Catching steelhead is child's play in Wenatchee!

Well it has been a while since my last blog and report sorry about that but we have just been fishing everyday as the weather, the fish, and river conditions have created the perfect storm of steelhead catching! We cant miss a day as you never know when it will change. You can always "like" our Facebook page also for more information also. Right now  the weather is chilli in the mornings it is warming up and sunny in the afternoons and the fishing and river pressure are great as well! We have been spending most of our days floating the Wenatchee River in our raft with and occasional day or 2 on the Methow River also, as both are fishing very well as we are averaging 4 to 8 fish a day. We are using mostly jigs right now in blacks and pinks and some oranges  under a  bobber,  (or float for some of you guys) to get some bright nice fish that are hanging out for the catching. We have many days open if you are interested  in catching some of these prized fish and also we have gift certificates available on our website for all of your Christmas shopping needs! Lets go fish!!

Upper Columbia River Sockeye

Upper Columbia River Sockeye

Well, it's that time of year again that we get hundreds of thousands of bright little Sockeye salmon swimming the hundreds of miles over all the dams headed all the way to Lake Osoyoos, a lake that splits Canada and Northern Washington and feeds the Okanogan River. We will be fishing these quality fish in the Columbia River from Wenatchee all the way up to Brewster as they move up river. These fish aren’t huge but are very scrappy and lots of fun to catch, they are a perfect fish for kids as that when you are into them the action is hot and they are perfect size for kids and adults with fish ranging 3-7 pounds. Sockeye or reds or bluebacks as they are also called are primarily plankton eaters but will also eat small shrimp in the ocean and also insects and bugs as juvenile fish. Sockeye will spend as long as 3 years in freshwater as juveniles before heading to the ocean to spend 1 to 4 years in the salt making the fish anywhere from 4 to 7 years old when they reach the Upper Columbia Basin.

The gear

So now to the fun part, the catching of these tasty ruby red meat having feisty fish. There are lots of ways to catch these fish, lots of people use the old standby of herring dodger and red hooks 18” behind and that will work, but if you follow these steps and invest a little cash in the right gear your success will be greatly improved! We will go over all this step by step but here is the overview of how we fish this specialized fishery. Most of the fishing we do is a herring dodger with sockeye rig about 20 feet back from a downrigger trolled anywhere from 10 feet down to 50 feet. The rod makes a difference and we use Fetha Styx Homewater sh-1045-2 10-20lb rods, they have a soft tip so you can see your action and they are light enough to have fun with these fish and strong enough to land the occasional king we get on sockeye gear also ranging up to the 40lb class. Now onto the gear, we use a tandem hook set up with Macs Lures hoochie skirts with UV (thats imortant) in reds and pinks work best, and Macs lures 1.1 smiley blades above it all tipped with coon shrimp. The coon shrimp is important as I said above that they eat shrimp in the ocean and with good fresh coon shrimp your catch will be greatly improved! The recipe I use for the coon shrimp is right here just follow the link its the best one I ever used, the Pautzkes Nectar is the key to the brine, you can get it at http://www.pautzke.com/fireblog_read.php?read=17. Once you got your gear the rest is the fun part,

let it out find the depth that you are marking fish at, sit back and relax in the Eastern Washington sunshine, but don’t get to comfy as you wont have to wait long till your see your rod tip shaking! Your success rate can be greatly improved by going out with a guide for a day and learning the ropes and we are booking sockeye trips now at www.fishwenatchee.com. Good luck and see you out on the water!

What to bring

• license with punchcard with Columbia River endorsement
• sunscreen
• boat fishing is definitely most productive
• gear with shrimp
• bbq cause these fish eat great!

