Columbia River Sockeye Tech Thread

[Uglygreen]

So, I have caught Sockeye incidentially while Summer Steelhead fishing. I know thy are not great biters, but wanted to hear ideas for targeting these tasty little fish.

1) Anyone had any consistant luck with Columbia River Sockeye?

2) What methods and rigging seem to work best?

3) As we have to tag Sockeye but they don't have to be clipped as most are unclipped hatchery fish, would you support a rule change to allow recording on a hatchery harvest card?

[hawg boss]

Originally Posted by Uglygreen

3) As we have to tag Sockeye but they don't have to be clipped as most are unclipped hatchery fish, would you support a rule change to allow recording on a hatchery harvest card?

No.

I would support a rule change that requires the release of all Sockeye.

Last year there were 3 populations of Sockeye in the Columbia. This year there should be 4 with Sockeye expected to return to the Deschutes. Snake river fish are esa listed, Deschutes fish are a restoration project. There should be no harvest on either of these populations.

Okanagan River Sockeye are increasing thanks to a large restoration project.

http://www.nwcouncil.org/fw/stories/okanagan.htm
http://www.obtwg.ca/pdf/ORRIBrochure.PDF

Does Washington even have a hatchery harvest card? If the answer is no, Why should people in Oregon be taking an unlimited number of fish that are heading to another state, and another country?

[tailhook]

Nice response. Way to be on point.

[FrogPond]

Current edition of STS has some pointers.

[the_dude]

But don't most say "all hatchery fish must die"? If I remember the story right there is a place in Washington that you can keep 6 a day.

[Vandal_57]

Originally Posted by hawg boss

No.

I would support a rule change that requires the release of all Sockeye.

Last year there were 3 populations of Sockeye in the Columbia. This year there should be 4 with Sockeye expected to return to the Deschutes. Snake river fish are esa listed, Deschutes fish are a restoration project. There should be no harvest on either of these populations.

Okanagan River Sockeye are increasing thanks to a large restoration project.

http://www.nwcouncil.org/fw/stories/okanagan.htm
http://www.obtwg.ca/pdf/ORRIBrochure.PDF

Does Washington even have a hatchery harvest card? If the answer is no, Why should people in Oregon be taking an unlimited number of fish that are heading to another state, and another country?

Release em'. Google Idaho's "Redfish Lake", named after the sockeye. I know over the past years the return has increased in numbers, but that system needs them to keep coming.

[ccw]

So let's close the Columbia and especially the ocean & Buoy 10 to protect the Grays chum run while we're at it?
No.

450,000 sockeye is huge. Plenty will escape. CW

[Natester]

Originally Posted by ccw

So let's close the Columbia and especially the ocean & Buoy 10 to protect the Grays chum run while we're at it?
No.

450,000 sockeye is huge. Plenty will escape. CW

Exactly!!!

Lets get this Thread back on track!

I am thinking of fishing shallow with a small spin and glow with the hook tipped with a small dyed shrimp.

How soon do you think they will be in the lower river?

[luguando]

[QUOTE=Natester;4142657] Exactly!!!

Lets get this Thread back on track!

I am thinking of fishing shallow with a small spin and glow with the hook tipped with a small dyed shrimp.

How soon do you think they will be in the lower river?[/QUOTE

I like the way you're thinking. I went to Bobs Sporting Goods a couple years ago and talked to a couple fisherman who were having success catching the sockeyes from the bank near Willow Grove. They were using small pink spin and glows with mylar wings and tipping the hook with a piece of nightcrawler. I'd be more inclined to tip the hook with a piece of dyed shrimp (cocktail or prawn) but that's what they told me. They were fishing in relatively shallow water (15' or less). That's all the info I was able to get from them but I was told by Brad (manager of Bobs and owner/manufacturer of many fine lures/products) that those guys were legitimate. It's worth a try. Bill Herzog's article in the recent STS magazine has some good ideas as well.

[Quiet Riot]

If you look at the current dam counts, and how fast the run typically peaks, it should give you a good idea on when to go after them.....

[hawg boss]

Originally Posted by ccw

So let's close the Columbia and especially the ocean & Buoy 10 to protect the Grays chum run while we're at it?
No.

450,000 sockeye is huge. Plenty will escape. CW

He asked for opinions and I gave mine.

Do you see anything wrong with putting wild, and/or esa listed salmon on a hatchery tag?

Uglygreen, why do you believe that most of the Columbia Sockeye are hatchery fish? I know they plant a lot of unfed fry, but are you sure that most of them are hatchery fish?

