Hello all!

Well it’s time again, steelhead is open on the Wenatchee and Methow Rivers! We have been fishing and already have had some great days catching lots of fish in the sunshine! We have over 17,000 fish in the system between the two rivers and it is shaping up to be another great season!

Bobber Down Guide Service

Brad Wagner

509 670 3095

www.fishwenatchee.com

We have had a great season fishing salmon in the Columbia, the sockeye didn’t stick around as long as last year but it was hot when they were here, many of you got some fantastic fishing in, we are catching fall run kings now! Now we are also getting geared up for steelhead! There are over 12,000 steelhead and counting coming over Priest Rapid Dam and almost all are headed to upper Columbia rivers, the Wenatchee River, The Methow River, or the Okanogan River as well as the main stem Columbia. There will be allot of fish available to be caught again this year! We have been fishing the Wenatchee River catching kings ,first time in over 25 years, and its hard to keep the steelhead off our lines when we are fishing kings, and we have noticed that there are WAY more hatchery fish this year! We will be fishing the Wenatchee and Methow mostly with trips in the main stem of the Columbia also, we will be fishing out of the driftboat or the raft or both for parties of 4. We are booking trips for this fishery now as it will start any day and run though March, there are still some prime dates open even a few weekends, so book now before its too late! I am attaching a nice steelhead from early last season it was caught and released mid September.

Fishing has been fair so far with at least a fish per trip average in my boat but the season is still very early with lots of fish to come still with a projected run of over 9,000 fish we have only 234 fish at the hatchery so the next few weeks should be pretty good fishing.

The weather is nice here in Wenatchee — around 80 for past few days with lots of snow low, so the river very easily could get very high and dirty, but will push in a bunch of new fish.

When the water is high we catch them on plugs wrapped in bait strips marinaded in Pautzkes Nectar and when the water clears up we will be using Fire Cured eggs and herring also soaked in Nectar. So far it has been a nice mix of fish with several 5 year fish over 20 lbs and a mix of 10-15 lb fish as well as some jacks showing up recently also. We will be fishing the Icicle River through the first couple weeks in July and anticipating some pretty good fishing! We have a few dates open for the rest of the fishery if you want to catch springers in the sunshine get your date asap before they are all gone.

See you on the water!

Originally published on Brad’s blog

Now we are getting ready for spring chinook on the Icicle that will open mid-May and it is promising to be another good year up on the Icicle river in Leavenworth. We will be fishing it using herring plunking and back-bouncing and also ran on divers, or using eggs with Pautzkes Fire cure running different colors on different days fished the same ways. We also will be running some bait-wrapped plugs on the end of our Fetha Styx 1021 plug rods to catch them also, like the one pictured above, that is a pretty typical Icicle River fish — with fish this year expected to be a little larger usual. We are booking spring chinook trips for this spring starting mid-May with the best fishing being in June and early July, as with all trips we will be providing all the gear and bait, we will be floating in a fiberglass driftboat on this scenic float. Book your trip early as this fills up quickly!

See you on the water!

By Brad Wagner.

So we only have 22 days left in this GREAT steelhead season and fishing is as good as it has been all year! All year we have battled with fluctuating river levels and crazy weather, but here at the end all is calming down and fishing is very good. We have been fishing mostly the Wenatchee River and have been doing very good in the upper river, but there are also lots of fish in the lower river and not as much pressure so we have been splitting up our floats and alternating the days on which stretch of river to fish. We have had some great days, with over 20 fish last weekend! We have also been fishing the Methow River where there is great fishing and also the river is in great shape. I have been fishing it at least a day or two a week and having great success. We are fishing with the same jigs as earlier marribou and areo jigs in blacks and pinks. The fish at this time of year are mainly smokers, but great fighters with it being a great time to get your eggs for salmon season, only a couple months ’till springers on the Icicle! We are booking trips with days open till the end of the season and also booking trips for springers on the Icicle openning May 15 and also sockeye and summer-run kings for the Columbia that will open July 1. We have great fishing in the sunshine — go out and get some!

