YAKIMA -- If you haven't joined the 4:30 a.m. line of anglers waiting to launch their fishing boats into Lake Wenatchee to catch your daily limit of the thousands of sockeye salmon that have been arriving there for the past month, you may be too late.

The fishery, anticipated for more than a month, will probably last slightly more than a week.

Dennis Beich, the Washington Department of of Fish and Wildlife regional manager for that part of the state, said Wednesday -- one week to the day after the season opened on the six-mile-long lake north of Leavenworth -- that it's doubtful the fishery will continue past Friday.

That will come as sad news to the anglers who were having no trouble whatsoever reeling in their daily limit of two of the highly prized sockeye, which ranged anywhere from two to six pounds each and are considered arguably the tastiest of salmon.

Dave Graybill, whose "Fishin' Magician" columns, radio spots and online reports (www.fishingmagician.com) are a staple of the fishing community in north-central Washington, said that even with the heavy angling pressure, "The fishing was fabulous. It was limits all around."

Graybill fished with two other anglers on Thursday, and said the three lost 12 sockeye and caught their cumulative limit of six in barely two hours. He also quickly limited on Friday, when the number of boats on the lake was growing rapidly.

"The weekend," he said, "was pretty much a zoo. When I went up midday on Sunday, there was a line to the boat ramp -- these were people taking out, either having already limited or just wanting to get home and away from everybody else. I walked down to the launch at the state park, and as far as I could see on the shoreline next to the ramp, there were 25 or 30 boats beached, just waiting for their truck or trailer to show up at the ramp. And on the opposite shore, it was the same thing. And then there were all these boats idling out in the lake, just waiting their turn."

By Sunday, 27,108 sockeye -- well above the state's spawning escapement goal of 23,000 -- had been counted over Tumwater Dam on the Wenatchee River, on their way to Lake Wenatchee. But over the previous six days, the average daily count had slowed to 413, with only 69 fish counted on Sunday.

The previous week, daily counts had averaged 720, and the week before that they had been averaging over 1,200.

"So the feeling is the run is past its peak," WDFW spokesman Madonna Luers said.

Like last Tuesday's announcement of the Wednesday morning opener, the closure is apt to be a last-minute thing. Anglers should monitor the WDFW's emergency regulations site (https://fortress.wa.gov/dfw/erules/erules/rules_all_freshwater.j) or call its fishing hotline (360-902-2500) before heading out for one last run at this popular lake fishery.