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.
Last week our Summer Chinook and Sockeye season opened on the Upper Columbia, and fishing was absolutely on fire! Opening day was one of the absolute best opening day’s we can remember! We had two boats out and early limits where the name of the game. while the rest of the season won’t be quite as on fire as the first two days we will see consistently great fishing for the rest of the month of July.
We are seeing great success trolling both super baits and 3.5 Colorado spinners behind 11 inch 360 style flashers. One of our keys is to really watch out speed and make sure our rods are thumping at about a 1 thump per second interval. It’s a little hard to explain, but this action really leads to more fish in the boat. For this reason we run cannon ball droppers and skip out on the downriggers. Also by running cannonball lead we are able to let all our customers drop lines and be part of the action.
We still have some open dates mid month, so don’t hesitate to give us a call and book your trip. These fish are amazing and we would love to share this experience with you. Enjoy the pictures below, the smiling faces and big fish tell the story. The Upper Columbia Summer of Salmon is an experience you need to be part of.
Today was good again for both Chinook and Sockeye in the Brewster area of the Upper Columbia River. Great numbers of Sockeye are still available! Book your date with us today.
We had another fantastic day today on the Columbia River north of Wenatchee! Limits of Sockeye and nice Chinook to go around. This is a great fishery with the best opportunity to take a bunch of fish home on the entire Columbia River. We have open dates! Get with us now to get your dates booked.
We continue to have fantastic fishing on the Upper Columbia River near the Brewster and Pateros areas. These fish are in great shape and cut just as well as most Spring Chinook! Yesterday was particularly great. We lost track on the number of fish hooked and we landed 4 great hatchery fish along with releasing a few wild fish for two customers. Next week is our last opportunity for Summer Chinook for the year before we switch gears and head to Astoria to start our Fall Chinook and Coho season at the famed Buoy 10 fishery.
Our last chance available seats for Summer Chinook are: Monday 7/24 open boat, 7/25 open boat, 7/26 2 seats open, 7/27 2 seats open. We also have 4 hour evening trips open all the previous dates as well. Give our office a call at 208-669-1569 or Book Online at Jonessportfishing.com
Fishing continues to be very good on the Upper Columbia for Summer Chinook. I had two customers today, an uncle and nephew trip. The young man in the picture landed his very first salmon today! It’s really cool to be a part of these great memories. We will be fishing the Columbia in the Brewster area through the 28th of July before we shift our attention to our August fishery at Astoria.
Open dates over the next two weeks are
July: 19th 1 seat, 21-25 open boats, 26 and 27 two open seats.
We also still have open dates for Astoria!
To book any of these available dates give our office a call at 208-669-1569 and Dani will get you taken care of, or Book Online!
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
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
Also don’t forget to sign up for our free trip drawing. We will select a random winner from our newsletter list each month. Click here to enter your chance to win!
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!
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
