BEEBE KINGS THE CURE FOR THE SUMMERTIME BLUES - Bill Herzog

   

Yes, I saw the photos. For years and many a salmon season, I heard the tales of wonderful mid-summer Chinook fishing on the upper Columbia from Wenatchee to Brewster. But those kings were always, well…dark. As in late November fall Chinook on the Green River near Seattle on spawning beds—eagles drooling dark. As in “just let it go, don’t touch it” dark. I, along with countless like-minded west side saltwater salmon fishers would turn our noses at these “spawners”. Apparently, these un-educated Eastern Washington anglers didn’t know any better; obviously they have never seen (nor eaten) a Westport king salmon, so bright you could shave in the reflection. Well…we mock what we don’t understand, kids.

   

Oh, how things can change. Fast forward to 2009, the first year we could fish for 

sockeye in the upper Columbia. While we targeted the red-fleshed sockeye, we would occasionally hook a king on sockeye gear and immediately release it, along with a laughing “who in the hell would eat one of these old boots” or the like. We watched for several summer seasons with disbelief as the locals whoop and high five when they would land a hatchery Chinook, their brown to bronze bright bodies held up for photos, then pitched into coolers. What a waste of salmon limit, taking one of those “inedible” fish when it counts toward your sockeye limit. Yes, I had friends and guides who swore they were great eating. Yeah, right. I was still sporting the “chrome bias” tattoo, you know, the one worn by every west side salmon angler for all to see. Until one fateful day.

      

  

     

     

   

My cousin landed a 20ish pound king on sockeye gear. He was adamant about keeping the fish. I tried to point out that a starving cat wouldn’t lick it, no matter, kill it now. Fine. While cleaning them, after slit-ting it open I was slack jawed when I saw the condition of the meat. Fluorescent red, veins of fat all throughout. Curiosity made me take a steak off one of the fish, just to try. One bite from that salmon steak and the heaven’s opened, the angels sang and I dropped to my knees for forgiveness. Well, something close to that.

   

It was every bit as rich and flavorful as a lower river springer. You read that correctly. So, why do these salmon appear as if they have been in fresh water for 37 months still stay so full of fat and red meat-ed? Genetics. Genetics!!! These kings—like their upper Columbia River sockeye brethren—before the dams, would travel 800 plus miles upstream and negotiate monster rapids and powerful flows to reach their spawning grounds. These salmon have some of the highest fat content of any West Coast salmonid. These same genetics are perpetuated in hatchery production. These Chinook rival any caught in the ocean for flavor and quality.

   

Now, most of my time during our short Upper Columbia salmon season is spent targeting these large, hard fighting and delicious summer Chinook. It’s embarrassing how many of these I’ve angrily released over the last decade plus.

      

   

There are a half dozen more than well-known spots to target these kings, starting immediately above Rocky Reach Dam. There is the mouth of the Entiat River; in the rodeo circle immediately below Wells Dam; off the mouth of the Okanogan River in Brewster or my favorite, just off the mouth of the Chelan River, directly across from Beebe Park campground and a ¼ mile below Highway 97s Beebe Bridge.

    

There’s no missing this place. A quick look out the driver’s side window going north on Highway 97 off Beebe Bridge Park mornings in early July, there it is. Quite a light show in the pre-dawn as guides and private boats all positioning for the first light snap. Boats, sometimes pushing 100 strong, motoring up and down the Columbia immediately off the Chelan River mouth say one thing loud and clear—the kings are here.

    

   

  

   

     

Some will try and troll the short ¼ mile stretch immediately below the highway bridge to the river mouth, but while this area can be productive it is much shallower than the main target area from the Chelan mouth down river (the area is called Chelan Falls, as the river tumbles and crashes through a short canyon just out of sight from the Columbia). The best fishing area is from the river mouth (there’s a bridge right there) downriver nearly a mile. Above the river mouth to Beebe Bridge is fine for a crack of dawn practice pass or two in the 15-to-25-foot depths, but as we all know, Chinook are creatures of deep water. The primary trolling area is immediately off the mouth of the Chelan River downstream, as this is where the deepest water is and where the kings slow for a breather. Just off the Chelan mouth the water drops right off, from 25 feet on the north edge to 70 feet on the highway side. The center of the river averages 45 to 60 feet deep for quite a ways, ideal holding/resting water for kings. The water coming out of the Chelan River is, obviously, coming a short distance down the hill from Lake Chelan, which flows almost 10 degrees colder than the Columbia proper. All salmon hold here for a beat, enjoying the cooler water before moving on upriver to their final destinations.

