A s we ended the month of July fishing has been steady but not a large number of kings or steelhead are stacking up yet because of the cold water. Lake trout numbers have been strong, and we are still waiting for the lake warm up and see some type of thermocline. This will give us an indication of the numbers of kings we are going to have this year.
Most of the mornings we have been fishing in 70-110 with most of the silver fish coming in the top 50 of the water column for and most of the trout are in the bottom 10 feet. Our best baits for kings have been Lemonberry mags on the high coppers and a mix of slim spoons in either the Capt Garys UV or Mixed Veggies. Meat rigs on the divers and mid-range coppers have also been good. We have done well with the Speckled Dick and Thruster Buster by Big Weenie. For trout, we have been running Trash Can Dodgers and spin-n-glows on bottom. With all the cold water, the pier heads have seen pretty good fishing with anglers either using shrimp on bobbers and also alewife’s. They are seeing skamania’s and some numbers of kings and steelhead. Also, the perch fishing has started to take off with most of the perch just off the pier heads to 30 feet of water. Look for the perch fishing to pick up this month. Perch pounders have been working good and also minnows have been doing well also.
As far as the month of August goes we should start seeing the fish starting to stack up and to get ready to stage up for the fall runs. Early August fish will be staging in the thermoclines, but as the cold nights start they will start putting on the feed and start packing on the pounds before the fall run. August is usually the best month for big fish. Get out and fill those coolers!