Great news! We are finally back into full operation to take out clients to the best fishing destinations in the lower 48! Fishing has been very good for Kokanee salmon the past few weeks! Merwin Lake, and Yale Lake have been consistently producing limits of Kokanee on a daily basis and will continue for the next few weeks.
Kokanee are a landlocked Sockeye Salmon that range from 12-18 inches and are very delicious! Kokanee fishing is one of the best ways to get the younger generation into fishing due to its constant action throughout day. We have been taking lots of kids fishing for Kokanee lately and we always appreciate how much they enjoy this fishery as much as adults.
We will start to change things up a bit throughout the month of June as we are starting to see Sockeye and Summer Steelhead start to enter the Columbia River. This years forcast for Sockeye Salmon is very good and in the next few weeks I forsee some really good opportunities to catch Sockeye on the Columbia River. As June comes to an end, we will start hooking more and more Summer Steelhead and finally in July it’s full on Summer Steelhead hunting season.
The entire month of July provides Steelhead in the Columbia River and its tributaries. Once we enter the tributaries towards the middle of the month our tactics change on how we fish for Summer Steelhead. While targeting Summer Steelhead in the tributaries of the Columbia, we begin using lighter tackle and drift the whole river casting at specific spots using salmon eggs to entice the steelhead to bite. This method is known as sidedrifting.
Sidedrifting is without a doubt my favorite way to fish! The feeling of the fishing rod in your hand when steelhead bite is exhilarating to say the least! Steelhead are known for their hard fights and often acrobatic maneuvers when they get hooked. Many times after setting the hook on one, the will come screaming at the boat and then jump through the air shaking their head! You just never know what a steelhead will do after you hook them, and that’s why they are so much fun to fish for!
As we enter into fall, we will have what we call the super bowl of the fishing season. Buoy 10 in Astoria Oregon and upstream on the Columbia and its tributaries provides the hottest fishing of the year. We will talk more about this fishery in future posts but for now it’s a good time to contact me and get on the books before the dates are gone.
We are very excited to be back in full operation now that covid has passed for the most part. Looking forward to seeing you all in the near future to catch some fish and have a really good time doing it!