[the_dude]

A recent article in Northwest Sportsman talks a lot about them and summer run steelhead.

[Fishouttawater]

We're not talking about the most willing of biters, here. Habitat, both ocean and in-river, have a lot more to do with the health of columbia basin sockeye populations than a presence or lack of sport harvest. Especially when you consider how fast their run peaks and falls off.

The way I see it, the few hundred pikeminnow I kill every year combined with the MAYBE 2 or 3 sockeye I end up keeping puts me firmly in the black, as far as sockeye conservation goes .

As far as targeting them, I think the depth of water is less important than where in the water column your bait is being presented...so long as the bait is small, red, with a touch of flash.

[scottsduckboat]

Had luck with small blue spin glos with prawn tails last year that were little closer to shore targeting steelhead.

Buddy mentioned using a red or green bead catching a good number of sockeye while targeting shad.

[Wreckless]

The only Sockeye I've ever caught on the Columbia was while Steelhead fishing with a spinner. #3 red french blade and Ultrabite. In about 14' of water.

[the_dude]

I'm thinking of giving it a try along with summer steelhead. Gonna take a few thinks to try. Maybe they might hit the same things as kokes

[wildbill79]

000 or 00 herring dodger with a 10-18'' leader and a small smile blade with a red coon shrimp tail and lots of krill oil. We catch LOTS this way

[ccw]

Originally Posted by wildbill79

000 or 00 herring dodger with a 10-18'' leader and a small smile blade with a red coon shrimp tail and lots of krill oil. We catch LOTS this way

What's a "small smile blade" ? Pics?

Thanks, CCW

[SGIndigo]

Originally Posted by wildbill79

000 or 00 herring dodger with a 10-18'' leader and a small smile blade with a red coon shrimp tail and lots of krill oil. We catch LOTS this way

On anchor or trolling? I imagine there's a bead or two between the smile and the hook, right?

Maybe I should just upsize kokanee gear a tad?

[SGIndigo]

Originally Posted by ccw

What's a "small smile blade" ? Pics?

Thanks, CCW

They're the little wings made by Mack's tackle.

[Fshklr]

steelhead gear and divers.....they don't travel the bottom and are usually suspended.

We did okay last yr just plunking spinglos and wobblers with 8' droppers you would see a few now and again.

The diver will help impart action as well....finding the correct depth and terminal gear will be the hard part.

Have used #4 spin glos in the past but did better later in the season with #6's with a sandshrimp tail.

As small as they are I won't bother this yr...I've caught bigger kokanee locally.

[ccw]

Please a pic of how the smile blade appears rigged. I see one hole and a notch.... is this just above the hook? Thx. CW

[SGIndigo]

Originally Posted by ccw

Please a pic of how the smile blade appears rigged. I see one hole and a notch.... is this just above the hook? Thx. CW

This is how they're rigged for kokanee. They are also used for Walleye crawler rigs, and some people even put them above herring for springers. All you need is a single bead above the hook, like any other spinner blade. How many beads above a shrimped hook for Columbia sockeye is the info I don't have.

[Skipper Cole]

I saw a bunch of them caught a few days last summer, plunking for summersteel on the CR.

The guys that were catching them were running really small spinglos, size 6 and smaller, bright reds, running them off of the bottom rig on a shorter leader than I would normally run.

I plan on targeting them this year once folks start catching them... tasty little suckers.

[wildbill79]

Originally Posted by SGIndigo

On anchor or trolling? I imagine there's a bead or two between the smile and the hook, right?

Maybe I should just upsize kokanee gear a tad?

Depending on where we are fishing but both trolled and on anchor. Yes there is a couple beads between the smile blade/spin-n-glo to a #2 hook. Sockeye seem to suspend in the top 15 feet of the water column in my experience. I catch fish as shallow as 3 feet deep.

[Doublelung]

#4 or #6 SNG's in red, pink, orange, and other bright colors tipped with a piece of purple/red dyed prawn and your scent of choice. I like to run a double setup plunked from the shore. Don't cast too far from shore, they're easy to over-cast. You'll also catch steelhead this way.

They are one of the best eating fish there is imo.

[the_dude]

Sounds like I have a little shopping to.

I was thinking about trying some small spinners like is use for sea run cutts too.

[Big TULE]

O.K. all the advice is great. Just getting out there and getting a line in the water will increase your odds.

What i do, and i have done very well for sockeye. I use #6 pink S-N-G with pink mylar wings, or the fire red body with mylar wings, below it i put the smallest pink hootchie, to keep the hootchie from sliding down the hook i put a bead on the line before i slide the hootchie down, then another small bead between the hootchie and sng. Then i use a little krill scent.