   

   

There are two schools of thought when trolling for upper Columbia Chinook, those who use downriggers and those who prefer dropper leads. It seems the dropper lead folks out number downrigger fans by 2 to one. Using droppers seems to draw strikes also by 2 to one, and that has been my experience all along the upper Columbia not only for Chinook but for sockeye as well. The theory I’ve heard behind this, and it makes complete sense, is when deploying sliding droppers, it allows the flasher/dodger to move with increased animation, just a bit more than when pegged to a downrigger clip. Plus, the act of setting the whole terminal rigging overboard and simply watching a line counter on the reel is faster and easier than dealing with clips and setting the ‘rigger. We use droppers and downriggers—the number of strikes on each is about the same. To each his own, I guess.

     

   

  

  

  

  

Eleven-inch flashers dominate the scene. Hot Spots, Pro Trolls, Gibbs, the new Brad’s strike-release, you will see all the manufacturers well represented here. One constant is most will feature chartreuse/green in some fashion with glow, highly reflective or UV moon jelly tape.

  

While a few of the adventurous will use old school cut plug/whole green label herring, some will even back-troll large clusters of cured roe and get bites. Artificials are the norm up here, and two styles have the monopoly on king hookups. First and most popular is Brad’s Super Bait, which started the artificial revolution over a decade ago. Next, and has taken over in popularity lately is Brad’s Cut Plug. Best colors are Mountain Doo, Lemon Lime, Glow Ghost/Green Dot and Rotten Banana. Next, and this one really went ape after its release, and is catching up in popularity and effectiveness is the Spin Fish by Yakima Bait. Imagine a rotating Flat Fish; it really pisses off summer Chinook. Colors that rule for the Spin Fish are Silver/Chartreuse Scale, Double Trouble and Metallic Silver/Lemon Glow Head.

      

     

The Super bait, the Cut Plug and the Spin Fish all feature hinged chambers that hold scent. While bits of anchovy, herring or even Power Bait are used, 99 and 9/10ths of the anglers trolling Beebe Bridge use canned tuna packed in oil. Don’t overload the lures, put just enough to fill their chambers. Re-load the lures every fifteen minutes or so; you will get more bites with fresh, oily tuna than washed-out bait. No lazy trolling, check gear often, not just to re-pack trolling lures but grass is a big problem and even one little piece on any part of the trolling gest will put off Chinook and kill action.

   

The 4” (regular) sizes of both the Brad’s Cut Plug and Yakima Bait’s Spin-N-Fish work well, but their smaller 3” versions seem to get bit more often, especially after the early morning snap and also after the area has been hammered hard. Rig both sizes with 25 to 30-pound fluorocarbon leaders, 35 to 45” behind the flasher. Tandem ultra-strong, mega sharp 3/0 Gamakatsu Big River hooks rigged 2-1/2 to 3” apart are more than functional for all three lures, all sizes.

   

   

   

   

Next in popularity, especially after the salmon have been around for a bit are spinners. Spinners last season seemed to be the choice of Beebe kings, and the percentage of anglers using spinners here has gone up exponentially. Yakima Bait makes wire-shafted spinners with or without mini squid bodies; #4 blades in red/white, copper, chartreuse, Mexican Flag and Chinook Special are fine novel alternatives when the bite gets tough. An in-line Fish Flash in the same green/glow/UV color patterns works well with trolling spinners as an alternative to 11” flashers. Place the spinners 32 to 36” behind the flashers with a stout 30-to-40-pound test mono. Spray or dip them (not the blades) in a tuna/garlic scent.

