Wenatchee River

The Wenatchee River is opening to steelhead fishing Monday, Oct. 22 for the first time in 10 years. I used to fish it every fall since 1973. I hear some predictions that it will be very crowded when it opens, but I wonder. Maybe with drift fishermen, but it seems like a lot of the guys who are fly fishing for steelhead have taken it up in the last 10 years and aren't likely familiar with the river. That's my guess at least.

Crowded or not, I'm planning to fish it a few days next week for old time's sake if nothing else. Anyone from here planning to give it a try? I know the run size isn't nearly as large as that predicted for the Methow, but I know where most of the Wenatchee fish live. So I ought to have a decent chance.

Sg

Sg- i will likely head over for a chukar/steelhead trip. We are going for the pheasant opener to Dayton so i might be able to work my way north on the return trip. good luck.
david

I plan on hitting it in early november, never have fished it but always wanted to give it a shot. Think ill be doing a loop and hitting the methow on way home and stop by skagit/stilly as well...good luck up there next week.

I fished it ONCE before they closed it 10 years ago. Have always kicked myself for not going back a few more times that year, but it kicked my a$$ (don't even think of wading that river without spikes or cleats).

I'll probably go sometime in November (especially if the Thompson doesn't open). It's a beautiful river and I always felt a bit cheated that I didn't get to fish it more. Plus I live within a 2 hr drive these days, so even sweeter.

I think the crowds will descend, but I don't care as it's close enough for me to do a day trip during the week. The only issue is that access is less than 10 years ago - floating might be the way to go.

Good Luck!

Brian

Brian,

I was thinking that those new to the W might not be aware that it wades like the Thompson. I always wear cleats and carry a wading staff there, and thought that might give me an advantage. I could fish while others are struggling to stand upright.

Sg

salmo, what days are you planning on going? I was thinking about heading over next week.
Justin

Mon, Tues, Thurs, Fri. I have a Wed meeting.

sg, is it worth it to take the pontoon and just drift it or is there enough access without it? theres some pretty good whitewater even below leavenworth correct?

The lower river is not as nasty as Tumwater Canyon, but still deserves your respect.

I'm looking forward to sampling not only the steelhead, but also the resident trout. The closure and then restrictions, on the Methow, did wonders for the resident fish. 10 years of closure on the Wenatchee, I'd guess, should produce some amazing fish. I'm also looking forward to less pressure on my home water.

Good luck, guys.

i was contemplating fishing it thur. ive sworn for the past few years that if it ever did open, i would not fish it because of the crowds that i knew would be there but i just cant help myself.

Summerrun,

It's floatable downstream of Leavenworth, but deserves anyone's respect. Don't try floating over Dryden dam, for instance. And there's a couple other hairy spots as I recall. There used to be plenty of bank access, but the grapevine is saying a lot of that has been posted - don't know why if no one's been trespassing to fish it. I plan to take my raft.

PS,

There should be some resident trout. It would be naive to think no one's been fishing it for 10 years just because it was closed. People being people and all. But the reduced pressure may have allowed the trout population to increase in numbers and size. I hadn't been thinking of that.

Sparks,

If you're coming over, email me. If you haven't fished it, don't bother unless you bring both stream cleats and a wading staff. Think Thompson River slick.

Sg

Sg-
I am unsure of your current email so I sent you a private message.

any reports? it did open today right?

Apparently it was busy. The river's higher than I prefer it, so I'm waiting 'til Thursday to try it.

Sg

Sparkey, are you two timing me, I am in for Thursday

Lotta' fish caught near the mouth yesterday according to an article in the Wenatchee World. Hope a few are further up river.

We floated from Monitor to the mouth on Monday and Tuesday. It was pretty much a scouting trip since we had never fished it before. The fish we did catch were caught from the raft since all of the runs had fishers and we tried to give them a wide berth.

I was surprised by the lack of trout as we didn't catch any. I assumed they would have been represented in the catch more than they were. But then again, there is probably more higher up in the system. I wanted to do a different float on Tuesday just to see some new water but the "captain" wanted to do the same float since we did pretty good the first day and he didn't want to "leave fish to find fish".

One of the better moments was drifting down to the mouth. We saw steelhead, chinook, sturgeon, suckers, whitefish, and bass; all in pretty shallow, clear water.

Sg, I'd swing behind you down a run anytime! I got lots of vacation to use up.

Take warning on the wading issue. I have been running around in my studs all year without mishap. Out of respect for my friend's raft, I didn't wear them. First spot we could wade, down I went with only a little water down my waders. Luckily I gave him first pass so he didn't see me fall. Only my pride was hurt. Three days on the Thompson and I never came close to falling. The first 3 minutes of fishing the Wenatchee I was bobbing like a barrell of apples at a kids Halloween party.

