by Dave Graybill, September 11, 2013

I can’t believe its September already. Summer sure flew by. It was a great season but it’s time to think ahead about what’s coming up next. That’s the great thing about Central Washington. We have four distinct seasons and each one has something special about it.

Eric Granstrom and I jumped on board with two clients of Shane Magnuson’s the other day, and captured the action for a future Fishing TV Show at Chelan Falls. His clients, Ron and Connie Monson, were from Missouri and had never fished for salmon before. They were very impressed. The first fish that Connie hooked was a wild fish, well over 20 pounds, which was released. Her next fish was a keeper and it was all she could do to hold it up for a photo. I hooked the next fish and passed the rod over to Ron. It turned out to be a keeper, too and just slightly larger than Connie’s. The fish hit Super Bait early in the day, and then Shane switched to Mag Lip Flatfish, wrapped with tuna, later on. There are still good numbers of kings hanging out at Chelan Falls and they are in really good shape for this time of year, too. I had been using the launch on the Chelan side of the river, but have switch to the campground park on the Douglas County side now. There are too many weeds around the other launch with the low water. Both launches are free.

I got a call from Eric Granstrom, and he told me he went back up to Chelan Falls for another try by himself. He said there were about 20 boats fishing here on the weekend, and there was little success. He saw three kings brought to boats and one was released so he saw two keepers taken. He also said that here are a bunch of small salmon smolt in the area now, too. I remember when they showed up last year. They made it difficult to get a keeper, as they were all over my baits. It may be time to move further up the Columbia, even above the Brewster Pool to find good numbers of kings now.

One of the newspapers I write for, the Columbia Basin Herald, is a Hagadone newspaper, and they provide me with a couple of nights lodging at the Coeur d’ Alene Resort every year. I have always enjoyed staying here, just hanging out, but had never gone in the summer. I recently visited the Coeur d’Alene area and this time I took a fly rod along and fished the Coeur d’ Alene River. This is a beautiful stream, about the size of the Wenatchee, and is loaded with cutthroat. The turnoff for the Coeur d’ Alene River is about 30 miles from the resort and then I drove about 25 miles up the road that follows the river. Here I spotted a nice stretch that looked like it would hold fish, and it did. I waded down to an area where the water flowed against a rocky bank and tossed my fly into the foamy current. My Parachute Adams disappeared in a splash and the first fish I hooked gave me quite a tussle. I laid it against my rod and measured the length when I got home. It was 16 inches! I caught several other cutthroat in this hole and although none were as large they ranged from 10 to 14 inches and were gorgeous. If you ever get a chance to visit this area, take a fly rod along and give the Coeur d’ Alene River a shot. You will be impressed.

The Wenatchee River is now open to fishing for Chinook salmon from above Dryden Dam to the Highway 2 Bridge at Leavenworth. There should be fair numbers of kings scattered through here, and I remember hearing from several anglers that had some great battles last season. Selective gear rules apply to this salmon season and a night closure is also in effect.

I want to remind anglers that the two pole endorsement is no longer effect on the Columbia River from Priest Rapids all the way up to Bridgeport, as of September 1st. It closed to using two poles on the lower river at the end of July.

Have you checked out the graph of the fall Chinook coming over Bonneville Dam? Wow! They were coming over at over 30,000 a day. The return is over the ten year average and last year’s by a long ways. This is great news for fans of fishing for fall kings below Wanapum Dam, in the Hanford Reach and at White Bluffs. This is shaping up to be a dynamite year to be fishing for fall kings. Better get geared up, it looks like the fish are going to be here a lot earlier than usual this year, too.

When the weather starts to cool off a bit, I am planning a trip to Buffalo Lake for kokanee. Buffalo can produce some good catches of dandy kokanee in the fall. The fish have been deep all summer and the few anglers that fish here haven’t been catching them. I have fished for them over Labor Day Weekend in the past and have had great luck catching fat 12- and 13-inch kokanee. They could be even larger this season. I can’t wait to find out.

There is a lot of great fishing coming up this fall. I am very eager to get after the fall kings. It looks like its going to be a great year!

By Dave Graybill

FishingMagician.com