I got to go on a much anticipated two day fishing trip with my friend Robbie, Rob from NWFR, and his daughter Sarah. On Sunday we fished with Jerrod Gibbons of Okanogan Valley Guide Service, and on Monday we fished out of my boat. Our results proved to me how valuable it is to fish with a guide, whether just to have someone running boat and gear, or, for learning a new location and fishery. In this case, Jerrod showed us techniques and spots that allowed us to go out the next day and have success (although not half as good as what we had with him).

We met at 3:45am and after getting gear set up for a video shot Jerrod ran us over to an area he had found that was producing well. With his assistant guide Josh running the gear, we were instantly into fish, fish, and more fish. The action was pretty much non-stop, with a mixture of doubles and triples. We lost some fish, but the inevitable boat limit came at around 7:30am. That’s six delicious sockeye per person. The fish are running bigger this year, which was great to see. We fished with downriggers and standard sockeye gear. One thing that I think set us apart from most of the fleet were the scents and gear Jerrod runs. His company, Moneymaker, have some innovative products that definitely were producing. Of course, Jerrod’s knowledge and skills didn’t hurt, either!

Monday we went out in my boat. We ran four rods of two downriggers. I had the most interesting phenomenon I have ever experienced. Other than three bites on the other rods, one rod/lure set up accounted for eleven fish and another dozen lost fish. It was unreal. And to boot, as you can see from the picture, the lure wasn’t even a “traditional” sockeye lure. We switched the other rods all morning with various depths, lures, baits, and scents, but nothing worked. Just the one rod. We joked that we might as well fish with just one rod for all the success we had with everything else. Really weird.

As to specifics, both days we fished from 20-45 feet of water. Hot ranges were 10-22 feet. However, we did find ourselves in 10 feet of water today and caught a sockeye at 5 feet on the downrigger, so that shows you, they are all over! No kings either day.

The weather both days was really hot, 99 on Sunday. So if you do go, know that it’s not a bad thing if Jerrod can get you off the water early with limits!

Without a doubt for the Hot Spot in Washington right now, Brewster sockeye should be at the top of the list. Since it opened the fishery has been on fire. Give Jerrod a call if you’re interested in this red hot fishery.

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