Salmon below Wanapum Dam
Dave Graybill
Conditions can be rough below Wanapum Dam, but salmon anglers that brave the high water and waves are being rewarded with good catches of summer run salmon and sockeye. Small numbers of what is to be a very strong run of kings are below the dam, but they are in a biting mood. Sockeye are just now showing up here, but are in good enough numbers to provide limit catches for anglers that shift gears to fish for them.
I recently fished here with Shane Magnuson, Upper Columbia Guide Services, and three of us all got a king to about 15 pounds. We also boated a jack Chinook and our limits of sockeye salmon. I was shooting video for my TV Show so didn't pick up a rod until everyone had a king and a limit of sockeye, and I got my king and limit of sockeye in less than an hour.
Magnuson was trolling the plug cut version of the Super Bait behind Pro Troll Flashers. He switched to size 0 silver dodgers and small pink hoochies to catch the sockeye.
Fishing here will only get better as more fish arrive. You had better be good at backing a trailer and handling a boat in rough water to fish here until the water settles.
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