Dave,

I was thinking the river was a bit high at 986 cfs, so I didn't go Mon or Tues. What did you think of it? I plan on fishing tomorrow, and I have my stream cleats and wading staff already in the car.

Sg

Sg,

I have nothing to compare it to since I never did fish it before but I'd say it may have been a little high for greased line fishing only because it would take a pretty aggressive fish to take a fly near the surface from its holding lie. The other technique would be to fish skinnier holding water. After the first three days with all the pressure I'm guessing the fish are looking for some sactuary water, meaning they could be looking for some non-traditional holding water. Monday the fish were pretty aggressive but by Tuesday, they were not near as aggressive, meaning the pressure was getting to them.

I wanted to float so I could scout for walk in spots later and the extra water didn't hurt in that regard. There are about 8 runs that I'd want to fish again. Some are relatively accessible by foot but then they get lots of pressure too. Fish are spread throughout the system. The trick will be to find some secluded water and fish it hard.

S.G. - I just checked the Monitor gauge and ironically the river was close to the median flow on Monday, but for the last couple of days has been climbing. I guess there's been some slop over precip along the crest that we haven't received here in the Methow.

While the lower Methow has been hit hard, the middle section (Carlton to Methow) has had light pressure midweek. Good hatches of caddis on warmer evenings.

The warm weather yesterday and today has melted low elevation snow that I forgot was even there. So much for my strategy. It's running 1590, and I can't tell yet if it's crested. The weather seems to be cooling. Maybe it will begin to drop. I empathize with the weatherman.

I see the Met is running at a good flow for fishing. That's an extra two hours or better from here though.

so what is the latest? i may head over tomorrow and do a chukar/steelhead combo. Any guidance? i have never fished it before.

It just dropped below 1100 cfs this afternoon. It's still higher than I like it, but it's on a slow steady drop. Supposed to be 900 by Saturday. That should be pretty good conditions, but I don't know how crowded it might be on the weekend. I'm not sure if I'll drive back over or not.

did you go?
i hunted chukars on friday and shot my limit quickly enough that i had time to get down to Yakima for some more hunting and hanging out with friends. I would have liked to fish and the river looked great, but pulling myself away from the birds is tough this time of year...

D3,

I did on Oct. 25 at 1800 cfs - way too high. Picked the worst day of the season it seems. It's down around 800 again, so the flow's right, but of course the season is advancing and the water temp is ranging from 39-44 from what I recently heard, so winter rules may apply (sink tips). Still , a co-worker bonked a hatchery fish last Saturday. I'm thinking about trying Sunday-Monday if I don't have any better idea.

Sg

We spent 3 days on her on the opener and before the closure I fished this system every Nov and early December until the weather turns it to almost to ice for years and almost 10 years was far to long and I have always had better numbers on the Wenatchee over the Methow both great Eastern.Wa. rivers.
For many years in one section with 3 to 5 guys we could spank 8 -15 fish perday and my personal best was 15 landed in this selective fisheries.
That being said we use noodle rods and floats, Pink worms, spinners, corkies, yarn, puff balls and when we brought the drift boats we did well on small plugs single barless with Colored Gamas.
Long Floracabon leaders and we let are presentation sit longer then normal in the tail outs.
I have caught some large nats in the early 90's as well and we would land way more then are share of hatchery brates.
Pulled over 50 anglers over highway 2 for many years and was jacked they opened her back up!
On the opener we released 5 nice fish on the opener and the next 2 days was a bust hooking dark Kings, white fish and trout.
Was Mucho Grande pressure, toons, drift boats and bankies and my one bud with his puffer Sage landed a chrome hen at first light on the opener that had some shoulders.
The Key is the (Orchard hole) the most productive water on that great pretty river , very large structure , many depths, great holding water after a big push for them running skinny before reaching this long deeper seam loaded with very big boulders. You can view this section above on small cliffs just off Highway 2 make sure you get permission to cross the Orchards we always gave him a super nice Grower a Hatchery brate on the way out.
As far as forgiving you better have your best wading boots on , I have floated 100's of yards with ice in her under and above water and blew up a knee as well ! Slick as Rick
I also drift many bright flies with a very small sliding slinky and do well as it keeps it down in the bag zone, this river eats gear as well , light, small and Look for some sweet apple trees in the gut of her= there you will find metalheads on any year, weather or conditions.
We stayed in 2 toy haulers the park was loaded and most of the puffer guys were not happy the last day our 3rd it hit 73 degrees I was very happy.

Stayed on the river this past weekend, looked SWEEET other than the big chunks of ice floating down it;)