Like many of you, I’d read about this year’s banner return of sockeye to the Columbia River system, over 650,000 fish strong. New records of fish and generous limits awaited those traveling to Central Washington. The two primary locations to fish Central Washington for sockeye are Lake Wenatchee and Brewster, at the mouth of the Okanogan river. Each fishery has a generous limit of sockeye, but Bre...

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Fish are mean. They seem to know when you really want to catch them and turn their backs on you. I had my daughter over for a visit recently, and convinced her that she was going to go back home with a load of fresh sockeye. Well, the fish didn’t see it that way. The week started off good enough. Rollie Schmitten invited Doug Pendleton, from Plain, and me to join him for a morning of socke...

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Attend one of the seminars presented by a well known Pacific Northwest walleye angler and you’re going to hear him ask a few questions of his audience. If you read my previous columns you know the man I’m talking about is Doug Allen, a veteran walleye angler and a member of the Mack’s Lure Pro Staff. The questions he asks of his seminar audience are keys to the basics of his approach to walley...

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Sockeye are one of the best tasting salmon you can catch. Their deep red flesh holds high levels of oils which, when barbequed or baked sizzle and bubble to the surface, signalling "dinner time" like no other salmon. We in Washington are blessed with a stellar sockeye year for 2014, as a record number of over a half million sockeye flood up the Columbia river. In addition, Baker Lake is rebounding...

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What a great week for the opening of the season for summer-run and sockeye salmon. The weather has been great and conditions below Wanapum Dam were the best I have ever seen for trolling. Summer-runs and sockeye returns have been much higher than predicated. I had a great opening day, and we are in for some great fishing this summer. I also got a tour of the fish passage methods at both Wanap...

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Sultan WA-For salmon and steelhead anglers there are few opportunities where we can target both fish at the same time with the same techniques on the same river. For those that live in the Central Puget Sound region and even the other side of the mountains in the Wenatchee Valley the Skykomish River is a blessing. With headwaters that start near the summit of Steven Pass and highway U.S. 2 paralle...

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It has been a very busy week. I floated the Cle Elum River last Monday, tried Lake Chelan for kokanee on Thursday, and on Friday traveled to Omak for the Colville Confederated Tribe’s First Fish Celebration. Rollie Schmitten and I had floated the upper Yakima River, above Cle Elum, early this spring, and we set up a float on the Cle Elum River with Troutwater guide Johnny Boitano right afte...

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Because on the west side of the state, I don’t often get a chance to fish the East Side Gems as often as I would like to. Aaron and I got to fish Eloika Lake two years ago with Craig Dowdy of YJ Guide Service. We experienced some excellent fishing for BIG largemouth bass. I was reminded of our trip when we got a few reports this past month on Eloika Lake. It reminded me what a great bass lake this...

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Fishing season has finally arrived and the Mack's Lure staff has been on the water, in full force! During the month of May, Bob Schmidt, Bobby Loomis and myself have been primarily fishing the Washington lakes and rivers with tremendous success. We have all met and fished with a lot of great people during our fishing expeditions and I'd like to take this time to share it with you, the reader. ...

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You’re going to look long and hard to find anyone more knowledgeable about walleye fishing than Doug Allen. If you read my last column, you’re aware I told you about having had an e-mail message from a reader who had a question about walleye fishing. He wanted to know where he could go to have a good chance for boating a walleye of 10-pounds or more. I had told this guy that I thought the Co...

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Our featured lake for this month is Moses Lake, specifically Moses Lake and walleyes. Marble Eyes, AKA one of the best freshwater fish you can eat. While the Potholes gets most of the fishing reports and attention (rightfully so), Moses Lake has a fine walleye fishery and for those in the know can put out some numbers and quality fish. One thing that likely confuses/intimidates anglers new to t...

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It’s a little late, but I figured it was time to get a kokanee post going. The salt opens pretty soon for salmon and that triggers the end of my kokanee season. Now that I’m almost done for silver footballs, I figured I would let all my secrets out of the bag, so here goes. I tie all my own gear, and I recommend doing so yourself if you don’t already. Many of my tackle decisions have come from ...

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