Links

• www.fishwenatchee.com
• dam counts http://www.cbr.washington.edu/dart/adult.html
• http://www.brewsterchamber.org/

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Springer fishing on Icicle kicking in to high gear

So its been a while since I updated this blog sorry about that but fishing has been too good to be sitting in front of the PC, and springer fishing on the Icicle River is not conducive to more than a few hours sleep a night. Fishing has been fair so far with at least a fish per trip average in my boat but the season is still very early with lots of fish to come still with a projected run of over 9000 fish we have only 234 fish at the hatchery so the next few weeks should be pretty good fishing. The weather is nice here in Wenatchee around 80 for past few days with lots of snow low, so the river very easily could get very high and dirty but will push in a bunch of new fish. When the water is high we catch them on plugs wrapped in bait strips marinaded in Pautzkes Nectar and when the water clears up we will be using Fire Cured eggs and herring also soaked in Nectar. So far it has been a nice mix of fish with several 5 year fish over 20 lbs and a mix of 10-15 lb fish as well as some jacks showing up recently also. We will be fishing the Icicle River through the first couple weeks in July and anticipating some pretty good fishing! We have a few dates open for the rest of the fishery if you want to catch springers in the sunshine get your date asap before they are all gone. See you on the water!

Steelhead was great but springers are coming!

Steelhead season is gone but it was another great season! The rivers were way more up and down this year than in the past few years so level and flow were tough sometimes but it kept being consistent especially the second half. Now we are getting ready for spring chinook on the Icicle that will open mid May and is promising to be another good year up on the Icicle river in Leavenworth. We will be fishing it using herring plunking and back-bouncing and also ran on divers, or using eggs with Pautzkes Fire cure running different colors on different days fished the same ways. We also will be running some bait wrapped  plugs  on the end of our Fetha Styx 1021 plug rods to catch them also, like the one pictured above, that is a pretty typical Icicle river fish with fish this year expected to be a little larger usual. We are booking spring chinook trips for this spring starting mid May with the best fishing being in June and early July, as with all trips we will be providing all the gear and bait, we will be floating in a fiberglass driftboat on this scenic float. Book your trip early as this fills up quickly! See you on the water!

23 Days Left to get the best fishing of the year!

So we only have 23 days left in this GREAT steelhead season  and fishing is as good as it has been all year! All year we have battled with fluctuating river levels and crazy weather but here at the end all is calming down and fishing is very good. We have been fishing mostly the Wenatchee River and have been doing very good n the upper river but there is also lots of fish in the lower river and not as much pressure so we have been splitting up our floats and alternating the days on which stretch of river to fish. We have had some great days with an over 20 fish last weekend! We have also been fishing the Methow River where there is great fishing also the river is in great shape and the fishing is good  I have been fishing it at least a day or 2 a week and having great success. We are fishing with the same jigs as earlier marribou and areo jigs in blacks and pinks. The fish at this time of year are mainly smokers  but great fighters with it being a great time to get your eggs for salmon season, only a couple months till springers on the Icicle!  We are booking trips with days open till the end of the season and also booking trips for springers on the Icicle openning May 15 and also Sockeye and Summer run kings for the Columbia that will open July 1. We have great fishing in the sunshine go out and get some!

Hello all!
So the rivers are all flooding, as I type this the Wenatchee River has gone from 1500 CFS to over 15,000 CFS in the matter of 3 days!  I am hearing stories from the west side of the mountains that are much worse than what we have gotten here but it still sucks cause we have  a river full fish great fishing weather and cant fish! Well or can we???  So I have gottten lots of emails asking where to fish what to do?  We have it pretty good over here as we have options. Over on the coastal rivers they re nor so lucky. Some basic principles apply to all high water fishing, fish close to shore, fish soft seams ( the slacker water usually from current lines to the shore), fish a river that is on the fall not the rise, larger presentation, look for clear tributaries flowing in fish will lie along that seem also to clear out there gills. Think like a fish where would you be in hurricane if there was debris flowing at you thats the way the fish feel with high water and all the junk flowing down stream.
Here in NCW we have other options also.  We have a great stable river full of fish that runs the whole stretch of NCW in the Columbia. It will cloud up abit but is stable flows and will fish very good this time of year from the confluence of the Wenatchee all the way up to Chief Joseph Dam. You can use bait in this section of river while it is still barbless hooks but I use jigs tipped with shrimp cured in Pautzkes Fire Cure and soaked in some Pautzkes Nectar. Also the Methow river will be fishable way before the Wenatchee will be ready so that's another great alternative all the ice should be off with the warmer temps and it should be fishing great thats where I will be this week hitting some holes on the Columbia on my way up. Don't forget about the Okanogan River also it fishes very good this time of year. Hope this helps, just cause one river is out of shape use that tie to expand your fishing it will pay off in the long run and hopefully in the short run also with a few fish in the cooler! See you out there! Brad

