7/10/16 Upper Columbia Summer Chinook Fishing Report

Fishing for Summer Chinook continues to be good on the Upper Columbia River. Today we fished out of Chelan Falls near the Beebe Bridge. This is a great area for Chinook as there are a lot of hatchery fish to be found because of the releases into the Chelan River. We hooked a total of 5 fish today. Our hookups came on both Superbaits and Flashers and a custom copper spinner. Our winning superbait colors today were “Rotten Banana” in the original series, and “Signal Light” in the cut plug miny. We stuff our Superbaits with tuna mixed with a few of the Super Dipping Sauces. Today’s hot scent was the Anis / Krill.

Our highlight of the day was this 25 pound Chinook that absolutely crushed our gear and ran off 200′ off the line counter.

We still have openings over the next two weeks! Get in touch with us now to book your Summer Salmon Fishing trips! Click here for more information

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July 11, 2016January 12, 2018

Upper Columbia Summer Chinook Trip Photos

I just wanted to take this chance to share with everyone some great photos some customers of my took the other day on one of our summer Chinook fishing trips. We had a great time on the water and as the photos show this is a great experience! Hope you enjoy

July 11, 2016January 12, 2018

Upper Columbia Summer Chinook and Sockeye Report

We started our Upper Columbia Summer Chinook and Sockeye season this past week and fishing did not disappoint. We are offering Summer Chinook and Sockeye combination trips. The past few days have we have been landing 4-6 Chinook in the morning and then filling up the cooler with tasty sockeye after the Chinook bite has slowed down. For Chinook we are getting our fish trolling Super Baits stuffed with Tuna and fished behind a Pro Troll Flasher or the new Leo Flashers. Our most successful color patterns have been the Hotter Tamale, and Rotten Banana Supper Baits. These are both in the original series. We have also been getting several fish each day fishing whole herring dyed bright Chartreuse.

We have openings this Thursday and Friday, as well as 2 seats open on Saturday. We also have availability the next two weeks during the week. This is a great summer time fishery! Limits are 2 adult Chinook and 3 sockeye! Give us a Call at 208-861-0654 to get your trip booked.

Columbia River Spring Chinook — Columbia River Summer Chinook

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July 7, 2016January 12, 2018

How To Fish Columbia River Sockeye

The month of July often finds us fishing the Upper Columbia River in the Brewster Pool for Sockeye Salmon. Columbia River Sockeye Salmon average between 19-24 inches. What they lack in size they more than make up on the dinner table. Columbia River Sockeye Salmon are some of the finest tasting fish that swim in the Columbia River, and at times they can also provide outstanding fishing action. When Sockeye action is good quick limits of delicious fish are the norm! While these fish may seem easier to catch than their larger Chinook cousins, there are some specific tackle rigging and fishing differences that separate the guys that catch some from the guys who “Smack Em.” This article is designed to give you the information and gear selection that we use in our professional guide business to put consistent catches of Sockeye in our boats day in and day out. There are as many different set up as there are anglers out there, and this is not an end all be all approach to fishing Columbia River Sockeye, but simply our method for putting our customers on fish. Keep in mind that we live by the “keep it simple” approach and find that by not over complicating our rigging and gear we are able to focus more on actually putting our boats in the best position possible to catch fish.

Set up

Rods: Gloomis E6X 1143-2C STR This is a great 9’6″ casting rod that also doubles as our preferred steelhead plug rod in the Sled. The little bit longer length gives us a little more spread in our set up.

Reels: Shimano Tekota 300 LC

Line: 25# Mono

Our set up starts by running the 25# mono through a sinker slider followed by a small bead to act as a bumper between the slider and the knot.

We tie this off to a 6 ball bead-chain swivel.

Attach a duo lock snap to the bead-chain so that the open end is toward to terminal gear ( this makes breaking down, and storing rods easier)

For the dodger lead we use 40# mono with a barrel swivel on one end and a Duo Lock Snap on the other. We like our dodger leads to be 36″ long.

For Dodgers we mostly use the 8″ Double D Dodger from Mack’s Lures or the 11″ Sling Blade dodger from Shasta Tackle,. Attached to our dodgers we run 8-24 inches of 40# mono for our leader. The reason for the very heavy mono leader is that we want to be able to impart as much action as possible to our lure from the dodger and the heavy line helps this. Also these fish tend to twist and spin an awful lot and when you are into 30/ day its nice to know you don’t need to check your leaders for abrasion. We just re bait and drop em back out.

On the business end of our leaders we run two different set ups. The first includes a .8 inch Mack’s Smile blade, 2 4mm beads, and a #4 Gamakatsu 2x strong red treble hook. The addition of the single treble hook increased out hook to land ratio from a dismal 30-40% to almost 85%. Its been that effective. The other leader set up we use is just the same leader to nothing more that a #4 treble hook. On both of these setups we bait up with coon shrimp. To learn how we cure our coon shrimp click here . We find that some days the fish want the rig with the Smile Blade and other days they just want the plain coon shrimp, but no matter what the main key to this is our coon shrimp.

