Post by: Machias on June 25, 2024, 10:23:24 AM
Post by: bustedoldman on June 25, 2024, 10:36:21 AM
Post by: Machias on June 25, 2024, 10:44:18 AM
Every year!
Awesome, this will be my first trip, so I'll be in one of the guide boats out of Idaho, Fins and Feathers.
Post by: mp.hunter on June 25, 2024, 10:55:31 AM
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Post by: Caseyd on June 25, 2024, 11:01:42 AM
King fishing and usually incidental sockeye limit. Curious to see how they react this year.
Post by: nwwanderer on June 25, 2024, 12:00:00 PM
Post by: SeaRun1 on June 25, 2024, 10:50:25 PM
Anyone have any advice for me if I was to get over there? Any recommended places to camp nearby? Favorite lures? Bought some Millenial Coon Shrimp today so have to go now!
Thanks for any advice you can provide.
SR1
Post by: huntnnw on June 26, 2024, 03:40:58 AM
Post by: Blacklab on June 26, 2024, 07:08:37 AM
Post by: Birdguy on July 09, 2024, 06:50:31 PM
Post by: Southpole on July 09, 2024, 07:41:29 PM
Post by: Caseyd on July 09, 2024, 09:25:13 PM
Post by: Hirt on July 10, 2024, 09:28:05 AM
Post by: hunthard on July 10, 2024, 02:43:02 PM
Post by: pickardjw on July 10, 2024, 03:10:08 PM
What's the daily limit this year?, last time I went it was 3.
Four sockeye at the moment, release all other salmon. (Specific to the Brewster Pool)
Post by: Machias on July 14, 2024, 05:21:53 PM
Post by: storyteller on July 14, 2024, 05:49:19 PM
I saw him do it , I was amazed.
Post by: Machias on July 14, 2024, 06:01:00 PM
Post by: Southpole on July 14, 2024, 07:57:49 PM
So, I drove over there Friday night. Got there at 10 pm. Slept (well at least tried to sleep in the front seat of my wife's Jeep). Was still pretty toasty. Got to the Dock at 0330. The boat Launch was going non-stop from about 0230 on and was backed up a loooong way. My guide, from Fins and Feathers out of Coeur D'Alene put in down at Pateros and picked the three of us up at a dock just down river from the boat launch. Got on the water at 0400, quick 5 or 6 minute ride up to Brewster pool where we met up with about 300 boats. :) Pretty wild scene, but not quite as chaotic as I thought it might be. I caught the first sockeye, which we lost trying to net in the near dark conditions. We had 6 rods out. Lead balls, no downriggers needed. The bow rod was down at 20 feet with a 6 ounce ball, a "0" dodger and a pink hoochie with shrimp. Middle rod was at 25 feet and the back rod was at 30 feet. Was pretty much non-stop action. We lost 6 or 7 sockeye while trying to net. Had our 12 fish limit and was back at the dock, fish cleaned and off the boat at 0605. One of my fish the guide made a mistake and paid for it. He grabbed the fish before bonking it on the head with the bat and it flopped around and he ended up with the treble hook buried into his hand. Hook in his hand and the other, front hook was still in the flopping fish. Finally got the fish off the hook and took the leader off. We had to push the hook all the way through so it came back out so we could snip the barb off and he could pull it out. OUCH!! He's like man I know better than to grab a fish before whacking it. Most of the sockeye were in the 3 to 4 pound range. We did lose one right out of the net that would have been 5 pounds. Meat looks awesome. I left about 0630 and headed home. Made it to Creston and had to pull over and take a 45 minute power nap to make it the rest of the way home. Can't wait to go back down with my own boat and stay for a couple of days and fish during the week. I have a couple of videos I'll post in a day or two. Did not take any photos of the fish, just really never had time to.Thank you for that very specific review of your trip. I’m going with a guide as well so I can go back with my own boat to give it a go. Glad it was action packed and successful.
Post by: Machias on July 14, 2024, 09:53:41 PM
Post by: Southpole on July 15, 2024, 07:13:03 AM
Good luck on the 20th, Southpole!! Super hot during the day, so take plenty of water! Good luck and I hope you have an awesome day!!:tup: :tup: :tup:
Post by: pickardjw on July 15, 2024, 07:27:16 AM
Post by: bigdub257 on July 15, 2024, 09:38:27 AM
Post by: scotsman on July 15, 2024, 11:54:43 AM
Post by: pickardjw on July 15, 2024, 05:00:01 PM
Might hit sockeye early AM, move to get into kings later. Try to get some fish in the ice chest then focus on the real prize!