[SGIndigo]

Interesting. One thing we've learned fishing for Kokes with a dodger and hoochie is to go short, and stiff. Kokes aren't leader shy and heavier, stiffer line imparts more action to the lure than thin, limp line. Some people go as high as 30#. I think 15# is probably a good place to start, then. I suppose the higher you go, the less Steelhead you would catch.

[Big TULE]

i always use a sliding sng setup for sockeye. So my bottom sng is for steelhead, the upper is for sockeye. Although i have caught steelhead on my upper rig also.

[sandy_slayer]

I use 30 lb big game for steelhead and never had a problem hooking fish. And in my experience i catch all my sockeye very close to the bottom. There are many different techniques that people dont know. Try stuff new and dont under look little spinners

[sandy_slayer]

Plunking i use 30 lb that is little tribs is a diff story

[alamarkid]

00 to 000 dodger leader lenth of the dodger/ foucus on pinks an reds. smiley blade. trolling as slow as you can go, raw prawns with a little pautzkee's fire cure on it. One major piont with the prawn meat thread it between the two hook set up you will hook more fish. I love sockeye

[Nitroholic]

great biters in the ocean, not so good in the river

[SGIndigo]

Originally Posted by alamarkid

00 to 000 dodger leader lenth of the dodger/ foucus on pinks an reds. smiley blade. trolling as slow as you can go, raw prawns with a little pautzkee's fire cure on it. One major piont with the prawn meat thread it between the two hook set up you will hook more fish. I love sockeye

I was thinking of possibly using a side-drifting style rig, with the egg loop on the front hook, followed by a corkie and another hook, putting the prawn through the egg loop, with a smile in front of it? Think that would work? I already have plenty of side-drifting rigs I could modify easily enough...

[alamarkid]

very close to a side drifting rig not sure about the corky? I use a tuff of yarn lenght of the hooks to grab teeth an hold scent. up here in central washington we kill'em on that. but, i do beleive they get easier to catch the longer they are in fresh water. they become more agreesive.

[Salmon Mike]

Originally Posted by Uglygreen

So, I have caught Sockeye incidentially while Summer Steelhead fishing. I know thy are not great biters, but wanted to hear ideas for targeting these tasty little fish.

1) Anyone had any consistant luck with Columbia River Sockeye?

2) What methods and rigging seem to work best?

3) As we have to tag Sockeye but they don't have to be clipped as most are unclipped hatchery fish, would you support a rule change to allow recording on a hatchery harvest card?

Thank you for starting this thread!!!!! Just the info i have been looking for. And thank you to all who have contributed!!

[CKthumper]

Thought this might useful again.

[FishoDano]

Originally Posted by Nitroholic

great biters in the ocean, not so good in the river

This picture is from just yesterday, posted it on the summer salmon thread as well. But also notice the (9) sockeye, I completely disagree with your comment, figuring out tactics on how to target them in the lower river in recent years is simply the issue.

Several things play apart, water depth, bait presentation, bottom structure, water temp I could go on on. We had 2 of those sockeye come off K-14 Kwikfish, that combined with they're willingness to engulf prawns leads me to believe they are great biters in the river!


Majority of the fish were caught on sNg's prawn's.

[Biteme]

wheres paul?

[SGIndigo]

Originally Posted by FishoDano

]Majority of the fish were caught on sNg's prawn's.

Geez. Just SnG hanging in the current, or off a dodger? I tried last weekend. I anchored in 7', tried to fish in 5' and had no confidence whatsoever what I was doing was right. Of course, I caught nothing, saw nothing.

Hung SnG/prawn tail off a dodger off the downrigger a few feet down, since I needed to get it down, but still swing freely, which it wouldn't do as easily in that shallow water if weighted with lead.

I still feel completely lost.

[FishoDano]

Originally Posted by SGIndigo

Geez. Just SnG hanging in the current, or off a dodger? I tried last weekend. I anchored in 7', tried to fish in 5' and had no confidence whatsoever what I was doing was right. Of course, I caught nothing, saw nothing.

Hung SnG/prawn tail off a dodger off the downrigger a few feet down, since I needed to get it down, but still swing freely, which it wouldn't do as easily in that shallow water if weighted with lead.

I still feel completely lost.

Anchored in 18-18.5 FOW with 4ft leader and 1ft dropper. No dodger's were used.

