Hot bites on the line as summer keeps heating up

The weather continues to be hot here in Central Washington, and so is the fishing for summer run salmon in the Brewster Pool and below Wells Dam. Bright fish continue to move up the Columbia and anglers are finding them willing to bite off the mouth of the Okanogan River.

The original forecast for 92,000 summer runs to move up the Columbia was downgraded.

I have learned the reduction in the number was for the Snake River Basin fish that are making a poor showing this year.

Upper Columbia counts are good however, 35,000 have already passed over Wells Dam with as many as 800 a day heading for the Brewster Pool.

The thermal barrier, the warm water of the Okanogan meeting the cooler water of the Columbia, is solidly in place, which is keeping the kings from moving further upstream.

I fished the Brewster Pool last Wednesday for the first time. I was fishing with Brad Hawkins and his dad Buell.

We hadn't fished together for a while and it was the only time that Brad could take a break from his campaign for the State Legislature. We got on the Pool at 5:30 and had a king in the boat by ten to six.

I then proceeded to miss four more hits. I retrieved empty hooks each time.

I was using plug-cut herring behind a dodger, and the kings seemed to like it, but I just couldn't hook 'em. Buell was watching the action on the boats around us and we saw some sockeye being landed.

I thought I was doing pretty well until Jerrod Gibbons rolled up in his boat and hefted a 30-pound king for a photo.

I have a hunch that fishing with Super Baits may result in better hook-ups. Trolling these baits, either the old style or the newer Plug-Cut behind a large flasher will put more resistance on the line, and if the hooks are super sharp, it's fish on.

This method is also producing good results below Wells Dam, where currents also contribute to good, solid hook ups.

Speaking of Wells Dam, I wanted to let anglers know that you may want to move to the Brewster Pool to fish the week of August 20th.

The Douglas County PUD is going to be doing some maintenance work on the dam that week. It has been delayed due to the high flows earlier this year, so it has to be done now.

They will be spilling water all of this week, so very heavy currents, making fishing pretty much impossible, will exist during this period.

While I was in Brewster I decided to run up to Bridgeport and see if there were any triploids below the bridge.

I found all the gates closed at Chief Joseph Dam, but the current was still very heavy. I tried back trolling for a couple of passes and didn't get a single hit. I did see a boat land a fish. It was anchored in the slack water on the right-hand side of the river below the bridge.

There was a boat anchored at the point across the river, and there were some other boat running around.

I didn't see any other fish caught, but the boat traffic tells me that there must be something going on up here.

I must remind anglers that the special triploid season closed on August 15th, though.

I fished below Wells Dam later last week, and had a very active morning.

I was fishing with my buddy Brian Anantatmula and his son Josh and daughter Jaya and the fishing was good.

We landed a jack, lost a king, landed an 18-pound king and then lost four more fish!

I was fishing with herring and a dodger again and even switched to a Super Bait and flasher and still lost fish. It was driving us crazy. The fish would hit, tear the line out of clip and burn line off the reel. We would pick up the rod, set the hook, and start cranking away with good tension on the line, and then poof, the fish would be gone.

I am not giving up, though. I will be back there as soon as I can to try and better my hook and land average.

Sockeye are being caught in the Brewster Pool, but it seems at not the fast and furious rate of earlier in the season.

There are still some fish on the way, but it is definitely time to switch to king fishing. As for sockeye action on Lake Wenatchee I have had had reports of the fishing slowing down here, too.

The return to the lake was much higher than was earlier expected, up to 40,000.

I have heard that they may up the limit on Lake Wenatchee to remove the excess hatchery fish, so I would keep an eye on the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife web site to see if that in fact happens.

If you won a Lowrance fish finder or are considering what kind of fish finder to buy, you will want to be at the free seminar at Bob Feil Boats and Motors on Wednesday, August 22nd.

Mike Campbell from Lowrance will be there with his boat, which is a floating show room of all the latest in high tech gear from Lowrance.

There should be another rep there, too, to help answer questions. Even better, if you attend you will have a chance to win a new Lowrance HDS5! That's right, just show up and you'll get a ticket entered in the drawing.

The seminar starts at 6 p.m. and there will be plenty of parking.

It's time to stock up on quality kings for the freezer or smoker. Get out and do it!