To watch a video on how we set up our gear Click Here

Fishing

When fishing this set up in the Brewster Pool we troll at a speed between .8 and 1.4 MPH on our GPS. This is pretty much going as slow as we can go. Keep in mind that when trolling with the current you will carry a little more speed since the current is helping to push you along. One trick we use is to really watch that speed and vary how fast we are going by kicking the throttle in and out of gear. This also imparts a slight jigging action to our terminal gear.

The depths we fish vary between 8-30 feet. To figure out where the fish are we pay close attention to our sonar and stagger our depths until we find the fish. We commonly fish our set up between 12 – 30 feet on our line counter reels. One tip I would like to share is that when you find some fish stay on them.

As in many salmon fisheries Brewster can be a very busy place. If you are expecting a quiet fishing experience with few other people around then this is not your type of fishery. Please have patience and when things get crowded and busy just remember that we are all out there for the same reason. This is a place that I love to fish and I know many others do a well, if we are able to keep a cooler head out there it makes it much more enjoyable for everyone.

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December 22, 2015January 12, 2018

Summer Chinook and Sockeye

SUMMER CHINOOK AND SOCKEYE

Come Late June, July and early August we can be found fishing the Upper Columbia between Tri-Cities, Washington and the town of Brewster, Washington. Summer Chinook are commonly called June hogs and are known for their size and incredible strength. During this time of year we often have great numbers of Sockeye available. What these fish lack in size they more than make up for as table fare. We often catch both Chinook and Sockeye on the same trip. This is a fantastic fishery and we can’t think of a better way to spend a summer day than fishing the Columbia River for Summer Chinook and Sockeye Salmon.

Hanford Reach

We target the Hanford Reach fishing out of Vernita Bridge and Ringold for summer Chinook and Sockeye starting the end of June. We also offer catch and keep sturgeon fishing at this time and often do combination trips. This is mostly an anchor fishery as we like to sit on travel lanes and wait for the waves of migrating Chinook and Sockeye to meet our gear. The flows of the Columbia River at this time are often very high due to the early summer run off, it is this high water that makes these fish available and aggressive. When fishing here we are looking for points and bars, or any structure that disrupts the flow of the water and creates an easier place for the fish to migrate. These fish are constantly moving and are looking for the slower inside bends to help them conserve energy for their long migration. It is at these congestion points that we often anchor up and deploy our gear. This style of fishing is both very relaxing and exciting. The Hanford Reach is a huge place and we often have large areas of river almost all to our self’s.

To see a Google Map of our meeting locations click here.

Wanapum Dam

Starting July 1st the Columbia River above Priest Rapids Dam opens. Our first stop for these fish is the tail race of Wanapum Dam, it’s here that the heavy currents caused by the Dam congregates migrating Summer Chinook and Sockeye Salmon. This is a very popular troll fishery. When targeting Chinook we like to troll flashers and Brad’s Super Baits, Flashers and herring, and spinners. When targeting Sockeye we fish 8 inch chrome dodgers followed by a small hoochie squid tipped with a coon shrimp. This can be a very busy fishery, but the fishing here can be absolutely fantastic! We typically will fish Wanapum through the 10th or so of July before moving up river. The Sockeye and Chinook caught here during early July are some of the best table fare around!

To see a Google Map of our meeting locations click here.

Brewster/Wells Dam

We start fishing in the Brewster, Washington area about the 10th of July. When fishing here we target both the Brewster Pool and the area just below Wells Dam. We will put you on the best location to get you on a bunch of Chinook or Sockeye. Both locations are primarily troll fisheries. For Sockeye we like to troll 8 inch dodgers followed by a small coon shrimp, and when targeting Chinook we like to fish Super Bait’s, Herring, spinners, or plugs. Wells Dam is much like the fishery we see at Wanapum Dam. Lots of current and fish stacked up trying to get through the fish ladders. One difference here is that unlike Wanapum there is a Chinook Hatchery at Wells Dam and for many fish this is the end of the line. This means there are always fish holding here waiting to head up into the hatchery.

The Brewster Pool is very different from both Wells and Wanapum and resembles a big reservoir. Here the current is slowed and the fishing is a little more laid back. This is a holding area created by the warm water temperatures of the Okanogan River. Most of the Upper Columbia River Sockeye and lots of Summer Chinook are headed up the Okanogan River to Spawning grounds in Canada and the Okanagan River Valley. Once the water temperature hits the 70 degree mark its creates a temperature barrier for migrating Salmon. It is once this barrier is set that the Brewster Pool becomes a salmon fishing paradise. Tens of thousands of Chinook and Sockeye hold here waiting for the temperature in the Okanagan River to cool enough to allow safe passage. Quick limits of Sockeye and multiple hookups on great fighting Summer Chinook are the norm. We offer both full and half day trips in this area and often run a full day followed by a half day afternoon trip.

To see a Google Map of our meeting locations click here