I was excited to try out yet another fishery, and Lake Wenatchee had been on my radar for a while. However I was conflicted, because it was my lovely Janet’s birthday weekend too. Fortunately, she agreed to come with me for the weekend, with promises of beautiful surroundings, fresh peaches and a visit to Leavenworth… It worked! All would be kept good in the romance department.
To ensure my success and learn some new things, I decided to charter fish with Shane Moon, Moons Guide services. In a word, “Wow”. We left the dock at 5:00am and began fishing at first light. Four downriggers were set from 60-90’ with 00 silver dodger and two barbless red hooks. (Really? Just bare hooks? Yep.) Bull trout were surfacing all around us, but we were informed that they cannot be kept. The bite started slowly, with the occasional tease, then SLAM! Fish on! I reeled in my first sockeye salmon ever. It was a good fight, but she was no match for my skills, keeping a steady arc in the rod and reeling in confidently and patiently. (Thank you Ryan Hung at www.reelpriorities.com for teaching me this.) Then the bite was on. We had mostly one at a time, but occasional two’s that peaked the excitement. Shane’s friend, Jessica reeled in a bull trout. It was cool to check out and safely release to join his friends. A little lull, then back on again until our limit of six was reached. I am pretty sure we were the first boat back with our limit, thanks to the sound techniques, skills and experience of Shane. On the return to the dock Shane put the pedal to the metal. I could see a wide grin on his face as we rocketed to 43 mph! I let him filet my fish, and watched with marvel at his precision and ease of doing it. We had several bright fish with beautifully red meat. In conclusion, I want to mention my appreciation of Shane’s patience, professionalism, skill and experience. He taught me some skills and put me on sockeye, big time! What a fantastic time. I went home with fresh salmon, and more for the freezer. I could not be happier. I look forward to my next guided trip with Shane. He is awesome!

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