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FISHING

river parallel to Chelan Falls Road near Powerhouse Park to Beebe Bridge.

Be sure to pack a medium-weight salmon rod and a levelwind reel and use an 8- and 10-ounce sliding cannonball sinker on a chain swivel with a Pro-Troll ProFlash and a leader to a 3.5 spinner or a Brad’s Super Bait Mini with a gob of Smelly Jelly scent.

Those unfamiliar with the fishery can book a guided trip. Two highly regarded guides are Aaron Peterson, owner of Peterson’s Northwest Guide Service (petersonsnorthwest .com), and Wenatchee-based guide Austin Moser, owner of Austin’s Northwest Adventures (austinsnorthwestadventures.com).

What makes this fishery a great family vacation is that after a morning on the water (when the bulk of the action occurs) you can make the short 4.2-mile drive to the town of Chelan, where there’s a variety of wineries, breweries, eateries, farms and orchards, and other activities including boating on Lake Chelan, golfing, camping and hiking. Also not too far away is the beautiful town of Leavenworth.

AUGUST

This is a period in summer when deciding where to go salmon fishing can be tough, especially when there’s so many options and not enough time to do all of them! I’ve narrowed it down to two best bets, but keep in mind there’s more at play here when it comes to choosing an opportunity.

Since this is an odd year – and not in any peculiar way – one fishery anglers can bank on is a likely robust pink salmon return. While small in stature (3 to 5 pounds), pinks are the fastest growing Pacific salmon species and they return in bulk during oddnumbered years after spending two years in the ocean before migrating to natal Puget Sound rivers.

Referred to as the “saving grace” of 2021’s salmon fisheries, it appears that that year’s pink return surpassed the forecasted 2.9 million mark, generating some decent fishing for both boat and bank anglers around the inland sea and some local rivers. The 2023 forecast wasn’t available as of this writing, but with no environmental condition issues nor a drought or major flooding event in 2021, we could be setting up for another modest pink return in 2023. According to Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife data, the recent 10 odd-year average total run size for Puget Sound pink salmon is around 4.3 million.

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