Hordes of anglers turned out for the opening of the salmon season on the upper Columbia River on July 1st. While the counts for summer run salmon are lagging, the sockeye numbers are off the charts. It may be a record return this year. Sockeye are beginning to arrive in our region. I expect good catches to be made by anglers that start their salmon fishing season below Wanapum Dam. Meanwhile, I am getting in some kokanee fishing on Lake Chelan.

Tom Verschuren and I got an earlier start on Chelan than I did last week, figuring on a morning bite. I put the gear out as soon as we got to 70 feet of water off of Mill Bay. This is where I got some kokanee last week. Well, we didn’t get a fish until after nine, and it was a cutthroat. We were pestered by cutts off of Chelan Shores, known as the Red Roofs, and off of Lakeside Park, so I moved us up lake. I ran the Smoker Craft up to the Blue Roofs, and I wanted to be in at least 130 feet of water. That’s where the kokanee were. The action wasn’t fast and furious, but we kept putting fish in the cooler. We were getting a mix of sizes with many over 14 inches. A Kokabow Blue Back Feather was working well. Wanting to see if we I could attract more bites, I put one rod out on the downrigger with two Kokabow blades in tandem. The first fish we got on that setup was a 16-inch kokanee! All of our fish came on downriggers, as I was chasing small schools that I saw on the fish finder. We got nothing on our back, lead ball rigs, which was very unusual. We were blown off the lake a little after noon, but we had 14 nice kokanee in the cooler by then.

I want to continue with the updates on the sockeye return to the Columbia River and the new rules that will be in place for the Brewster Pool this season. Last week I posted the graph for Tuesday, June 24th. As I mentioned, it appeared that the run had peaked, but it is still huge. If you want to see this information, and even track the run as it moves upstream to our area, log onto www.fpc.org. You can also choose to go to the Fish Counts tab on the home page of my website at www.fishngmagician.com. Click on graph options when the Fish Passage Center website opens, and you will see the graphs that I have posted. Also, the new rules for fishing the Brewster Pool are in the Washington State Rules pamphlet. They are only available online until the new pamphlets are distributed to licensing outlets and sporting goods stores. When you download the pamphlet, scroll down to pages 61 through 63 to get the rules for Wells Dam upstream to Bridgeport. In the Brewster Pool it reads “release all salmon except sockeye”. The daily limit in the areas open for Chinook is six fish, including two hatchery Chinook and four sockeye.

Since I announced that my Summer issue of my free E-letter was done and delivered to my subscribers I have had a flood of requests to be added to the distribution list. It is dedicated to fishing for sockeye, which is always a very popular fishery and with the huge return of them to the Columbia it is even higher. If you have ever wanted to put some sockeye in your freezer, this is the year. The free E-Letter provides details about where to catch sockeye, even from shore. It has maps of where to find them and on how to catch them.

I have been checking my supply of sockeye gear and wanted to show you a photograph on my Facebook page of the basic elements that I use to tie my sockeye leaders and the dodger I use. It is on the Fishing Magician.com Facebook page for Thursday, June 27th. It’s really pretty simple if you know how to tie a leader. If not, go to the Dave Graybill YouTube channel and watch the video titled “How to Tie a Bumper Knot” that I did with my brother Rick at the fishing counter at Hooked on Toys.

On the opening day of the upper Columbia River salmon fishing season, I ran down to Wanapum Dam. This is where many anglers start their salmon fishing season. There’s a boat launch right on the edge of the “bowl” where they troll in a large circle to catch Chinook, and they will encounter a very large number of sockeye salmon. Over 100,000 sockeye salmon have passed over Priest Rapids Dam, and they swarm the upper edge of this bowl. Success is high for anglers trolling with dodgers and two-hook rigs, baited with a shrimp. They are also within reach of shore anglers that cast bobbers from the rip rap. The return of Chinook had been lagging behind last year’s return but they are making a surge, passing last year’s numbers with over 2,000 a day passing over Priest Rapids earlier this week. I always check with WDFW fish checkers at some other popular opening day fishing areas, like Chelan Falls. This week’s photo was taken on the opener at Wanapum Dam.

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) announced restrictions on campfires, target shooting, and other activities on WDFW-managed lands in Eastern Washington to help reduce wildfire risk and support public safety on state wildlife and water access areas. Starting July 1, the following activities are restricted on WDFW-managed lands in Eastern Washington: Fires or campfires, including those in fire rings. Personal camp stoves and lanterns fueled by propane, liquid petroleum, or liquid petroleum gas are allowed.

Discharging firearms for target shooting or other purposes, aside from lawful hunting, unless otherwise posted. Target shooting is permitted daily from sunrise to 10 a.m. through Aug. 15 only at two Department shooting ranges: Methow Shooting Range, and the Asotin Creek Shooting Range.

From Aug. 16 through Sept 15, restrictions prohibit discharging firearms for target shooting on all WDFW-managed lands (including the previously mentioned target-shooting ranges) in Eastern Washington, unless otherwise posted. All restrictions will remain in effect until further notice.