This was a great week to be outdoors. I spent Monday at Moses Lake and Saturday on Banks Lake, fishing with my daughter. What a great time of year here in Central Washington. I am going to try to make the most of these warm fall days by getting out on the water as much as possible.

My daughter loves to fish Banks Lake. I introduced her to walleye and bass fishing here years ago, and she hasn’t missed a trip to Banks since. It was really fun watching her learning to tie on her own hook and thread a lizard on it to fish for smallmouth on our first trip. It took her a while to get the hang of setting the hook, but she caught on and catches lots of smallmouth when she comes for a visit and we fish Banks.

This past Saturday she was determined to get some walleye. On her first morning of fishing for walleye years ago, she got a 26-incher before I got a second rod out and got a 24-inch fish a little later. The following year she landed a 30-inch walleye, a mark I have yet to beat on Banks. Whitney did have the same luck on her recent visit. Fishing was tough on Saturday, and although I tried to talk her into switching to bass fishing, she wanted to stick with trying to get walleye.

We got a small fish on Barker Flats in the morning, but only two more, while missing a bunch of hits and me pulling the hooks out of a fish at Million Dollar Mile. She did get the biggest smallmouth ever, when we were bottom bouncing spinners and crawlers though, and we had a wonderful day together. This week’s photo is of Whitney with the big smallmouth she landed last Saturday.
If you saw my Facebook post you would have seen several openings to salmon fishing in our region. The WDFW announced that they have opened the Upper Columbia River to coho retention from Priest Rapids Dam to Wells Dam. In another announcement, the lower Yakima River was opened to fishing for fall Chinook and coho salmon. Anglers should go to the WDFW website to view the news releases that provide the details for these two fisheries. One announcement was the opening of coho fishing on the Icicle River, which began last Thursday.  This turned out to be kind of a non-event. I thought I would drive over and check things out and when I arrived I found the gates closed! There was no way to get to the access below the hatchery. So, I ran over there and spoke to the assistant manager who was surprised to learn that the season had opened. He said he would check the news release and get the gate opened right away. When I went by a little later he had done what he promised.
The closed gate may not have turned many anglers away. The water is extremely low right now and I didn’t see any evidence of coho in the stretch below the hatchery. The coho must have missed the release about the opening of the season, too. Less than 400 have passed over Rock Island Dam. The run is showing up much later than last year. There are good numbers of coho coming up the Columbia and fishing will get in gear soon. A good rain would help move fish into the Icicle.

Here’s some good news for anglers that are fishing for fall kings on the Hanford Reach or plan to this season. Close to 53,000 fall Chinook are on their way to the Reach and this is 17 percent higher than the pre-season forecast. It appears that there will be plenty of wild fish for escapement and the sport fishery should continue through the scheduled season. The best fishing of the season typically is right now through the season’s end. Another item of interest about this year is that a very good number of four- and five-year old fish are included in the return, so some real hogs could be taken. Anglers are also adding coho to their catches.

I know anglers are having good success trolling Super Baits, either up or down stream, and I hope that they are saving some eggs from these catches. Often the king bite will switch to an egg bite, and it is a good idea to have a good supply on hand. I have had some great days back-trolling eggs with jet divers in a couple of spots not far below Priest Rapids Dam. I have also caught some of my biggest kings back-trolling herring when back bouncing them on lead balls. This would be a great way to catch kings now, but in the past we were using releases, and when we got a fish on the lead it would drop to the bottom of the river. Lead is too expensive to lose this way now, and it’s not a good idea to leave all this lead on the bottom either.

I wanted everyone to know that I just sent out my E-Letter for the fall to my list of subscribers. Here is a comment that I received about the most recent E-Letter: “Hi Dave. 

Another letter loaded with helpful information!! You are my go-to source for PNW fishing information!! So very grateful for the years of hard work you have put into helping anglers young and old! With heartfelt gratitude,” a long-time subscriber.

If you are not receiving these free E-Letters, it is easy to get on the list. Just go to my website at www.fishingmagician.com and click on the E-Letter button at the top left of the Home Page or on the navigation bar. Just provide your name and email address and I will get one sent off to you. After that you will automatically receive all future E-Letters.

As usual the fall E-Letter has a lot of photos, maps and information on how to fish for species that are currently open to fishing, and my list of Top Prospects for the Fall. This list includes lakes and streams that I like to fish this time of year.

I love this time of the year. Great weather and so many terrific fisheries!