Tag: Hanford Reach Fishing Report

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Hanford Reach Fall Chinook: Adjustments are the name of the game

It’s been a strange year to say the least on the Hanford Reach of the Columbia River. As I’m writing this we are in the midst of a pretty darn good Fall Chinook Run, and while fishing was absolutely on fire here early in the season, it has since cooled off, and been downright tough on some days.

We too have had our struggle days, and Barry and I have been very frustrated a few times this season. For the past few years the downhill trolling program has been absolutely on fire here, and we entered this season thinking that we would see more of the same, and while early in September was great, it didn’t take long for that bite to absolutely hit the skids. So, instead of just pounding away and hoping each morning would be better then the last we decided that there had to be a better way. We made some adjustments.

A little over a week ago we made the full on switch from downriver trolling 360 flashers to what is now considered an old school technique, we went backtrolling. We dusted off the plugs, shined our divers, grabbed the eggs, and went to work. We haven’t looked back since. For some reason this year backtrolling divers and eggs, and plugs has just been the best way for us to catch fish. Now that doesn’t mean other methods are not working, it just means that we have finally found consistent action after making the switch.

Backtrolling is how I cut my teeth on this fishery and it has been such a blessing to be able to fully commit to one of my absolute favorite methods for catching salmon. We are now more relaxed, our gear is in the “slots” longer, and we are catching more fish than we would if we had stayed the course. Now, I’m fully aware that the only thing consistent on the reach is that things change, and after writing this it may just be that we see an incredible downhill trolling bite, but for me, I have a little over a week left in this fishery before I head home for the Clearwater, and I’m going to spend my days relaxed and running my favorite plugs through some of the best water on the river. don’t be afraid to do the same.

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Hanford Reach Fall Chinook Report

We are now through our second full week of fall Chinook fishing on the Hanford Reach of the Columbia River. We have been non stop fishing since September 15th. Over the past week we have had some amazing fishing and a few days that we absolutely could have done better. This week saw our first major weather event of the fall, and the drastic drop in temperatures and strong winds made for a tough weekend. All in all though fishing has been very good this week and we are excited to see what this upcoming week has to offer.

Again this week we almost exclusively trolled brads superbaits behind pro troll flashers or small 3.5 Colorado spinners behind the same flasher set up. We still have been having the most success fishing in the bottom 10 feet of the water column, but don’t be afraid to run a few rods suspended well above bottom as we have been seeing multiple fish come on the suspended bow rods every day.

We still have some open dates next week and we have room for anglers to jump on boats the 7th -10th. The 8th we have an almost open boat, and the 9th we have an open boat. Plus 2 seats open both the 7th and 10th. October 10th will be our last day on the Hanford Reach for 2019 as we transition to fishing at home on the Snake River our of Heller Bar for some awesome steelhead fishing in the entrance to Hells Canyon.

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Hanford Reach Fall Chinook Report

Hanford Reach Fall Chinook

It’s been a full week straight of fishing for us on our 2019 Hanford Reach Fall Chinook season. This week has seen its ups and downs, but we are definitely on fish and we have had the opportunity to limit each of the past 4 days, some days we have pulled it off and other days we came in a fish or two short.

This is one of our absolute favorite fisheries of the year, and there is nothing quite like spending an early fall day on the Hanford Reach. The weather this time of year makes for some amazing days spent on the water.

All our fish have been coming on the downstream troll. We have been doing equally well on both superbaits and spinners pulled behind pro troll flasher.

Our program goes roughly as follows, remember there are a lot of times we may fish deeper or shallower depending on the situation. Bow rods with 12oz at 30′ (these often start much shallower, but when water depth allows we run these suspended all day) middle rods 12oz at the same depth as the bottom (if it’s 35 feet deep these rods are run at 35 and so on) back rods 10oz at 10 feet deeper than the bottom depth ( if in 35 Feet the line counter is at 45 and so on).

We also still have some openings for this year. Our open dates for Kyle’s Boat are as follows.

September:

29,30 3 open seats.

October:

1, 4 open boat

5th 3 seats

7th 4 seats

8th 5 seats

9th open boat

10th 2 seats

15th open boat

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Hanford Reach Continues to fish Great!

Hanford Reach Fall Chinook

We have had an absolutely fantastic week on the Hanford Reach of the Columbia River, near tri cities, WA. We continue to catch all of our fish downstream trolling, with both Brads Superbaits and VIP Spinners. Trolling has enabled us to cover a ton of water and locate the fish willing to bite.

If you are looking to get out on the water with us we have just a few days left open. Sunday the 7th, Monday the 8th, and Tuesday the 9th open. Book online on this website or give our office a call at 208-669-1569 and let’s fill these last few dates, before we head home and target steelhead on Idaho’s Clearwater River.

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Hanford Reach Salmon fishing remains good

We continue to do well on the Hanford Reach near the tri cites. Most of our effort continues to be spent down stream trolling both brads superbaits and spinners. Our favorite blades have been the VIP Bronco and Chartreuse Green Dot in the 3.5 sizes.

The Reach can be one of the most fickle and frustrating fisheries around, but when a good plan comes together it makes it worth the effort.

We still have some open dates before we switch over to steelhead at home on the Clearwater. October 3rd has 2 seats open, and we have open boats the 7th-15th of October. Give our office a call at 208-669-1569 to book or book online through our website.

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Hanford Reach Fall Chinook Report

We had a fantastic day today on the Hanford Reach near the Tri cites, WA. We did well downstream trolling both superbaits and Spinners. I really think the key to success this year is covering a bunch of water looking for aggressive fish.

The basic premise behind our downstream trolling game is to fish our gear in the bottom 5 feet of the water column. The setup that works well for us is to run lead dropper rigs instead of downriggers, we like 12 ounces all the way around the boat, and we typically run our gear with the depth reading and our line counters being the same, or +5. So, if we are fishing 40 feet of water we would run our depth using our line counter reels at 40 or 45 feet.

Hopefully this gives a little bit of help to someone just starting out fishing this way, and if you would like to spend a day on our boats getting some on the water training Kyle has an open boat the 3rd of October and open boats the 7th-15th of October. Give our office a call at 208-669-1569 to book your adventure.