Salmon fishing at Vernita is tough. Guides and recreational anglers alike are crying the blues. I’m not saying that fish aren’t being caught, they are, but not at the rate we are used to on the Hanford Reach. If there is a silver lining to the tough fishing, it is that the fish are so late arriving to this stretch of the Columbia, there are many very bright fish mixed in the catches. My brother Rick Graybill and cousin Greg Preston fished the Vernita area earlier this week. They got one fish on Monday one on Tuesday and on Wednesday got two. A couple of them were mature hens full of eggs and there were a couple of very bright fish. He did say that Austin Moser came in one of these days with three fish. Rick and Greg have always wanted to try the walleye fishing at Vernita and they did on this trip. The same day that they caught two kings they also boated six walleye. The walleye were from 17 to 21 inches and they caught them on spinners and worm harnesses. It makes me think spending part of the day walleye fishing at Vernita would be time well spent.