lake Wenatchee sockey

[Lingking]

Thank the fishing gods lake Wenatchee is opening this week. My family planned a weekend trip camping there and I was disappointed that I was dry docked for the weekend. Now that they are opening the sockey I have something to do. I read last year's reports and looked at the GPS Hotspots. Looks like I want to be on the upper lake. I am staying at the state park on the south end of the lake. Is it a long run to the north? I have a 12' smoker craft with a 15hp on it. Should I just trailer it up lake? Those who fished it last year, what was the average depth you had success at?

[hewesbob]

You can launch a small boat from the south shore at the end of the road. If I were fishing from a smaller boat I would trailer the boat to that launch. Last year we fished 30 ft to 150 ft, just depends on the day. We start shallow and drop 5 ft every 30 mins, until we find them. Keep an eye on the wind, it can come up all at once and start white capping fast. A couple tricks we figured out, short short leader(8in max), 3 hooks about a inch apart, and don't fish where everybody else is fishing. Good luck. We will be leaving Sekiu in a couple days and heading for Lake Weatchee.

[Mike Carey]

That boat will be fine, but FYI, just like Baker lake, the wind starts up early afternoon and can be pretty strong, to the point of white caps. Fortunately the wind almost always blows west to east so you can ride them back to the launch.

Depths can be all over, shallow to deep. Last year's reports will help. Also, use the report filter for lake Wenatchee, there are a couple reports I posted way back 8-10 years ago in the database the first time it opened up.

[wafisherman20]

any idea how long the season will last? i am headed up the 16th of this month... can i expect a few fish?

[Mike Carey]

I haven't heard of a closure yet. My understanding is there are around 7,000 fish allotted to anglers. The issue will be fish condition. They are declining in quality daily, much faster than Baker Lake sockeye. The ones we caught a few days ago were OK but showed a few signs of decay - interior flesh color changing to more pale along the tail area (two males), and one female actually had a mushy nose, which I discovered after fileting the fish. But the meat was fine, nice and firm and deep red. Even so, that memory lingers...

[hewesbob]

We fished yesterday,the wind was not fun. We released one Dollie and lost two fish. Today the wind kept us off the lake. The forecast calls for the wind to die down tomorrow so we will be on the lake at daylight. The fish are turning fast but everything that we have caught has been in pretty fair shape. I think the season will close after this weekend, if it doesn't close then I don't think the fish will be worth keeping. We started this trip in Sekiu about two weeks ago and hit Lake Wenatchee last Sat., if sockeye closes here before the end of the weekend we will be moving to Wenatchee to fish the Columbia for Kings before heading back to Spokane the end of next week. Oh I should add that we transfer fish home by way of our daughter so we do not exceed the possession limit while in the field.

[Mike Carey]

Isn't sad you have to add that in anticipation of someone calling you out on it? Nice vacation and road trip.
p.s. that wind IS brutal!

[Hunter757]

Isn't sad you have to add that in anticipation of someone calling you out on it? Nice vacation and road trip.
p.s. that wind IS brutal!

Well said.... Sounds like a fun time fishing in many waters. Tight lines!!