IMO, Wenatchee fishing is the stuff legends are made of! Such a big, beautiful lake, how could it not be?!

I'll preface my review by saying I am primarily a lowlands/urban lakes angler... because of work/family/life I can't get away very often. I fished Wenatchee for the first time over this past Memorial Day weekend, which was probably the worst time due to all the people and boats around, spooking the fish. And my first impression is that these fish are easily spooked. Unlike the planted, cramped, family-park lakes of Seattle, these fish are much more wild in their thinking and behavior. They wanted nothing to do with artificial baits and as the weekend wore on (and more people arrived) they went further into hiding. I finally found a few when I rowed out on my raft and spotted a very weedy, secluded inlet. There were a couple of good-sized bass hiding in there, as well as a few bigger species that I'm pretty sure were landlocked salmon judging by the shape of their jaws. They had zero appetite at that point though, and nothing I offered them made a bit of difference, but it was cool to see them nonetheless.

Strangest part of all was when we were all packing up on Sunday night (after 3 days camping on the lake.) No one had caught any fish, and actually I'd been the luckiest to see some from the raft the day before. All of a sudden, a big ol' lunker leapt out of some tree roots where the water was only 2-3 feet deep, and literally a few feet from the campsite, then disappeared into the depths just as quickly. Everyone saw this big guy jump, it was like he was putting on a show (or taunting all of us after we'd given up?) Of course I pulled out my rod and fished the tree roots for the next hour, and of course the waters were deserted again.

Overall, a strange and frustrating experience, but good to know that the challenge still exists and the wilderness is still alive and kicking in our backyard.

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