winter steelhead is good in NCW!

Hey all! Hope everyone had a great holiday, I definitely did lots ofgood food, great company, and lots of fishing and even more catching! Fishing is  good on the Wenatchee River now and also  the Columbia is fishing really good using shrimp in Pautzkes  cure and marinated in Nectar. On the Wenatchee we are using our tried and true cold water jigs that will have a little slower action and cold water steelhead cant resist them as we got 9 the other day in a half day fishing. Fishing is good a little chilly but book a trip and catch some fish we are offering cold weather specials this time of yer also! See you on the water!

End of the year special!!!!!

Hey all! The time has come once again and we are in winter steelhead season. The rivers are full of fish and the crowds have all opted for couches and football so that leaves all the runs and all the fish to just us!! Both rivers, the Wenatchee and the Methow are fishing very well with perfect flows and lots of fish. This year we are celebrating by offering a great end of the year special, a full day float on the Wenatchee River is just $100 per person and Methow River floats are just $150 per person! For the holiday gift buying season we are also offering gift certificates, and like all trips you just pay half now and half the day of the trip saving gift buyers money in the holiday season. Its almost sports show season and we will be at at least the Spokane show January 29 through Febuary 6, I will be giving seminars on jig and bobber fishing and also jig tying and salmin fishing in the upper Columbia River. We will also have a booth there so make sure and swing by and say hi! I will put more details up about the show as we get closer to the dates and I have more information. Until next time happy holidays everyone and see you on the river!

Wenatchee River steelhead

Hello All! Its been a while since I have posted anything on here sorry about that but its been a busy start to steelhead season for sure between fishing everyday and keeping up on jig orders and keeping myself in jigs this blog kind of got left out. Fishing has been a little hit and miss the first month and a half of the season but we have had some good days 8 plus fish and some lousy days with only 1 or 2 on but all in all we are averaging probably 2 to 4 fish a day through the season. The numbers are a little lower than last year but the size of the fish this year have been amazing! We have got several 35 plus inch fish including 1 at 39 inches but not one over 40" yet hopefully that will be soon! River levels have been a little erratic keeping lots of fish still out in the Columbia River so I am expecting the rest of October to be good fishing as well as November should be some great steelhead fishing! Still have trips available some in October and quite a few in November with still even some weekends available there is something great about catching steelhead in the sunshine!! See you on the Water!

Wenatchee River steelhead

Wenatchee River is open to steelhead in the earliest opening that we have seen in a long time!! So with all the anticipation what happened? The rains came down and the river blew out!! We launched and there was about 2 feet of visibility and then about 3 hours later we were down to 6 inches. The rains came down and the fish shut off by mid way through the float we just floated down with our tail between our legs making the occasional cast hoping to hit a fish in the head so he would hit. So when all was said and done we got down to the take out without even so much as a hit! What an opening day bust! So feeling discouraged I went and hit the Columbia and within about 20 minutes had a chrome 6 lb buck on the bank, so all was not lost on this meager opening day.
So with all this rain and the river going way up so fast and getting all muddy the upside is that this is really going to push alot fish into the river. I am expecting some pretty good fishing in the very near future with lots of fish staging to come up and this rain is just what they were waiting for. I am looking forward to be out there floating the river in short sleeves landing steelhead after steelhead! We are booking trips with many open dates in Sept. and Oct. See ya on the water!

