Wenatchee River

November 1, 2007

 

The Wenatchee River finally re-opened in 2007 after a twelve year closure and I couldn't wait to get back on this river that I last fished in 1991.   I found someone willing to guide the river, Doug Pendleton from Red's Fly Shop in Ellensburg,  and got Greg Lovitt to take a day off work to go fishing with me.  We arrived at the Big Y cafe after hitting the Leavenworth Starbucks at 7:00 a.m. and it was COLD, temps in the mid-20's and things not looking to warm up much for the day but the sun would be shining. 

We put in at Monitor and fished the run there before launching the boat.  Greg got a take just above the bridge there but didn't get the hook set on the fish.   We next fished the two campground runs below Monitor at the Wenatchee County Park.  All of this was excellent water but we had yet to hook up.   As the day went on we fished quite a few good runs and finally I connected on a totally botched cast after tying on a new fly - a #1.5 Black Painted Lady.  The steelhead made the choice to run to the bank and up it so we landed a very hot fish before he even made a full run.  The rest of the float to the Columbia confluence was eventless fish wise but we covered some beautiful water where we sure should have caught some fish.

The run at the Monitor boat launch	Dead salmon on the beach
Fishing with the loop	Greg casting on the Monitor run
Our boat for the day	Ghost salmon
The prize - a wild Wenatchee steelhead