I checked in with a couple of guide buddies to see what they were up to this summer. Nate Stully of Stully’s Guide Service said he was busy catching kokanee on Lake Chelan and catch and release sturgeon fishing on the Columbia River. Kevin Witte, of Up River Guide Service, said that he was still getting walleye in the Kettle Falls area on Lake Roosevelt. He goes when the smoke clears. It should be a pretty good year for walleye anglers on the big reservoir. Since 2002, the co-managers have conducted Fall Walleye Index Netting (FWIN) to monitor the walleye population. Monitoring enables managers to track the abundance, age, growth, condition, sex ratio, and age at maturity. WDFW reports that the walleye fishery has remained stable and resilient over time. Abundance of walleye decreased slightly in 2024 but was above the 20-year average. There were two large year classes detected for the 2025 fishery: age-2 fish that will be 12-14 inches and age-4 fish that will be 16-18 inches. Abundance of these age-4 fish was a record over the 23-year dataset, so anglers can expect better fishing for quality-size walleye than past years.