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!