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For this week's report, I wanted to talk a little bit about our King season on the Hanford Reach this year as compared to the previous two years. PNW anglers have gotten pretty spoiled the last few years with the million fish runs that we have experienced. The fishing was as good or better than any other time in my life! Unfortunately all good things come in cycles. I personally believe that we are going to see a trend for the next few years of some smaller Fall King runs. This year's run is well below the forecast, and we can see the evidence in the fishing success by most anglers on the entire Columbia. This started in August at Buoy 10 and is evident even now on the Hanford Reach. We need to remember that in the early 2000's a good day of fall King fishing was 3-4 fish...maybe more, maybe less. Having 15-20 fish days the last two years was something special that I am glad we got to do, but should not be the standard that we judge our season by. My goal on my boat is to try to get a fish for every rod. Some days, that is a lofty goal, but most days this season, even with the lower numbers, we were able to do that.

With that said, I was able to find some fish this weekend even with the multiple fronts that came through and the not so favorable fishing conditions! That is a fancy way of saying it was flat out crappy out! We battled weeds all weekend again and had a tough time keeping our gear fishing. However, we stuck with it and found some willing bitters. We managed 5 Friday, 7 on Saturday, and 5 on Sunday. Downstream trolling Super Baits was our main technique. With the dark clouds and less sunlight, we found the fish a little more suspended this weekend. Also, with the rain we got, by Sunday, I started seeing some new fish in the area we fished. This new push should carry us for the next few days. We also have more rain in the Forecast, so hopefully the fresher fish will keep showing and carry us through the end of the season this month.

High quality tackle, local expertise, USCG licensed and insured, guiding for Salmon, Steelhead, Sturgeon and Walleye. On a trip with Jacob, you can expect to not only catch fish, but to learn throughout the day.

Munden's Rising Son Adventures509-492-8852

riverhunter

10/11/2016 5:55:00 PM

Very true. I went out last weekend of Sept this year and only hooked 2 for 4 rods. The same time last year we had at least 1 fish per rod and 2 per rod was the norm. That being said isn't that what fishing is about. The chance at hooking up into a fish and not being spoiled with catching every single time. Now I live in western Washington so it is a drive for me to fish this area but do so because of the beautiful scenery and huge fish and to be quite frank our boat was happy even though fishing wasn't lights out. May I also add that I was on by brother in laws boat so it is always a pleasure to be out when given the chance.

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