Post by: spookgus on July 15, 2024, 05:13:35 PM
Post by: nwwanderer on July 15, 2024, 07:01:00 PM
Post by: spookgus on July 15, 2024, 07:23:01 PM
Post by: SeaRun1 on July 15, 2024, 08:18:09 PM
The pool was good to the 5 of us sat morning. 0 dodger, two red beads, small red smiley, red shrimp, 27 feet line out. Balls, 4oz back, 6oz side, 8oz bow. 10” leader. 24-36 inch bumper. Get ‘‘em while you can.
Appreciate the detail. Going on the 18th and really looking forward to it!
SR1
Post by: Caseyd on July 15, 2024, 09:25:09 PM
Headed up next weekend, though I won't only fish the pool. Hoping to get into some kings too.
Might hit sockeye early AM, move to get into kings later. Try to get some fish in the ice chest then focus on the real prize!
Same but our thinking is pick up incidentals and get the remainder on way out :dunno:
Post by: spookgus on July 15, 2024, 10:12:53 PM
Post by: spookgus on July 15, 2024, 10:35:34 PM
Post by: scotsman on July 16, 2024, 02:12:56 PM
Post by: Machias on July 16, 2024, 03:02:32 PM
Post by: plugger on July 20, 2024, 04:48:27 AM
Post by: pickardjw on July 20, 2024, 08:48:54 AM
Post by: Southpole on July 20, 2024, 11:07:11 AM
Post by: Birdguy on July 20, 2024, 08:35:00 PM
Post by: Caseyd on July 20, 2024, 11:54:07 PM
Post by: pickardjw on July 21, 2024, 06:32:47 PM
Got out there at 4:30 and we had 4 limits by 6:30. I’ve seen pictures of the amount of boats at Brewster but it’s nothing like seeing it live. Before it was all the way light out it looked like Christmas tree lights scattered out there or a person can mistake it for a small city, crazy.
Dang, you must have had the secret sauce. Talked to / overheard several guides say they struggled to get limits. We ended up with 5 for 2 people and were out until 3pm. Probably had double that for takedowns, mostly once we moved up to the mouth and had trouble hooking / keeping them on.
CF was pretty dead today. Saw maybe 3 caught. I'm done sockeye fishing for the year. I want more of this stuff, don't think I'll ever smoke or cook a bright king again. Need to figure out where I'm going to go for them next...and get my Stryker king blanks built out.
Post by: Southpole on July 21, 2024, 08:48:19 PM
I noticed we were some of the last people to show up to fish in the mix and one of the first to leave. We seen people catching fish but not back to back non stop like we were. There was some very subtle signs of them biting our bait and very specific instructions of how to approach how and when to grab and reel, if you didn’t do that you will loose them. There was a pre fishing routine we had to do as well. Our guide was very detail oriented, he also told us how he preped his coon shrimp the night before. There was other details too, add them all up and it’s often a recipe for success. Not saying he doesn’t have slow days (day before it took until 11 a.m. to get 4 limits) but he does pretty good. I would highly recommend him. Me and the husband are going to give it a try on our own boat next week, preferably in the middle of the week.Got out there at 4:30 and we had 4 limits by 6:30. I’ve seen pictures of the amount of boats at Brewster but it’s nothing like seeing it live. Before it was all the way light out it looked like Christmas tree lights scattered out there or a person can mistake it for a small city, crazy.
Dang, you must have had the secret sauce. Talked to / overheard several guides say they struggled to get limits. We ended up with 5 for 2 people and were out until 3pm. Probably had double that for takedowns, mostly once we moved up to the mouth and had trouble hooking / keeping them on.
CF was pretty dead today. Saw maybe 3 caught. I'm done sockeye fishing for the year. I want more of this stuff, don't think I'll ever smoke or cook a bright king again. Need to figure out where I'm going to go for them next...and get my Stryker king blanks built out.
