The official news release should be out this morning. I got word that unless something very weird happens to stall it, the upper Columbia River will now open to salmon fishing at Brewster—just in time for the Derby! The release is anticipated to say that fishing will be open August 1st and until further notice. The daily limit will be six salmon, two of which may be adult hatchery fish. The use of barbless hooks will be voluntary. All sockeye and coho salmon must be released. The area open to fishing is from the Highway 173 Bridge at Brewster to the Highway 97 Bridge over the Okanogan. The thermal barrier should be solidly in place, so the fishing should be very good for the derby. To get your tickets for the derby you can just go to the web site at www.brewsterderby.org. Here you can get all the rules and even register for the event on-line. I know that the WDFW and Colville fisheries people have been hard at work crunching numbers to be sure that they can have this fishery without compromising escapement and hatchery brood stock goals.