The opening day of sockeye season on Lake Wenatchee was terrific. The weather was clear and calm, a big difference from last year’s opener, when it blew hard and rained. There was a good turnout, but it was not too crowded. Nothing like the Brewster Pool. I had my brother Rick on board, along with my cousin Greg Preston and his son Tim. I fired up the Mercury at about 4:45 and when we hit 150 feet deep deployed the Minn Kota. We got our first action of the day at 5:05—and it was a double! The action wasn’t fast and furious, but we picked up fish all morning along. Rick and Greg experimented with different hook colors and tried different depths to keep us into fish. I drove the Bob Feil Boats and Motors Smoker Craft while they did most of the work in the back end of the boat. The fish were deep again this year, even early in the morning. My good friend Rollie Schmitten said he started at 60 feet and almost immediately dropped to 80 feet and then he and his granddaughter got their eight fish in about 40 minutes. What a great opening day!