The Fishin' Magician: Sockeye and Bass

Sockeye fishing is red hot from Wanapum Dam all the way up to the Brewster Pool right now. Anglers are limiting on fish that average 4 to 5 pounds with some even larger. Crowds of boats can be seen below Wanapum, and as many as 35 boats are fishing above Rocky Reach.

The Brewster Pool is seeing even heavier traffic with about 100 boats fishing the area off the Okanogan River mouth on the weekend. Anglers are having good success trolling a chrome size 0 dodger with 15 to 18 inches of leader to a pink squid. The squid rig is double hook tied and the lead hook is being baited with a small canal shrimp or Power Bait eggs in bright pink or orange. Most anglers are using heavy leaders on the set up as it gives the squid a great action, and there is the real possibility of hooking a king with this rig, too.

While sockeye fishing is grabbing most of the attention, the bass fishing at Banks Lake is very good right now. I made a trip there recently and my party caught a ton of nice smallmouth, that are running larger than usual this year. Senkos did the job for us, in the rainbow pattern or plain white.