Your best shot at catching sockeye in Lake Wa. is definately out of a boat. I hate to say this, but fishing with dodgers and bare red or black hooks off of a downrigger is the most effective way to catch these sockeye. I doubt they will allow fishing anywhere near the rivers during this run. I believe 4 years ago they had a pretty large buffer zone around the mouth of the Cedar.
One thing I have learned over the last 10 years is that run estimates mean nothing! The biologist have no better clue than either you or I. I have heard numbers for this year anywhere between 150,000 to 800,00. So I guess we will wait and see what happens this June.