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