[Quiet Riot]

I tried for a couple hours the other day with my girls but just got sturgeon sucking down my shrimp sng's in 14 fow. Oh well, was fun with light steely rods. Might hafta go get serious about them later this week

[Swifty27]

I'm going to give it my first try up here in Tri-Cities this season. I'm really excited. Really, everyone should be. I don't want to jinx it, but there looks to be a lot of fish in the water.

[extremefish22]

Originally Posted by Vandal_57

Release em'. Google Idaho's "Redfish Lake", named after the sockeye. I know over the past years the return has increased in numbers, but that system needs them to keep coming.

I agree with you vandal! It still needs more time for recovery. Watched this documentary a while ago, still watch it when i can.

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/episo...-episode/6620/

[bscappell]

Originally Posted by extremefish22

I agree with you vandal! It still needs more time for recovery. Watched this documentary a while ago, still watch it when i can.

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/episo...-episode/6620/

so dont keep them because .4% of the fish are going to the snake? odds are slim sports fishers will catch one.....

The 2012 forecast for sockeye is for a record return of 462,000 fish to the Columbia River mouth. The forecast includes 28,800 Wenatchee stock, 431,300 Okanogan stock, and 1,900 Snake River stock.

[Swifty27]

Originally Posted by bscappell

so dont keep them because .4% of the fish are going to the snake? odds are slim sports fishers will catch one.....

The 2012 forecast for sockeye is for a record return of 462,000 fish to the Columbia River mouth. The forecast includes 28,800 Wenatchee stock, 431,300 Okanogan stock, and 1,900 Snake River stock.

I like it. All you lower river guys shouldn't be allowed to fish them. Should be fine above the confluence with the Snake......hey, that works out perfectly for me

In all reality, I'm sure some biologist that knows more than I do looked at it and figured: For say 20,000 Sockeye caught, 0.4% = 80 fish bound for the Snake. That's 4.2% of the Snake run.....should be ok.

And to avoid polluting the thread, I will omit my sea lion comment.

[Jsteel]

Just curious - been at Bonneville Dam several days in the last week. Hundreds of people fishing with shad jigs, lots of shad caught, but not one sockeye that I have seen. Is it the lure? Do they run at different slots/depths than shad? I thought I would see the occasional sockeye, but it's only been shad.

[JJ683]

Originally Posted by SGIndigo

Geez. Just SnG hanging in the current, or off a dodger? I tried last weekend. I anchored in 7', tried to fish in 5' and had no confidence whatsoever what I was doing was right. Of course, I caught nothing, saw nothing.

Hung SnG/prawn tail off a dodger off the downrigger a few feet down, since I needed to get it down, but still swing freely, which it wouldn't do as easily in that shallow water if weighted with lead.

I still feel completely lost.

Find current seams close to the bank. 10-20 ft fo water....plunking gear. siz e 4SNG with a red shrimp.....

[Swifty27]

Originally Posted by JJ683

Find current seams close to the bank. 10-20 ft fo water....plunking gear. siz e 4SNG with a red shrimp.....

Like this?

[FishoDano]

Originally Posted by Swifty27

Like this?

Like that. If confluences of fish come upriver and past there, with my best bet I'd do just as JJ683 said. Never know what'll happen?

[Swifty27]

Originally Posted by FishoDano

Like that. If confluences of fish come upriver and past there, with my best bet I'd do just as JJ683 said. Never know what'll happen?

I hope they do. Well, at least when there are more in the river, some should find their way over. I gave it a shot for about 1.5 hours after work yesterday. No luck, but it's still a little early.

For anyone familiar with Tri-Cites, I ran up to Ringold. The boat launch is underwater. The road to the lower launch is a mud bog with standing water too. There were some guys out on the point in chest waders, but they hadn't caught anything. There's no bank to fish with the water up in the trees. I ran up to Lot 5 and there's trees in the water too. You could probably fit a rod or two fishing right on top of the launch. It was too late in the day for me to drop a line. I should have taken pictures to share. Next time. Just to note, the water is really clear though.

[Stayin' Afloat]

With nearly 20,000 Sockeye over Bonneville yesterday, has Frenchman's Bar area peaked?

[ccw]

the graph is looking strong. C.W.

[PATRICK 11-14]

Originally Posted by ccw

the graph is looking strong. C.W.

No. 2 or 3 vibrax red blade brass or copper body in 20ft or less =sockeyes!!
For me!

[Incredible_Bulk]

8" mesh nets seem to be pretty effective...

http://www.dfw.state.or.us/fish/OSCR...UMMER_2012.pdf