Fishin' Magician: Dave Graybill

I have been keeping a close eye on the Wenatchee River. There are a couple of holes that I like to fish with a bobber and jig, and the river has just been too high the past few weeks. It is settling down, though, and I am going to give it a try very soon. I may even get a chance to float it pulling plugs, which can be deadly this time of year. Either way I will be sure to let you know how it's fishing. I know there are a lot fish in the Wenatchee this year. I have also noticed that the Columbia River below Rock Island Dam has come up a long ways. Grant County PUD is raising the level of the river behind Wanapum Dam as their repairs are being completed. They have it up to minimum levels now and many anglers are eager to get out on the river and try some of the walleye spots that can be productive in the winter. There will be some announcements about the opening of some of the accesses to the river toward the end of the month. I am getting close to getting my next E-Letter done, and if you want to get a copy of my winter forecasts and features go to my web site at FishingMagician.com and click on the E-Letter button. You can sign up for free.

We had a fantastic spring and summer salmon season here in Central Washington last year and it looks like we have one coming up again in 2015. The forecasts are out for spring salmon, summer runs and sockeye for next year, with good numbers of all three species predicted to return to our area. The spring salmon return is expected to be 232,500, and if it actually happens it would be the 6th best run since 1979. Cross your fingers on this one, it is one of the most difficult to predict. The anticipated return of summer run salmon is 73,000, which is down slightly. We had 78,000 over Priest Rapids Dam last year. Still that is plenty of fish. The sockeye return is expected to be 394,000, which is lower than last year, but is over twice as many as we had two years ago. The sockeye run is becoming more consistent and is probably the most popular salmon fishery in North Central Washington. It appears that we could expect the Wenatchee and Yakima rivers open to spring salmon fishing again this year, and the Wenatchee open to summer run salmon fishing as well. It all depends on the predictions being on target.