand over that we get to fish—usually. I thought I might be a little early, but it’s a short trip from my home to Tumwater Dam and see if any fish have been counted. I stopped by there on Thursday and wasn’t too surprised when Rollie Schmitten pulled into the parking area. Rollie keeps a space for me on his dock during the sockeye season and we have been fishing the lake for many years. He even calls his place on Lake Wenatchee “Sockeye Point”. There were a couple of technicians capturing spring salmon while we were there and they told us that they counted the first sockeye over the dam that day, so they are on the way!
Rollie Schmitten was at Tumwater Dam when I stopped by to see if any sockeye had passed over on their way to Lake Wenatchee.