With weather playing a factor on the previous weekend's plans, this weekend I was determined to get back on the water and chase some sockeye. Lake Wenatchee has continued to produce and what a better place to head back to for some fast action and tasty eating fish. This trip I got the chance to get Donny back in the sled as we chased some fish on the lake.
We arrived just shy of 4am, and a launch free of people. What a nice change of pace! Kenny was already launch and met us right near the launch to give some helpful tips before we headed out. The rule of the day was, trust your gear and keep your setbacks off the riggers to 10ft. Silver prism dodger "0" size with 2 red hooks 10" back was the standard gear we had deployed. Don't fix what isn't broke. Well our morning started right off the bat marking a lot of fish. And soon after the side rod goes off. But this fish had other plans and was in the downrigger cable before I could do much and snap it was off. Bummed to loose the fish, but excited to find fish biting had me in the right mindset. Find the pattern and stick with it.
Soon after that the bite seemed to just shut off for us. Something was't right. We tried different depths and nothing, while we saw others catching left and right. Kenny had mentioned to change the top hook color from red to hot pink and see if that made a difference. Sure as we did it, that rod went off. Donny put the first fish in the boat to break the skunk. Talk about a relief to have the first one aboard.
Shortly after it was my turn!
Once we found the pattern it was game on! 100ft deep, 10ft setbacks and 1 pink and 1 red hook with a small pink and orange bead in between. Didn't have to change a thing after that except putting that setup on all the rods. The pictures tell the story better than words!
Even got the chance to break out Spiderman! And he comes through in the clutch with the biggest fish of the day!
There are now over 70,000 sockeye that have passed the dam near lake wenatchee and the fishing shows. There are lots of fish still available and fishing is great. However the table fare quality on these fish is not going to last much longer. I might be able to squeeze one last trip in but we will see how things go. Such a great fishery for all ages to enjoy. Thanks for stopping by, look for new content coming real soon! God Bless and Fish on!
-Rick