The opening day of salmon fishing season on the upper Columbia is July 1st. I want to remind everyone that although the Brewster Pool will be closed to fishing for Chinook this season, it will be open to fishing for sockeye. Both Chinook and sockeye are on the way, with sockeye particularly creating the most excitement for this year’s season. In the meantime, the kokanee fishing continues to be good on Lake Chelan.

It had been a few weeks since I had the chance to get back to Lake Chelan to do some kokanee fishing. The kokanee are running larger than usual this year, and I really like to have a good supply of them in my freezer. My friends James Lebow and Ryan Harris met me at Mill Bay, and we started trolling as soon as we found the deep water outside the bay. There’s a long flat off the launch here, and I put the bow mount down and got all my gear ready to go, then when the bottom drops off, I can start fishing. We were into fish right away, which was very encouraging, and consistent with the luck I had on my last trip for kokanee on Lake Chelan. There were several fish in the cooler as we continued to troll on a line down to Rocky Point. We were trolling Kokabow blades and spinners and trying different combinations to see what worked the best. The rod with the Blue Back Tail Feather on it was the hot rod. The bite had slowed considerably so we started looking for fish. We tried our luck off the Red Roofs, in about 90 feet of water, the Blue Roofs in about 130 feet of water and much more shallow water off Lakeside Park. We actually had the best action right off Mill Bay when we started and later on off the Blue Roofs. I got a surprise catch of a laker of about 6 pounds hit my kokanee gear. It gave me a good tussle in the shallow water off of Lakeside Park. I put together a video while we were on the water, and it’s already posted on the Dave Graybill YouTube channel. It’s called Summer Fishing for Kokanee on Lake Chelan. This week’s photo is of one of my favorite Kokabow blades and hoochie combos.

The sockeye return to the Columbia River is generating a lot of excitement. Chinook are on their way, but nothing gets anglers in our region more pumped than the prospect of a good sockeye season. It looks like the 2024 season is going to be more than good. It is shaping up to be spectacular. Looking at the graph for the fish passage over Bonneville Dam the run may have peaked with over 33,000 sockeye going over the dam on June 21st. That’s three times more than last year at this time.

Up here we watch the counts at Priest Rapids Dam. Sockeye are starting to arrive. On June 20th almost three thousand sockeye passed over the dam. That’s three times the number for this date a year ago. The opener is coming up fast, so better get out your sockeye gear. I will have the Summer issue of my E-Letter out prior to the opener, with lots of good information on how to rig for sockeye trolling and even some places to get them from shore and how to set up to do it. You can get a free copy of the Summer E-Letter by going to my website at www.fishingmagician.com, and clicking on the graphic at the top left of the Home Page.

There is a large contingent of anglers that do their sockeye fishing on Lake Wenatchee. Last year it was predicted that just 44,300 sockeye were to reach the lake. It turned out that 146,875 showed up. This year the forecast is for 97,000, and who knows? It is very likely more than that will be available to anglers.

As you may recall, the daily limit for sockeye on both the Columbia River and at Lake Wenatchee was four fish. Could the daily limit be raised if the huge number of sockeye in fact do show up at both locations? We’ll just have to wait and see. Also, the cooler summer and cooler water temperatures in the Columbia are a real benefit. Sockeye don’t do well in warm water. In 2015 when we suffered a severe drought and high water temperatures in the Columbia only about half of the 500,000 that entered the Columbia River made it to the Brewster Pool. You may be aware that there is a tribal sockeye hatchery near Penticton, B.C. that has the capacity to release 8 million sockeye smolt. There were years that they struggled to get the brood stock for their needs due to warm water temperatures. The fish need to navigate the Columbia and then pass through Osoyoos Lake, which can often be quite warm in the summer. Better conditions have prevailed in recent years, and apparently the hatchery is making a difference and the big returns of sockeye to the upper Columbia region are a result.

I got an announcement from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife that anglers who fish for Chinook in the fall below Priest Rapids Dam will be interested in. There are changes coming to the access area near the Vernita Bridge. As many of you know this access area takes on the look of a small town during the fall fishing season. The site is owned by the Department of Energy and managed by the WDFW. Here’s a couple of the changes for the 2024 and 2025 season: Camping and day use users will have designated areas. Camping will be limited to 14 days per user. When fall salmon seasons are not underway, camping is prohibited, and vehicle access will be to a smaller day use area. As I mentioned these changes apply to the 2024 and 2025 seasons and the long-term objective is to find an alternative camping site. All overnight camping at the Vernita Water Access Area will be phased out in 2026. As you can well imagine, the level of use has not only become unsustainable but is causing damage to the natural landscape. Learn more by going to the new blog “Vernita Bridge: Changes on the horizon”.

Although I will be busy writing my Summer E-Letter and getting my sockeye gear together, I hope to do some more kokanee fishing. See you on the water!