    

When trolling off the downrigger, these salmon are not ball shy, keep rigs no further back than 20 feet behind the clip…there are lot of folks trolling around you. When using dropper leads, how much to use depends on which way you are trolling. The current in the upper Columbia varies from day to day, even hour to hour due to dam releases. If you set up for trolling upstream, bottom to top of the run, if the current is honking you may be barely moving upriver, often less than 1 mph. and you will need to strap on a 12 to perhaps 16 oz. ball lead to keep proper trolling angle (45 degrees or less). Going downriver, your presentations will be with the current (or the current is barely moving) and you may need only 6 oz. to work; 8 to 10 oz. are good choices for all around trolling.

     

     

Downstream trolling during heavy current times is not only easier, but you are covering water and chances for a hookup go way up. Just watch out for your fellow man trolling upriver. I would recommend trolling upriver on the highway side of the river where there is somewhat less current and fewer boats to dodge.

     

Fix your sliders and lead three to four feet in front of the flasher. The stiffer and higher the pound test, the more efficient ball bearing swivels work and no one wants to break off a king. Try 50 to 80-pound Maxima between swivels and flashers. There are several great manufacturers of these lead to flasher connections that work far better than homemade.

  

  

   

  

  

When trolling downstream pay attention to other boats, especially those pointed upstream. You will move fast through the area and believe me there are more collisions than necessary every day.

   

How deep to present your gear depends on time of day and pressure. At dawn expect these Chinook to be anywhere from 15 feet down at the lowest light to 35 to 50 feet when the sun is high. Kings are pressure sensitive, and the boat traffic will drive them deeper as the morning progresses. We usually run three rods; one at 20 feet, one at 25 and one at 30 to start the morning. Watch your fish finder. Strikes? Let’s just say when a summer upriver Columbia king wants your lure, those drag murdering grabs are coffee-droppers.

    

  

These are not the little cookie cutter kings we’ve been seeing the last decade, as Beebe kings average mid teen to low 20s and 25- to 30-pound salmon don’t get a second glance. And they are deceptively strong fighters. Remember, this is not a lonely fishery so expensive aluminum will always be in close proximity. The luxury of allowing an angry salmon to tear around is not happening. Go big, or as my good buddy says, “run the rope!!”

  

        

Heavy dropper lead, flashers and terminals—along with the salmon—pull hard. Leave your fun steelhead tackle in the garage. How heavy? My favorite for both lead dropper and off the downrigger is a GLoomis E6X 1174-2C SAR GH; a carbon handled 9’, 9” rated for 10-30#. Gives me plenty of juice for turning and stopping, plus it can handle leads up to 16 ounces. A Shimano Tekota line counter, a low profile 301HG-LC with 20 plus pounds of smooth drag, full of 65# yellow Power Pro and let’s dance. Pick your rod/reel/lines with some quality and some pack.

   

Hatchery Chinook area priority in Central Washington. From the fishery at Chelan Falls up to Chief Joseph Dam at Bridgeport there are several salmon hatcheries: Chelan Hatchery (just above the Beebe Bridge), Colville; Methow and Wells, plus the large Colville Nation Hatchery at Chief Joseph Dam produces 900,000 summer Chinook smolts every year. Add it all up and there are millions of hatchery plants that must come back right through the trolling grounds in front of the Chelan River.

   

Here’s a tip… remember that salmon do not travel underground. Even though most boats will be snuggled up together in the first ½ mile in front of the mouth of the Chelan River, there will be kings moving up (primarily in the first several hours of light) all day. My partners and I rarely go into the pack, but rather position our trolling paths below the majority. We found that doing this is a triple advantage—we stay away from the pack, which makes trolling less stressful; when we hook up there are few boats around to play keep away and we get the first shot at new, un-hammered aggressive salmon moving upriver.

  

  

   

       

This is by no means an unknown secret fishery. It can get a bit crowded, as most high-quality fisheries with short openings tend to be in the Northwest. Directly across from where you will be trolling is a free, dual ramped launch right there in Beebe Park. Expect a bit of a wait just before first light.

    

Watch the WDFW page for openings around the first of July. Keep a peeled eye for Chinook counts on Rocky Reach Dam. Get some cans of tuna packed in oil and come on down to Chelan Falls, just off Beebe Bridge Park. West siders can feel what real summer sun feels like. Join the folks who think these fish are pretty good eating, too!