Tag: Drano lake spring Chinook

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Drano Lake and Wind River Spring Chinook

Barry has been down in the Columbia gorge since the 20th of April and has been fishing for Spring Chinook on Drano Lake and the Wind River. The fishing started a little slow, but this past week has been nothing short of fantastic. With passage of Spring Chinook over Bonneville looking great, especially considering the dismal returns of the pst few years, this fishery will continue for the at least the next few weeks.

While there are quite a few different ways to rig up for Drano Lake, and Wind River Spring Chinook, Barry has been doing best fishing prawn spinners with 3.5 Colorado blades. For flashers the stand by chrome pro trolls have been getting plenty of work, and have also been the top producers on his boat. For an in depth look at how he rigs his prawn spinners make sure to check out the video link below

How To Rig Prawn Spinners for Drano Lake Spring Chinook

Barry has a few seats open this week and through the weekend, so if interested make sure to call our office at 208-669-1569.

Next week we will be kicking off our Clearwater Spring Chinook season in Idaho. We still have quite a few open slots to fill from May 10th – The first week of June (if the season lasts that long). Watch for updates from Idaho’s Springer season over the next month.

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Spring Chinook Season is off and Running

Barry is currently down in the Columbia River gorge near Hood River, Oregon fishing Drano Lake, and the Wind River. I was awaken this morning by our first Spring Chinook of the 2022 season!

Barry will be fishing this area for the next 2 1/2 weeks, and it’s such a great opportunity to catch these wonderful fish. It’s amazing how good a spring chinook tastes on the grill, and once you have experienced it you will definitely understand why we crave this fishery so much!

If traveling to the Columbia river gorge is just a little too far that’s ok because our flagship fishery, Idaho’s Clearwater is just about to kick off. We are currently booking dates starting the 15th of May, but if a good push of fish comes up a little early we will be here. The Clearwater Spring Chinook Fishery is our absolute favorite of the year, and is the catalyst that got us into the salmon guiding lifestyle.

We have opening for both Drano Lake, and the Clearwater here in Idaho, so don’t hesitate as this is a fishery that goes very quickly once the fish arrive.

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How to Rig Brad’s Kokanee Cut Plugs to catch more Salmon

Hanford Reach Fall Chinook

On this weeks Tip Tuesday we are going over how we rig up our Kokanee Cut Plugs to catch more salmon. Over the past three years we have experimented with a number of different hook configurations to try an get the best performing hook setup. What we have settled on two different set ups that seem to give about an equal hook to land ratio. The first is a single #4 treble rigged behind eight 4mm beads, and the second is two #1/0 Owner Cutting point octopus hooks. The two hook set up is also rigged behind eight or so 4mm beads. The purpose of the beads is to set the hook just behind the cut plug, an to let the lure spin freely on the line enabling it to spin faster that it would if it had to spin the hooks an the lure. Check out the video below to get all the details on how we rig these awesome little lures. Also make sure to check out our other tip videos on how to make you a better salmon fisherman.

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How to Catch more Salmon with Brad’s Kokanee Cut Plugs.

Columbia River Spring Chinook

Its no secret that the line of Superbaits produced by Brads Killer Fishing Gear have become a staple in the Northwest Salmon scene. One of the newest arrivals in the line is the Kokanee Cut Plug. While this version was originally designed for the little land locked Sockeye that inhabit many of our local lakes and reservoirs, it quickly gained a following among serious salmon fisherman on the Columbia River and its tributaries. Even though it’s smaller than a lot of lures used for salmon this little bugger has proven itself for both Spring, Summer, and Fall Chinook. Its primary foothold in the Adult Salmon world came from spring Chinook fisheries such as Drano Lake, and the Wind River.

Although the Kokanee Cut Plug fishes very well directly out of the package, there are a few tweeks that allow the KCP to be a Chinook catching machine. Check out the video below for a modification that we do that makes these things fish much better.

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Drano Lake Spring Chinook Report

Drano Lake Spring Chinook

We have been finding a few fish the past few days. Fishing was a little tougher yesterday and today, but we still had plenty of chances and put 3 in the boat each day. All our fish have been coming on pro troll flashers and brads superbaits.

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Drano Lake Spring Chinook

Drano Lake Spring Chinook

We had a fantastic day today at Drano as we filled the boat with 8 nice Chinook. We still have open dates the 21st and 22nd of May before we head home to Idaho to fish the Clearwater.

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Columbia Gorge Spring Chinook

Drano Lake Spring Chinook

We had a great day in the Columbia gorge today fishing spring Chinook. We landed 4 and had a bunch of other chances. With fishing good and dam counts finally coming up it looks like we will get a good shot at fishing at home on the Clearwater in Idaho. We have openings the 24th, 25th, 25th, and 31st of May and the 1st and 3rd of June. All Clearwater dates are done as employees of Reel Time Fishing, but give our office a call at 208-669-1569 and we will get you all set up.