Posted by: Phoenix77
If you have to fish in the heat - 07/29/14 09:25 AM
There are options if you have to fish in the heat
YAKIMA, Wash. — After sitting in a boat for a couple of days this past weekend, with the sun beating down on me and a couple of fishing buddies, catching very few fish, I started to question my sanity. As much as I love to fish, sometimes it seems to make better sense to get off the water, find some shade and take a break.
We were fishing up at the Brewster pool on the Columbia near the town of Bridgeport, trying to catch some more of the more than 600,000 sockeye salmon currently migrating up the river. You would think with that many fish, catching a few would be a sure thing.
Nope. We did catch a couple in two days, but over 100 boats — each with at least two anglers on board, most with two-rod endorsements — could not catch a sockeye on Friday or Saturday. The fish checker on Friday said he only checked five fish all day, and two of those were ours.
The weekend prior, the fishing was lights-out. Everyone was catching sockeye at Brewster. But something changed. The river temperatures were most likely the culprit. Once they chilled a bit with the cooler temperatures and the rain early in the week, the fish either zipped upriver or, for some reason, went off the bite.
Oh well, that’s fishing. This week’s warmer temperatures might just turn it right back on.
In the meantime, there are other options for anglers who, like me, don’t have enough sense to get out of the searing heat.
One possibly cooler option is located much closer to home than Brewster. Based on reports from Rimrock Lake up near White Pass, that famous kokanee fishery is kicking into gear. Known as “silvers” with most of the locals, the small, land-locked salmon start biting in mid-summer and should give anglers some great fishing, and some pretty good eating, for the next several weeks.
Rimrock silvers typically run from 7 to 9 inches in length, and this year’s are right in that size range, with a few running to 10 inches. They will continue to grow throughout the summer as they prepare to make their spawning runs up the streams at the head of Rimrock later this year.
Both boat anglers and bank anglers can get in on the Rimrock action. Trollers will use a small fly called the “Rimrock Special” tipped with a maggot or two, and run it behind some small string of blades for attractors. The fish are normally near the surface of the lake, especially in the morning hours, so not a lot of weight is needed. Try different trolling depths to find the fish.
Bank anglers will do well fishing a small whitefish fly or a glow hook below a bobber. Again, the rig should be tipped with a maggot or two to entice the bite.
Traditionally, the best fishing is located on the far side of the lake, on the opposite side of Highway 12. The daily limit of silvers at Rimrock is 16.
Other fishing options are also available right now. Walleye fishing at Potholes Reservoir and on the Columbia and Snake Rivers has been picking up in recent days. According to Bruce Hewett, a longtime guide out of the Tri-Cities, the walleye have been biting on the Snake near Pasco.
“Walleye is back on again,” the affable guide said. “What had been a couple of boats fishing walleye on the Snake River is now 20 or more boats fishing every morning and catch rates are 10 to 15 per boat. For the next month or so we can catch a mess of 15- to- 22-inch eater walleye.”
Jigs tipped with a nightcrawler, or bottom bouncers with worm harness rigs, are the preferred fishing styles for the walleye.
Steelhead counts are starting to build on the Columbia, and that means some of the favorite fishing holes in the mid-Columbia will start putting out some fish. The always popular Drano Lake and the Klickitat River should both be worth fishing.
Anglers working at Drano prefer to anchor up in the cove, or at the mouth of .... http://www.yakimaherald.com/news/latestnews/2371721-8/rob-phillips-there-are-options-if-you-have
YAKIMA, Wash. — After sitting in a boat for a couple of days this past weekend, with the sun beating down on me and a couple of fishing buddies, catching very few fish, I started to question my sanity. As much as I love to fish, sometimes it seems to make better sense to get off the water, find some shade and take a break.
We were fishing up at the Brewster pool on the Columbia near the town of Bridgeport, trying to catch some more of the more than 600,000 sockeye salmon currently migrating up the river. You would think with that many fish, catching a few would be a sure thing.
Nope. We did catch a couple in two days, but over 100 boats — each with at least two anglers on board, most with two-rod endorsements — could not catch a sockeye on Friday or Saturday. The fish checker on Friday said he only checked five fish all day, and two of those were ours.
The weekend prior, the fishing was lights-out. Everyone was catching sockeye at Brewster. But something changed. The river temperatures were most likely the culprit. Once they chilled a bit with the cooler temperatures and the rain early in the week, the fish either zipped upriver or, for some reason, went off the bite.
Oh well, that’s fishing. This week’s warmer temperatures might just turn it right back on.
In the meantime, there are other options for anglers who, like me, don’t have enough sense to get out of the searing heat.
One possibly cooler option is located much closer to home than Brewster. Based on reports from Rimrock Lake up near White Pass, that famous kokanee fishery is kicking into gear. Known as “silvers” with most of the locals, the small, land-locked salmon start biting in mid-summer and should give anglers some great fishing, and some pretty good eating, for the next several weeks.
Rimrock silvers typically run from 7 to 9 inches in length, and this year’s are right in that size range, with a few running to 10 inches. They will continue to grow throughout the summer as they prepare to make their spawning runs up the streams at the head of Rimrock later this year.
Both boat anglers and bank anglers can get in on the Rimrock action. Trollers will use a small fly called the “Rimrock Special” tipped with a maggot or two, and run it behind some small string of blades for attractors. The fish are normally near the surface of the lake, especially in the morning hours, so not a lot of weight is needed. Try different trolling depths to find the fish.
Bank anglers will do well fishing a small whitefish fly or a glow hook below a bobber. Again, the rig should be tipped with a maggot or two to entice the bite.
Traditionally, the best fishing is located on the far side of the lake, on the opposite side of Highway 12. The daily limit of silvers at Rimrock is 16.
Other fishing options are also available right now. Walleye fishing at Potholes Reservoir and on the Columbia and Snake Rivers has been picking up in recent days. According to Bruce Hewett, a longtime guide out of the Tri-Cities, the walleye have been biting on the Snake near Pasco.
“Walleye is back on again,” the affable guide said. “What had been a couple of boats fishing walleye on the Snake River is now 20 or more boats fishing every morning and catch rates are 10 to 15 per boat. For the next month or so we can catch a mess of 15- to- 22-inch eater walleye.”
Jigs tipped with a nightcrawler, or bottom bouncers with worm harness rigs, are the preferred fishing styles for the walleye.
Steelhead counts are starting to build on the Columbia, and that means some of the favorite fishing holes in the mid-Columbia will start putting out some fish. The always popular Drano Lake and the Klickitat River should both be worth fishing.
Anglers working at Drano prefer to anchor up in the cove, or at the mouth of .... http://www.yakimaherald.com/news/latestnews/2371721-8/rob-phillips-there-are-options-if-you-have