Post by: Caseyd on July 21, 2024, 09:29:21 PM
I noticed we were some of the last people to show up to fish in the mix and one of the first to leave. We seen people catching fish but not back to back non stop like we were. There was some very subtle signs of them biting our bait and very specific instructions of how to approach how and when to grab and reel, if you didn’t do that you will loose them. There was a pre fishing routine we had to do as well. Our guide was very detail oriented, he also told us how he preped his coon shrimp the night before. There was other details too, add them all up and it’s often a recipe for success. Not saying he doesn’t have slow days (day before it took until 11 a.m. to get 4 limits) but he does pretty good. I would highly recommend him. Me and the husband are going to give it a try on our own boat next week, preferably in the middle of the week.Got out there at 4:30 and we had 4 limits by 6:30. I’ve seen pictures of the amount of boats at Brewster but it’s nothing like seeing it live. Before it was all the way light out it looked like Christmas tree lights scattered out there or a person can mistake it for a small city, crazy.
Dang, you must have had the secret sauce. Talked to / overheard several guides say they struggled to get limits. We ended up with 5 for 2 people and were out until 3pm. Probably had double that for takedowns, mostly once we moved up to the mouth and had trouble hooking / keeping them on.
CF was pretty dead today. Saw maybe 3 caught. I'm done sockeye fishing for the year. I want more of this stuff, don't think I'll ever smoke or cook a bright king again. Need to figure out where I'm going to go for them next...and get my Stryker king blanks built out.
What guide did you guys use?
Post by: Caseyd on July 21, 2024, 09:30:25 PM
Got out there at 4:30 and we had 4 limits by 6:30. I’ve seen pictures of the amount of boats at Brewster but it’s nothing like seeing it live. Before it was all the way light out it looked like Christmas tree lights scattered out there or a person can mistake it for a small city, crazy.
Dang, you must have had the secret sauce. Talked to / overheard several guides say they struggled to get limits. We ended up with 5 for 2 people and were out until 3pm. Probably had double that for takedowns, mostly once we moved up to the mouth and had trouble hooking / keeping them on.
CF was pretty dead today. Saw maybe 3 caught. I'm done sockeye fishing for the year. I want more of this stuff, don't think I'll ever smoke or cook a bright king again. Need to figure out where I'm going to go for them next...and get my Stryker king blanks built out.
Took in 3 kings at wells today
Post by: huntnnw on July 21, 2024, 10:44:52 PM
Today was slow at wells. 1 king and handful of sockeye
we fisedh wells from 4:45am to 8:30 am and 0 kings on saturday and decided to head home. friday we got 4 kings
Post by: Southpole on July 22, 2024, 06:19:55 AM
Post by: Southpole on July 22, 2024, 06:24:42 AM
Bend Over Guide Service out of Arlington.I noticed we were some of the last people to show up to fish in the mix and one of the first to leave. We seen people catching fish but not back to back non stop like we were. There was some very subtle signs of them biting our bait and very specific instructions of how to approach how and when to grab and reel, if you didn’t do that you will loose them. There was a pre fishing routine we had to do as well. Our guide was very detail oriented, he also told us how he preped his coon shrimp the night before. There was other details too, add them all up and it’s often a recipe for success. Not saying he doesn’t have slow days (day before it took until 11 a.m. to get 4 limits) but he does pretty good. I would highly recommend him. Me and the husband are going to give it a try on our own boat next week, preferably in the middle of the week.Got out there at 4:30 and we had 4 limits by 6:30. I’ve seen pictures of the amount of boats at Brewster but it’s nothing like seeing it live. Before it was all the way light out it looked like Christmas tree lights scattered out there or a person can mistake it for a small city, crazy.
Dang, you must have had the secret sauce. Talked to / overheard several guides say they struggled to get limits. We ended up with 5 for 2 people and were out until 3pm. Probably had double that for takedowns, mostly once we moved up to the mouth and had trouble hooking / keeping them on.
CF was pretty dead today. Saw maybe 3 caught. I'm done sockeye fishing for the year. I want more of this stuff, don't think I'll ever smoke or cook a bright king again. Need to figure out where I'm going to go for them next...and get my Stryker king blanks built out.
What guide did you guys use?
Post by: pickardjw on July 22, 2024, 08:05:12 AM
Post by: Caseyd on July 22, 2024, 08:16:50 AM
Rough water at wells? Thats where I wanted to go but not sure if a 14’ job boat can handle it.
No which is why the fishing was slow. King side was calm but moving fast. Sockeye side was calm without rough water at the L turn.
