Buoy 10 King Salmon Fishing Charters

One of the Pacific NW's most popular sport fisheries is known simply as Buoy 10.  Buoy 10 is a nautical marker marking the entrance to the Pacific Ocean of the Columbia River.  This marker also serves as a fishing regulation boundary.  The Buoy 10 fishery usually encompasses a line through Buoy 10 and Tongue Point near the Astoria Megler Bridge.

We have two of the best full time Washington State Fishing Guides available to fish the peak month for King and Coho Salmon each year in August.  During years when there is a strong Coho Salmon run we will stay and continue fishing into mid-late September for Coho Salmon.

The small towns of Chinook, Astoria and Warrenton along the mouth of the Columbia come alive in August due to summer tourism and the return of millions of fall salmon.

Our guides meet at the West Mooring Basin in Astoria and the Hammond Marina in Warrenton.

The 2016 King Salmon Forecast for the Columbia River is just shy of 1 million fish and as a result of the strong anticipated return King Salmon is open through Labor Day pending actual returns.

The largest King Salmon we caught in August 2015 was probably 43 pounds with at least one king salmon over 20 pounds caught daily.

If you want to catch the biggest and freshest king salmon of the year without taking your chances in the Ocean or Alaska then Buoy 10 fishing near Astoria, Oregon is the best bet for you!

When are they going to announce a Sockeye Opening for the Upper Columbia & Brewster?

Short Answer:  Sometime between tomorrow and early next week.

Long Answer:

The Sockeye salmon we are catching and releasing now and hoping to keep in the coming days and weeks are bound for Lake Osoyoos in the Okanogan.

Last year we had a stellar return of Sockeye but only 37,624 of the fish made it back to lake Osoyoos and only about 10,000 reached their spawning grounds on the upper Okanogan River.  And that is from a huge return that entered the Columbia of 512,000 fish!  The high water temperatures in the Okanogan are to blame for the death of almost 170,000 Sockeye Salmon that passed Wells Dam but never made it home.

As a result of this dismal return the pre-season forecast for 2016 was very low around 101,000 sockeye.  As of July 5th there have been 312,422 sockeye over Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River and 78,131 have made it over Wells Dam on the upper river.

The popular Brewster Pool fishing area is just south of the Wells Dam on the Columbia River.

As of last Thursday they have counted 5,000 Sockeye as returning to their spawning grounds and they want to see at least 60,000 before they open the upper Columbia River to Sockeye Sport Fishing.  As fisheries biologists tally up the Friday-Sunday fish counts that 5,000 number could be very close to reaching the 60,000 goal.

The fisheries biologists are hopeful that the Brewster Pool and upriver destinations will open for Sockeye before this coming weekend but at the latest it will be early next week.

If you have a sockeye trip scheduled for this week or weekend you are welcomed to come and fish for a 2 hatchery king salmon limit + 2 jacks and release lots and lots of native kings and sockeye salmon during your trip.

Since July 1st, everyone who has fished has had a terrific time with 20+ hookups per person per day.

You can book a half day or full day trip now through July for Kings and/or Sockeye.  Half day trips until Sockeye opens will be for King Salmon and after Sockeye opens half day trips are for Sockeye only and full day trips are for Kings and Sockeye.  All trips are scheduled for Brewster.

Stay tuned for updates - feel free to call/txt/email.  If you want to reschedule a Sockeye date you have booked for between now and early next week please email with alternate dates you can fish.  If you don't have a Sockeye trip booked yet please try to book one soon because most dates through the 20th are full but we may send another guide over to help with morning trips on the weekends starting next weekend to get everyone accommodated.

Thank you for your calls/emails/questions - more coming soon!

Jessica - 253-389-0359

Brewster Pool Fishing Report Update

Brewster Pool Sockeye and King Salmon Fishing

Looking for a fishing guide for the Brewster Pool Sockeye Salmon Fishery?  Then look no further.  Ryan is our Expert Lake Pateros Fishing guide and Brewster Pool Fishing Guide.

Year after year Ryan provides customers with excellent fishing opportunities all over Washington State and you could call July the icing on the cake!

Waters West Guide Service provides guided fishing trips for Salmon and Steelhead in the upper Columbia River near Brewster Washington.  We are located in the city of Brewster Washington for all of July every summer. This area of the Columbia River near Brewster is an amazing and very productive fishing area. The fishing pressure and boat numbers are noticeably less then the lower Columbia and we think the fishing is even better. We at Waters West Guide Service want you to enjoy your fishing trip, and always encourage participation from you.  There are few experiences as exciting as setting the hook at the bite into a feisty Salmon or Steelhead.  It is hard to explain the feeling when you lift as hard as you can on the pole and the fish pulls it right back down to the water.  Come fish with us out of a very comfortable 25’ Brand New Wooldridge.   

Salmon,
Summer Chinook/King, and Sockeye Salmon starts in July and ends in October.  From the start of the season to the end salmon can be consistently caught.  Kings will peel the line off the reel in hard and long runs.  The Kings range in size from small jacks to over 40lb monsters, and the majority of the Kings weigh in the mid teens to mid twenties.  We have also been able to fish for Sockeye the last couple of years.  Sockeye season is not pre-set annually, but the season is opened based on numbers of returning fish.  The Sockeye returns the last few years have been huge, and we have been fortunate with a large limit size.  We have heard people say Sockeye are the best eating salmon, but we think it is hard to tell which one is better Chinook or Sockeye.  We mainly troll for Salmon using bait and lures.  We also will anchor up and fish bait if that is the most productive method at the time.