The Northwest's Premier Outfitter offering guided fishing trips on Idaho's Clearwater and Snake Rivers, American Falls Reservoir, CJ Strike Reservoir, Salmon Falls Creek Reservoir, and the Columbia River in Washington and Oregon.
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
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.
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.
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.
It’s no secret that we use a lot of different canned tuna concoctions while targeting Chinook salmon through the year. One of the biggest advantages we have is that we fish for Chinook from March – October every year starting with Spring Chinook, then Summer Chinook, and finally rounding out our salmon season with Fall Chinook. This 7 month season give us the advantage in truly being able to dial in our baits to match the situations we are presented with. Over the course of our 7 month salmon season we target fish with many different baits and lures, but there is one item that can always be found in our boat, canned tuna. One of our favorite ways to use tuna is to wrap it onto plugs such as the Maglip by Yakima Bait. The following video will show you just how we go about turning our tuna concoctions into a great bait wrap.
Also don’t forget to sign up for our Newsletter and enter your self in for a chance to win a free guided fishing trip. We draw a random name from our list in July and January!
Many salmon anglers have come to realize the effectiveness of canned tuna as a bait source for salmon fishing. Canned tuna, especially packed in oil, has many uses as a salmon bait. It is often wrapped in mesh to form tuna balls, wrapped onto plugs, stuffed in Super Baits, or added to eggs as a flavor enhancer, and because canned tuna is sold in every grocery store and is transported with no refrigeration needed it is an extremely versatile and cost effective bait. While basic tuna taken directly from the can has, and continues to be, the most used variation of the bait there are a some things we can do to make our tuna fish even better.
Myself and many other anglers throughout the northwest have discovered that there are often extra things we can do to our tuna to make it fish even better than taking it directly out of the can. The end result is what we often call Tuna Concoctions, or mixes of scents, cures, salts, and a few other key ingredients that takes that old boring canned tuna and turns it into a very dynamic bait that can be tailored to any salmon fishing situation presented.
The following steps are just a simple version that some would consider just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to development of tuna concoctions. The information provided here is presented in a way that might open up your mind to many possible ways to improve you salmon fishing success with the use of canned tuna.
Tuna (packed in Oil)
Salt (non iodized)
Super Dipping Sauce ( My Favorite )
Measuring Spoons
Container with a lid
Can opener
Step 1:
Open the can of tuna and drain off the oil.
Step 2:
Add tuna to container (preferably one with a lid)
Step 3:
Add salt to your tuna. The amount varies depending on time of year and where the fish are in the system. As a general rule of thumb for Chinook it seems that the farther you get from the ocean and the warmer the water the more salt the fish crave, I often add anywhere from a tablespoon to a half a cup per can of tuna.
Step 4:
Add scents and additives to this mixture. A must have line of scents for me are Super Dipping Sauce scents by Money Maker Fishing. I add a table spoon of each scent I want to use to per each can of tuna. My all time favorite is the Garlic Super Dipping Sauce.
Step 5:
Refrigerate overnight or place on ice. Give this mixture time to set up and really let the scents and salts get into the tuna. The next morning your tuna concoction will be ready to fish!
As you can see this is a very easy and quick process that will give your tuna an extra kick. The sky is the limit as far as what can be added to this mixture. Always be experimenting because you never know when you might stumble upon the cant miss recipe that fills your boat with limits.
Look for blogs in the near future that discuss how to wrap tuna on plugs, rig tuna balls, stuff / rig Super Baits, and other creative ways to fish this versatile bait.
Don’t forget to sign up for our Newsletter and enter yourself for a chance to win a free fishing trip. We draw a random winner from our email list every July and January.
As we enter the last streach of our Lower Columbia Columbia Spring Chinook season I wanted to give a quick update on our season.
Fishing overall has been good. We have had a few days in which we have had to work hard for bites, but overall the action has been more than satisfying. We have focused our efforts in the Portland area near the the I5 bridge. Downstream trolling herring has been our go to technique and our best bite has been during the first few hours of daylight.
We look for the the next four days to be some of the best of the year as everyday there are more and more tasty Spring Chinook in the system. The Columbia is set to close the 9th of April. After the Columbia closes I will switch gears and spend a few weeks targeting the Willamette, before moving up to the John Day Dam area the last week of April to target the migration up the Columbia system.
I still have plenty of openings for both the Willamette River and the John Day Dam fisheries. On the Willamette we have a 2 chinook limit, and up at John Day I offer salmon and Sturgeon combination trips. As always full boat and single anglers are encouraged to give us a call and book dates.
Fishing is really starting to pick up down here in the Portland area for Spring Chinook. A fellow guide buddy and I snuck out for a little fun fishing this morning and we’re handsomely rewarded with a quick limit of Columbia River Spring Chinook. We picked both these fish up trolling flashers and herring downstream. Our favorite flashers have been the new Leo Flashers by Money Maker Fishing.
Now is the time to get down here and get in on this action. I have full day openings this week and 4 hour evening trip openings the 2nd – 9th of April. Also have openings for the Willamette River after the 10th of April. Also for people willing to wait until the end of April and into early May we still have some open dates for our John Day Dam Spring Chinook and Keeper Sturgeon combo trips. Give me a call at 208-861-0654 to book your dates.
