It was a beautiful morning to be out on Lake Wenatchee, and there were hundreds of boats scattered around the lake! I was just in a small rowboat with a trolling motor but it would seem that the only people catching fish all had down riggers and were fishing around 25-35 feet deep water.

We were out on the water around 5:45 AM, which was probably 15-30 minutes after most everyone else was out. I am guessing that the boat launch at the state park was insanely busy this weekend, so if you have the means to park a boat in the water somewhere for the weekend it would be well worth getting it in water in advance of the traffic.

After a couple of hours I finally had a fish on, but alas I somehow managed to foul hook it! It was disappointing to let the only one go between two of us, and we only had one other hit besides that one.

I was really interested to see how these Sockeye taste after such a long trip in fresh water, and they didn't look too beat up except that all their scales were gone by now, but they weren't slimey like Pinks get. I guess I will have to wait til next year.

Everyone we talked to said that the fishing was getting really slow, but opening weekend of July 19th was when others were limiting out at 6 per person.

Note to self: don't plan anything on the weekends of mid-July to mid-August until the Sockeye run opens again next year!

Everyone was fishing with a big 8" or so silver dodger, some were the "Double D" extra sparkly ones, and either just a red hook after the dodger (I have been told ~18") or the Macks double whammy pro, aka the "Lake Wenatchee Special" haha.