Fishing has continued to be good for both Sockeye and Chinook the past few days! Rumor has it that we might be getting an increase in our Sockeye limit. These are amazing fish on the table! 
Upper Columbia River Sockeye and Chinook Report.
Upper Columbia Summer Chinook Fishing Report 7/10/17
Fishing continues to be very good for Chinook on the Upper Columbia near Brewster, Washington. We have been having great success on Brads Superbaits in both the mini cutplug and the Original Superbaits. These fish are great on the table and are loaded with fat. The limit is 2 adult Chinook. We have openings for 3 anglers on Wednesday, open boat Thursday, Friday, and Sunday. We also have openings throughout the month.
Upper Columbia Summer Chinook Report 7/3/17
We had a fantastic evening of fishing out of Beebe Bridge yesterday! We hooked a total of 10 kings in 4 hours. That was 10 fish that were actually out of the rod holder hooked up, with 17 takedowns. This fishery is just going to get better! We have openings this upcoming Friday and Saturday as well as throughout the entire month of July. We are running a morning full day trip and an evening half day. Give us a call or text at 208-861-0654 or our office at 208-669-1569 to set up your trip.
For more information on our Summer Salmon trips click here
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.
Make sure your enter for your chance at winning one of our monthly free trip drawings! We randomly select a person every month for a free fishing trip with us. The only thing you need to do is sign up for our newsletter and you are entered!
How to Cure Coon Shrimp for Steelhead and Salmon Fishing
Coon shrimp and specifically cured and dyed coon shrimp are a staple in our bait cooler. They are our bait of choice for both Sockeye Salmon and Summer Steelhead, and we often use them for Spring, and Summer Chinook. Many anglers are confused at how to go about processing their own coon shrimp, but luckily we have many over the counter ready to mix cures and brine’s that help make curing coon shrimp a consistent and easy process. This is a very simple process, and if you have ever cured your own salmon roe you can cure coon shrimp. Most of the available commercial egg cures will also do a fantastic job of curing coon shrimp.
Ingredients:
Pro-Cure Egg Cure (original double red hot stuff) Buy Here
Frozen Coon Shrimp ( make sure you buy good quality Shrimp)
Rock Salt
Freezer bag
Pro-Cure Slam-ola powder Buy Here
Scents ( the sky is the limit here but my favorite are the line of Super Dipping Sauce.) Buy Here
Step 1:
Fill your freezer bag with approximately 3 inches of Coon Shrimp
Step 2:
Add enough cure to get a good covering of the Coon Shrimp ( 1/2 cup of cure is a good starting point)
Step 3:
Add 1 tea spoon of Slam-ola Powder
Step 4:
Refrigerate at a minimum overnight. Your Shrimp can be fished as early as the next day, but you will get a better result by letting them cure for 3 days.
Step 5:
Add 1 cup rock salt. I do this after 3 days of curing. Adding the Rock Salt is optional, but it will toughen up you shrimp very well. We often use Coon Shrimp for side drifting Steelhead in Hell’s Canyon and this step gives us a very durable bait.
For a chance to win a free fishing trip with us click HERE. We select a random person from our newsletter list each and every month to win a free fishing trip with us!
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