Brad Wagner

fishwenatchee.com
(509) 670-3095
brad@fishwenatchee.com

Fishing is good on the Wenatchee River now, and also the Columbia is fishing really good using shrimp in Pautzkes cure and marinated in Nectar. On the Wenatchee, we are using our tried-and-true cold water jigs that have a little slower action and cold water steelhead can’t resist them as we got nine the other day in a half-day fishing.

Fishing is good — a little chilly, but book a trip and catch some fish! We are offering cold weather specials this time of year also. See you on the water!

Brad Wagner

fishwenatchee.com
(509) 670-3095
brad@fishwenatchee.com

Wenatchee River is open to steelhead in the earliest opening that we have seen in a long time!! So with all the anticipation what happened? The rains came down and the river blew out!! We launched and there was about two feet of visibility, and then about three hours later we were down to 6 inches. The rains came down and the fish shut off by mid way through the float — we just floated down with our tail between our legs making the occasional cast hoping to hit a fish in the head so he would hit. So when all was said and done, we got down to the take out without even so much as a hit! What an opening day bust! Feeling discouraged, I went and hit the Columbia and within about 20 minutes had a chrome 6 lb buck on the bank, so all was not lost on this meager opening day.

So with all this rain and the river going way up so fast and getting all muddy the upside is that this is really going to push a lot of fish into the river. I am expecting some pretty good fishing in the very near future with lots of fish staging to come up and this rain is just what they were waiting for. I am looking forward to be out there floating the river in short sleeves landing steelhead after steelhead! We are booking trips with many open dates in Sept. and Oct. See ya on the water!

Brad Wagner

fishwenatchee.com
(509) 670-3095
brad@fishwenatchee.com

Hi all, hope summer is treating you great and you can avoid the chores to get some time out on the water! Fishing is still good in the Brewster Pool and below Wells Dam for kings. We are still catching a good amount of sockeye in the Brewster area as well, with a couple kings a trip. Also, the sockeye and kings are both still in very good shape! Below Wells Dam has also been pretty good for kings at times, the season as a whole has been pretty hit and miss, but the guys that stay with it and fish hard are being rewarded with some nice fish.

We are still booking salmon trips for up north and also booking trips for fall run chinook that is forecast to be the second largest run on record at 650,000 fish over Bonneville Dam!! We are booking trips to fish the Hanford Reach for these huge kings now, and we will start fishing them from Sept 1 on.

Now for some steelhead news, the rumor mill is cranking up in high gear with starting date rumors as it always does this time of year, but there my be some VERY good news for all of us who love to steelhead fish — we may see a record-early opener so early I don’t even dare say here on the almighty web, but stay in touch ’cause there could be some huge news very soon!! We are also starting to book steelhead trips and they are starting to fill up in the month of October so get your trip now before it’s too late! I am off to the river; see you on the water.

You can learn more about Brad by checking out his website at Fish Wenatchee, his fishing blog, or the Fetha Styx Team page.

If not, catch up with him the old fashion way:

1227 Down Rd.
Wenatchee Wa 98801
(509) 670-3095
brad@fishwenatchee.com

Fishing has been excellent the past month! Sockeye fishing started down here in Wenatchee and until recently was very good, now it continues to be good in the Brewster Pool area — lots of 10-plus fish days. Great for kids with lots of action! It will start to taper off soon as fish head up river, but the kings are really starting to show up in good numbers and fishing is really picking up for them! Lake Wenatchee is open for sockeye as well, also with a two fish limit. It’s always fun to have the chance to land a 40 lb.-plus fish, but most are averaging in the low 20s. Booking trips now for both fishing in Brewster and in and around the Wenatchee area, get a trip now while fishing is hot!

Brad Wagner
Bobber Down Guide Service

Brad’s profile.

To catch up with Fetha Styx Fishing Rods guide Brad and see his contact information check out his Pro-Staff Page

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