The record return of sockeye to the upper Columbia River has put this fishery at the top of the list of what anglers are going to do this summer. The fishing is already fantastic and there are more and more sockeye arriving to the fishing grounds every day.

We have never seen a sockeye run like the one that is coming up the Columbia River this year. There will be over 750,000 of them headed up the river, and almost all of them are going to pass through the Brewster Pool on their way to Canada. The sockeye catches are the best we’ve ever seen, too. Every location, whether it’s below Rocky Reach Dam, above the dam, below Wells Dam or in the Brewster Pool is beyond what anglers have ever experienced. The sockeye season on Lake Wenatchee should be announced soon, and people anticipate an early opener. The count at Tumwater Dam has already blown past the needed escapement number of 23,000 required. Fish are showing up at almost double the numbers of last year at this time. Over t h r e e times the number of sockeye made it to Lake Wenatchee last year than were forecast. The forecast this year is for 97,000. Could we see 200,000 to the lake? Maybe. Could the daily limit on Lake Wenatchee be six fish this year? We’ll see. I have been busy preparing, helping my friend Rollie get this dock ready for the season and getting three-hook leaders tied. I am excited.

Sockeye fishing is spectacular on the Brewster Pool. Austin Moser, of Austin’s Northwest Adventures guide service, invited me to jump on his boat for a morning of sockeye fishing on Wednesday. Most of you are aware of the record-setting return of sockeye to the Columbia River and I wanted to see if enough of them had come this far up the river to make for good action. They have arrived! Austin loaded his boat with his clients at about 4:30, and we ran out to the upper end of the Pool. There was a large fleet of boats trolling the Pool. They were fishing from all the way down to the first pump at the edge, all the way up to just below the mouth of the Okanogan River. Austin stopped his boat at the top end of the Pool and set out the rods. He was using size 0 dodgers and a two hook rigged, baited with a whole coon shrimp, that was stained a bright pink. By 7:00 we had 24 fish in the cooler. Austin has this fishery down and the action is fast and furious. I took my camera along and shot a video while we were fishing. As usual Austin was willing to take the time to explain in detail how he fishes, right down to how he baits his hooks. This will be great information for folks who want to fish the Brewster Pool for sockeye this season. The really great thing is that the sockeye are just now starting to show up. There are hundreds of thousands still on their way! This week’s photo is of the fleet boats at the Brewster Pool.

When Austin got back to the dock to fillet the morning’s catch for his clients, he called Doug Feil, and Doug hit the road from East Wenatchee with a truckload of eager anglers to meet us for another sockeye trip. Although I am in my 15th year of association with Bob Feil Boats and Motors, this would be the first time that we had been on a boat together, so I stuck around. Doug arrived with Autumn Hammer, her two sons Noah and Eli and daughter Sophia. We piled aboard Austin’s boat and headed back out on the Pool. I have fished the Pool many times and have seen the bite die and anglers frustrated by 9 o’clock. Not on this day. Austin and his friend Eric Peterson were busy netting fish and baiting hooks. Autumn and the kids were having a ball, and Austin even let them take a turn at netting and bonking fish. In just over an hour, we had our limits. Austin showed me that it is still possible to catch limits of sockeye even later in the morning on the Pool. He said in the video that there are so many fish here, that if you just get your bait in front of them, they’ll bite!

Sockeye fishing is dominating the fishing scene here on the upper Columbia River. The record run is attracting record numbers of anglers to the region to take advantage of the unprecedented numbers of fish that are available this season. I have received a record number of requests for my free E-Letter, too. It is dedicated to sockeye fishing, from a boat or from shore and is loaded with maps, photos and instructions on how to catch these prized fish. If you want to get a free copy, go to my website at FishingMagician.com and click on the E-Letter button at the top left hand side of the Home Page. I will get one out to you right away. When I fished with Austin Moser last week on the Brewster Pool and I shot a video of the action, we took the time in the midst of all the reeling in and netting fish to give very good details on exactly how Austin puts limit numbers of sockeye in his boat. The information in the video includes how he baits his hooks, trolling speed and more. You will want to go to YouTube and search for the Dave Graybill channel to view it so you can make the most of this season.

When fishing the Brewster Pool, you may see the small purse seiner boat that is operated by the Colville Tribe. They use this boat to gather their brood stock for the hatchery that is located just above the bridge at Bridgeport. This is a very important year as the return of summer Chinook is low and their needs to maintain production is critical. I want to remind you that the Colville tribe releases over 3 million salmon smolt every year into the Columbia River. Give them plenty of room so they can help keep our upper Columbia summer run returns strong.