This was my first time ever on Lake Wenatchee so I wasn't quite sure what to expect. I had a pretty good idea how to catch a sockeye from my time on Baker Lake but I figured I needed to change things up a little bit since you can't use bait here. I fished 2 poles, one with a hootchie and smile blade on a 8" leader, and the other with 3 bare hooks on about a 3" leader. The bare hooks had more bites early on than the hootchie did, but I just couldn't set hook into anything. It seemed the fish were more interested in the dodger than the "lure." After finally hooking into and catching 2 fish on the hootchie, I put another hootchie on my 2nd rod in place of the bare hooks. I continued the catch and long-range-release until the action died down by about 10:30am. Overall I hooked into 9 fish, 4 of which were successfully brought to the boat. For my first time on the lake, I'd consider that a successful trip.

And a loooong trip it became when my trailer blew out a tire on Stevens pass on the way home. Had to limp nearly 2 miles to a decent pullout. Along the way, the loose tire flapped around and ruined my fender, ripped the wires out of my tail light, and threw the cap off my bearing buddy. Luckily I had a small tool box with some sockets and a crescent wrench because I had to completely remove the bent up fender just to get the spare tire on.

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