With Columbia River Spring Chinook fishing right around the corner I wanted to cover a topic of discussion that often comes up on my boat. Many people ask “How do you brine your bait for Spring Chinook”. Below I have outlined my simple process for turning my frozen herring into fish catching machines. Keep in mind that I use a very simple approach that gives me consistent success day in day out.
Ingredients:
Container
Rock Salt
Bottled Water
Herring
Various scents (optional)
Dye (optional)
Step 1:
The first step is buying quality herring and prepping it for the brine. Make sure to buy quality herring! By quality I mean packages that are blood free, have clear eyes, and have most scales intact. One of the biggest mistakes people make is trying to brine up bait that is of sub-par quality. Always remember that it takes good bait to make good bait. Don’t fish crappy bait!
After removing the package from the freezer it is best to cut one side of the package open to let air in. This removes the vacuum seal and will ensure that as your herring are beginning to thaw the packaging does not pull any of the scales off.
Make sure at this point to let the herring thaw until they are able to be removed from the package without having to pull them off the Styrofoam tray.
Step 2:
While your packages of Herring are continuing to thaw it is now time to make your brine. This is a very simple brine that contains only two ingredients, Rock Salt and bottled water. Combine one bottle (16.9 oz) of water to 1 cup rock salt. At this point you can now add any optional scents or dyes to the brine. For Spring Chinook I often will add a very small amount of Blue Bad AZZ bait dye from Pro Cure. For some reason at times these fish seem to really crave the slight blue tint.
Step 3:
Carefully remove the herring from the package and add to your brine. Now put the brining herring into your cooler and keep on ice. This bait is best fished 8-48 hours from when first put in the brine, so brine your bait the afternoon before you are planning on fishing, but don’t worry if you start the process too late I have fished these baits after only sitting in the brine for a few hours and they fished fine, and got better as the day went on. Just always remember to keep your bait nice and cold while on the water!
For up to date fishing reports make sure you check out our reports page.
Often referred to as “The Reach,” this area of the Columbia River is the last “Free Flowing” section of the Columbia River and is home to some of the absolute best spawning habitat left in the main stem Columbia River. This is where many of the fish we were targeting at Astoria are heading. The Hanford Reach is where these fish will finally stop moving and hold up before they start to spawn. We target “The Reach” starting the second week of September and fish here through the second week of October. We often catch some of our biggest fish of the year here as the big males start to get aggressive in anticipation of spawning. This is an action packed fishery targeting big Chinook in the desert of Eastern Washington.
We fish a number of different ways and have found that being diverse in our strategies has helped us to continually put good numbers of Fall Chinook in the boat for our customers. We could be downstream trolling Super Baits in the morning and back trolling plugs and eggs in the afternoon. The biggest key to success here is knowing where to fish depending on the flow coming out of Priest Rapids Dam. This is also the most difficult thing about this fishery. Where and how we fish can vary greatly depending on what flows are coming out of the Dam. Our two favorite techniques here are trolling flashers and Super Baits, and back trolling bait wrapped plugs and eggs. “The Reach” fishes like a real river with dynamic changes in holes and flows and anglers have to be willing to adapt to be successful.
We start most of our trips out of Vernita bridge, but if the fishing dictates we will drop down and fish out of Ringold. We like the Vernita area as we feel it gives us the best access to a wide variety of water to consistently put our customers on fish. We truly enjoy this fishery and we are excited to be able to share it with you.
Fishing the Hanford Reach is truly an amazing experience. It is very normal for us to see lots of Mule Deer, including some really nice bucks, coyotes, waterfowl, and on occasion some of the Elk from the large herds that cross the nuclear site.
For a Google Map of our meeting locations click here.
Starting August 1st, and continuing until the end of the month, we turn our attention to the mouth of the Columbia River near Astoria. Oregon. This is the famed Buoy 10 fishery! There is nothing quite like the pull of a 20+ pound Chinook ripping line out on a hell bent run back to the Pacific Ocean. To say that these fish are fresh is an understatement! The fish you hook up with most likely just came into the river from the big pond on the last incoming tide. This is an exciting fishery that is on many people’s bucket list, and is one of our most favorite fisheries of the entire year. Bring the family out for a vacation on the coast, while you sneak out for some of the finest salmon fishing in the world.
This is without a doubt the most publicized fishery in the Northwest, and arguably the single most anticipated fishery of the year. When you spend an August day chasing fresh from the previous tide Upriver Bright Fall Chinook, and Coho at the mouth of the Columbia River there is no doubt you are in a special place. The buzz and feeling you get just being in this historic area makes a trip worth it.
We start our days out of the East Mooring Basin in Astoria, Oregon. From here we set out on the river to the best location for the days particular tides. This is a dynamic fishery as we are always changing locations to put you on the best locations for the specific periods of the tides. This is also a troll oriented fishery and we love to fish bait. Fresh herring and anchovies pulled behind a flasher is our number one rig.
We suggest that you book early for this fishery as our available space tends to fill quickly. Also this is a prime time for other tourist attractions on the coast and securing a hotel room can be a little difficult with short notice. When booking we can offer suggestions on where to stay for a variety of different budgets and lodging needs.
To view a Google Map of our meeting locations click here.
