Sockeye Season Summary

I was sad to see the sockeye season close early this year, but alas all good things must come to an end. We fished 21 of the 26 day season, and had beautiful weather all but three days. I guess that is if you consider triple digit temperatures beautiful. It was so much fun to show some of my guests the best fishing they have ever experienced in their life. The Brewster pool is one of the only places that I know we can catch salmon three and four at a time. If you have never fished sockeye at Brewster, Washington I would make it a priority. Definitely something to put on your bucket list.

466 sockeye is my final tally for the season. I won't deceive you and say the fishing at Brewster is easy. I've talk to countless anglers that get skunked or either catch one or two fish a day. I definitely recommend fishing with somebody who has it dialed in. There's nothing harder for an angler to sit there and watch as everybody else catches fish. I know, it happens to me once in a while.

90% of my fish this year were caught between 20 and 25 feet. Most of my trolling was done at 1.3 miles an hour. The biggest mistake I see some anglers making is not being able to troll slow enough. If you can't get your boat speed down to at least 1.1 mile an hour, you might as well stay home. Best colors for me this year were pink,red,chartreuse,and orange. If I only could pick one color for the entire season I would have to go with pink with silver smile blades. The hook size I use most is a number two single hook, but I will use sizes ranging from number fours to one O. I have found "O" Dodgers work best for me using an 8 inch leader to my fly or spinner. I never had the need to add any extra scent to my set up, but always made sure I had a fresh piece of shrimp on my hook. Most days I only used a half a piece. Head or tail it didn't seem to matter. When the fishing got slow however I started using a full shrimp.

Thanks to all my wonderful guests for a great sockeye season. Had I reeled in all those fish by myself I'd be in jail with tennis elbow right now. Hope you'll book a trip again next season.

Don't forget about summer kings - the best fishing has just begun now that the sockeye are out of the river. We are now transitioned into catching chinooks. Follow me on my Facebook page to see how we're doing. Just search for Captain Dave's guide Service on Facebook. You can "like the page" and receive daily updates. Good luck fishing and go when the getting's good.

-Captain Dave


Captain Dave's Guide Service, Booking Now! Columbia River salmon - including Summer &
Fall Chinook and Sockeye, and Lake Roosevelt Kokanee and Trout.
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