Salmon Report and Steelhead dreamin'

Hi all hope summer is treatung you great and you can avoid the chores and get some time out on the water! Fishing is still good in the Brewster pool and below Wells dam for kings. We are still catching a good amount of sockeye in the Brewster area as well with a couple kings a trip also, the sockeye and kings are both still in very good shape! Below Wells dam is also been pretty good for kings at times, the season as a whole has been pretty hit and miss but the guys that stay with it and fish hard are being rewarded with some nice fish. We are still booking salmon trips for up north and also booking trip for fall run chinook that are forecast to be the second largest run on record at 650 000 fish over Bonneville dam!! We re booking trips to fish the Hanford Reach for these huge kings now and we will start fishing them from Sept 1 on. Now for some steelhead news, the rumor is cranking up in high gear with starting date rumors as it always does this time of year but there my be some VERY good news for all of us who love to steelhead fish we may see a record early openner so early I dont even dare say here on the almighty web but stay in touch cause there could be some huge news very soon!! We are also starting to book steelhead trips and they are starting to fill up in the month of October so get your trip now before its too late!! I am off to the river see you on the water.

Salmon season in full swing!!!

Fishing has been excellent the past month! Sockeye fishing started down here in Wenatchee and until recently was very good now it continues to be good in the Brewster pool area lots of 10 plus fish days great for kids with lots of action!. It will start to taper off soon as fish head up river but the kings are really starting to show up in good numbers and fishing is really picking up for them! A well as Lake Wenatchee being open for sockeye also with a 2 fish limit. Its always fun to have the chance to land a 40lb plus fish but most are averaging in the low 20s. Booking trips now for both fishing in Brewster and in and around the Wenatchee area, get a trip now while fishing is hot!

Icicle River fishing update

Hello all sorry about the past week no time to post a new blog have been out fishing and the bite has been before 5 am until the past few days so lack of sleep for sure! Right now it is raining hard as I type so yesterday the river was pretty high and muddy but there were some fish for sure, some were caught on plugs with and without divers and others plunking bait in the holes. The past week has been typical Icicle with hit and miss fishing but it has been pretty good at times!! I excpet the next couple weeks to be good fishing for sure! We have dates available so get your spot ASAP to get some of the best fishing of the year!

So the spring chinook season has been going for a week already! Fishing has been pretty good really all in all. The opener was red hot with lots of limits then it tailed off to moderate fishing from there with a fish still to be caught though for sure! The river has came WAY up and got pretty dirty but is still producing a few fish above is a pic from high water fishing, we were only out for a few hours so they can still be caught in high water also. The hatchery has 3984 fish already to the hatchery but there is 20080 fish over Rock Island Dam! There will be lots of fish to catch when water goes down and still hearing Wenatchee River rumors we will have to wait and see about that one for sure and see what WDFW has in store for us. Good luck out there will try to post a report every week see ya on the water!

Icicle River open for spring chinook!

Hit the opener on the Icicle today fishing was pretty good! Saw lots of fish caught and we ended working our way to limit of 4 fish between the two of us. The fish were biting VERY soft but we got 1 on herring and 2 on eggs and 1 backtrolling a mag wiggle wart plug. Looking forward to a great season with great numbers of fish projected and great river conditions this is going to be fun!! Trip dates available now!!

First post new blog

Hi all or anybody who actually took the time to check this out. This is mostly a test I am still trying to get pics up and it says invalid url even when trying to upload from pc but eventually I think I will get it.

Check back and I will have fishing info on here from time to time no we are concentrating on springers and we will have info on the seasons we may or may not get and fish number and how I feel about it all also. I will also have some fish reports on here also, don't forget Methow and Okanogan fishing closes end of the month if you can ya better get up one last time fishing is excellent! If this picture works and actually uploads like its suppose to this is a pic from last weekend on the Okanogan river. You can be a follower of this blog if you want and it will notify you when I enter new blog entries ( i think) until next time get out and there and have fun!