Happy new year!
Happy new year all! I am looking forward to more good steelhead fishing to start the year and then moving on to all the great fisheries we get to fish all year! We will start the year finishing up with steelhead fishing the Columbia and Methow rivers now and then the Wenatchee river mid or early February for some great steelhead fishing. We will fish Kokanee trout (landlocked sockeye salmon) in Lake Chelan In April and May and if it's anything like last year it will be amazing! Then grab your Pautzke fire brine for spring chinook in the Icicle river starting late May and fishing though June for some of the tastiest, hardest fighting fish of the year. Then Summer run chinook and sockeye on the Upper Columbia, this year the sockeye forecast is for a huge run it will be a great season! We will move on to fall run kings from Wenatchee on down to the Hanford Reach to hammer these large, hard fighting, kwikfish grabbing king salmon. In October we will be back at steelhead again floating the Methow and Wenatchee rivers for the airborne steelhead season. Luckily Fetha Styx makes unique rods for each one of the fisheries we fish so we always have the best rods made for each unique situation. From floppy fiberglass sockeye rods to durable, strong, downrigger rods and ultra sensitive well balanced steelhead rods.
Right now we are fishing the Upper Columbia for steelhead and it's fishing pretty good! January is the time to be fishing the Upper Columbia for steelhead. The fish move out of the tributaries as the water gets cold and in some cases turns to ice. The fish will mill around mostly at the dams, either below Chief Joseph dam or above Wells dam, with fish being caught at the mouth of the Methow also. We are catching fish trolling divers and bait or plugs as well as jig and bobber fishing. The bait that has been working best is coon shrimp cured with Pautzke fire brine and also Borax o Fire cured eggs under a float are also catching fish. I have been using the new Fetha Styx Chrome 10' 4-14 lb rods they are the perfect rod for small light jigs and small baits for steelhead with enough backbone to land nice fish but soft tip for effortless line mends. As the Methow river thaws we will be fishing there also and then when the Wenatchee river opens we will be fishing the spring fishery there also as the water warms up in February the fish will head back to the tributaries for some great fishing! I wish you all a very happy New Year and hope to see you out on the water!