I finally got a crew together for a trip to Brewster to try the sockeye fishing. I had James Lebow, Michael Ericson and Keith Hyatt willing to get up at an ungodly hour to make the drive. It is important to be on station and ready to fish before the sun hits the water, so we all met in Wenatchee at 3 a.m. It worked out great, too. No waiting to put the boat in and we were in position with the large fleet of boats before first light. The bite started kind of late, though, and we really didn’t get into good action until about 5:30. We caught some and lost some on rods that were set up with hoochies and coon shrimp. We ran both ten-inch and 12-inch leaders with equal success, and although we had heard that fishing without hoochies was the way to go, it wasn’t the case. There were six ounce sinkers on the side rods and four ounces out the back. We caught fish along the west shore and at the top end off the mouth of the Okanogan River. The fish averaged about 3 pounds but did land one that was a probably a 5 pounder.
This is an average sockeye this year in the Brewster Pool.