Fishing on the Columbia for sockeye and steelhead was an absolute blast this year! Water conditions, and a large run of sockeye gave us the best sockeye fishing we’ve seen in years! Everyday, we would get 20-30 bites, but hooking them was the tricky part. Sockeye are very voracious biters that bite hard, but not for long so the trick was getting to the rods as quick as we could. After figuring that out it was game on!
The Columbia River has now since closed for sockeye and steelhead because we cought our quota, but steelhead fishing in the tributaries of the Columbia will pick up very soon. So for now we are back to Kokanee Salmon for couple more weeks on Lake Merwin and Yale reservoir.
Kokanee are land locked sockeye salmon that are planted in SW Washington lakes by the tens of thousands each year. Natural production in these lakes also yield high numbers of fish for anglers to catch year after year. Kokanee fishing is one of the hottest action, and best table fare fishing the northwest has to offer.
Soon, we will start targeting Summer Steelhead in the tributaries of the Columbia River. Steelhead are one of the hardest fighting and exciting fish that we fish for. Many people ask me what my favorite type of fishing is and I always answer “summer steelheading”. We use light tackle while fishing from spot to spot casting at certain spots on the river hunting steelhead with some pretty great days of catching! Summer steelhead will last through the month of July and into early August so get in on this fishery while you can.
Fall Chinook and Coho Salmon fishing will fall in line shortly after steelhead fishing. We will target these fish in the ocean until Aug 15th when our buoy 10 season starts and then it’s all gravy from there. With a good run forecasted this year I am looking forward to some really good days on the water!
Seats are available for both our Summer Steelhead seasons and Fall Chinook/Coho so dont miss out this year. See you on the water!