Wells wasn’t moving much water
Post by: pickardjw on July 23, 2024, 08:59:30 PM
Rough water at wells? Thats where I wanted to go but not sure if a 14’ job boat can handle it.
No which is why the fishing was slow. King side was calm but moving fast. Sockeye side was calm without rough water at the L turn.
Wells wasn’t moving much water
Wellllll shoot, I was going to have a relaxed weekend at home but the rocky reach dam live stream has me reinvigorated to go up and try for kings again. Need to get the nav lights wired back up tomorrow so I can be on the water earlier...gonna wing it on a dispersed campsite near wells. Not sure if the counts really reflect what I'm seeing on the live cam but not sure how much fishing I'll do once hunting seasons are open and hate having my last day be a skunk.
Post by: Southpole on August 02, 2024, 09:15:53 AM
Post by: Machias on August 02, 2024, 11:34:06 AM
One thing I'm not sure why more people don't launch at Bridgeport or Pateros. Its really a short boat ride and the launches are MUCH less crowded.
Post by: Southpole on August 02, 2024, 02:08:31 PM
Very cool. The sockeye numbers this year are just unreal. Smashed all previous records. Currently over 755,000 sockeye!!!I think a lot of them do. The guide we went with a couple of weeks ago had us meet him in Bridgeport and the parking lot was to capacity. We went straight to Brewster because it was Monday through Wednesday for us and would be a fraction of the people compared to the weekend. Still busy though.
One thing I'm not sure why more people don't launch at Bridgeport or Pateros. Its really a short boat ride and the launches are MUCH less crowded.
Post by: Southpole on August 02, 2024, 02:10:47 PM
Post by: metlhead on August 02, 2024, 03:47:19 PM
Post by: Caseyd on August 02, 2024, 07:19:54 PM
Until your belt snaps or deodorant gives out
:dunno: :yeah:
Fresh ones still swimming in daily.
Post by: KP-Skagit on August 06, 2024, 10:05:49 AM
We fished Brewster the last two weekends. The first weekend due to an absolutely ridiculous amount of boat/trailer issues we only got one morning on the water out of the three days we were there. We were very not fishing as effectively as we could be (trolling off the main and way too fast) that said, we hit a lot of fish, should have easily limited but lost way too many.
Last weekend we only had one day to fish. Boat was dialed in but we struggled. Caught everything we hooked but it was slow for us. Seemed like there were fewer boats and the fishing definitely seemed slower. There were of course some folks who were absolutely crushing it, all concentrated in one area. It was virtually impossible to get that troll though, kept getting boxed out.
Post by: Southpole on August 06, 2024, 10:41:17 AM
Post by: Southpole on August 13, 2024, 05:14:40 PM
Post by: C-Money on August 14, 2024, 07:30:21 AM
Post by: Fishmaker57 on August 14, 2024, 09:03:08 AM
Post by: Caseyd on August 14, 2024, 12:37:09 PM
Post by: C-Money on August 15, 2024, 07:58:49 AM
Post by: LDennis24 on September 14, 2024, 07:44:39 AM
Post by: Southpole on September 14, 2024, 08:14:13 AM
https://infotel.ca/newsitem/record-breaking-return-of-sockeye-salmon-to-okanagan-spawning-grounds/it106472 (https://infotel.ca/newsitem/record-breaking-return-of-sockeye-salmon-to-okanagan-spawning-grounds/it106472)
Good to hear they made it. When we drove up highway 97, just out of Omak last month, I can see clouds of fish heading up. The final count at Bonneville was over 700,000, wonder if the 500,000 count was from somewhere else.
Post by: C-Money on September 14, 2024, 09:00:55 AM
Post by: pickardjw on September 14, 2024, 10:12:08 AM
https://infotel.ca/newsitem/record-breaking-return-of-sockeye-salmon-to-okanagan-spawning-grounds/it106472 (https://infotel.ca/newsitem/record-breaking-return-of-sockeye-salmon-to-okanagan-spawning-grounds/it106472)
Good to hear they made it. When we drove up highway 97, just out of Omak last month, I can see clouds of fish heading up. The final count at Bonneville was over 700,000, wonder if the 500,000 count was from somewhere else.
Bonneville - 755,909
Wells - 490,976
Post by: LDennis24 on September 14, 2024, 10:26:11 AM
Post by: Southpole on September 14, 2024, 11:45:31 AM
Post by: Dan-o on September 15, 2024, 01:08:02 AM