Brewster is hot spot for sockeye

There are a number of places where the fishing is good. The Columbia River near Brewster is the hot spot for sockeye salmon. The Olympic Coast is the place for cutthroat trout. For rainbow trout, hit the Yakima River below Ellensburg.

RIVERS

Columbia: In the upper river, the sockeye are stacked below Wells Dam, said Anton Jones of Darrell and Dad’s Family Guide Service. Using bare hooks, Mack’s squid rigs or trolling shrimp will work. Place all of them behind a big dodger with a very short leader for best success.

Cowlitz: The fishing is still improving with good reports of limits of steelhead being taken regularly, said Marshall Borsom at Fish Country. Most boaters are using divers with coon striped shrimp or pulling plugs from downstream of Barrier Dam. The bank anglers are using corky and yarn, jig and bobber or sand shrimp. He said there are still some spring chinook in the river.

Kalama: The river is very clear and water levels are dropping, said Wayne Orzel at Pritchard’s Western Angler. He recommends using smaller gear, including small orange opaque beads for summer-run steelhead.

Yakima: The trout action in the Ellensburg area and the lower canyon has been excellent, said Jim Gallagher of the Yakima River Fly Shop. Most hatches have been the summer stoneflies and caddis. Size 6 or 8 stonefly nymphs in a black or brown color have been very productive, especially when combined with a small, beadhead dropper. The surface activity has also been consistent using Chernobyl type patterns in beige or tan colors.

Olympic Coast: the Bogachiel has been producing summer-run steelhead on flies and jigs and bobbers. Fishing for cutthroat trout has been very good on other rivers, including the Sol Duc and Calawah.

LAKES

American: The kokanee action has been good in terms of numbers, but the sizes haven’t been as large as in the past. Try using a sling blade with a double glow pink hoochie tipped with maggots, said a staffer at Sportco.

Chelan: The best lake trout fishing has been trolling the Bar early in the morning, Jones said. He recommends fishing T-4 Flatfish in purple glow or luminous chartreuse off downriggers.

Curlew: The fishing on this lake outside Republic has been very good. Dock anglers are having luck with white Power Bait fished off the bottom. Boat anglers have been trolling with Wedding Rings tipped with worms.

Mayfield: The action has really picked up. Anglers are getting some real nice rainbows lately and the tiger musky fishing should be getting good as the water temperature has warmed up, Borsom said.

Riffe: The fishing has slowed a bit, but some people are still catching some silver salmon. Most people are using cocktail shrimp or sand shrimp and worms from the bank while boaters are using Wedding Rings tipped with the same.

SALTWATER

Sound South: The pressure has been very light, producing an occasional fish. Lyle Point and Devil’s Head have been producing fish. The best method is trolling hoochies or herring in water 80 to 120 feet deep, said a staffer at Zittel’s Johnson Point Marina.

Tacoma: The salmon fishing has been really slow in the last few days, due in large part to the large tidal changes, said a staffer at Point Defiance Boathouse Marina. Anglers fishing south of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge have been catching some salmon off Point Gibson, said a staffer at Narrows Marina Bait & Tackle.

Westport: John Keizer of Saltpatrol.com reported good fishing Monday, with most of the fish being caught 90 to 130 feet down.

He said the best setup was a Silver Horde Kingfisher Lite spoon run behind a Kone Zone flasher with about 50 inches of 25-pound leader.

The spoons were greased up with Pautzke’s Krill Gel for added scent attraction.

Jeffrey P. Mayor: 253-597-840 jeff.mayor@thenewstribune.com blog.thenewstribune.com/adventure

This story was originally published July 14, 2010 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Brewster is hot spot for sockeye."