After a night of no sleep; and our adventure to the emergency room, we had to meet our guide Jerrod, of Okanogan Valley Guide Service, at 4:00 AM to be on the Columbia river at first light...uck!
It was amazing how many boats were already there when we arrived in the dark! Although I felt the need for a jacket the weather was beautiful! We weren't sure if it was going to be as we could see a storm off to the north with lots of lightning as we drove to the dam. I was a little concerned that we might not get on the river but Jared's dad, Tom, assured me that the storm was staying well to the north of us and we wouldn't have to deal with it.
It was finally our turn to board and launch!
This is Wanapum dam...it was amazing to see all that water coming off of there!
It was a gorgeous half moon out!
Look at all that water!!
The water is pretty choppy when you get close to this part of the dam!
This picture reminds me a little of our trip out of La Push, WA going out in the ocean!
The sunrise was pretty spectacular!
Here is a bit of Washington history that my smart husband enlightened me on.
The Wanapum tribe is the only Native American tribe in the US that has never signed a treaty with the US government. They have always lived on their lands amongst the people who settled here.
I knew that we would be trolling for kings and sockeye but what I thought and what we did were two different things. I thought, or assumed, that we would be trolling up and down the Columbia, instead we trolled all around the dam. It kind of reminded me of being in a wagon train and circling the wagons. All the boats would go in this big circle and then they would do this sort of choreographed dance in and out of each other covering as much of the water as possible!
Then...
FISH ON!!! And to my surprise Mark didn't have the first bite! I did!!
Welcome aboard little sockeye!!
Our skipper Jerrod had to hold on to me because the water was so choppy! Thanks Jared!! Thought I might go overboard for a moment!! Nice little ol' sockeye for the smoker!!
Yes Kimmy...your Momma does have her fingers in its gills!! Woohoo!!!!
I wish I could have gotten a better shot of this. The sun was shining on the spray and created this beautiful rainbow effect. You can see how choppy the water was close to the dam so I had my auto setting on fast action...still learning...the colors were just spectacular though!!
Mark's turn!!
Finally another bite and it was Mark's turn! It seems that the fish were sleeping in that morning!
I was fortunate enough to land one more and lose one, so around 11:00 Jerrod says, "What do ya guys think about coming up to Brewster for an afternoon of fishing when the fishing is better?" We were like...SURE!!! Poor Jared was really frustrated because the fishing has been incredible on the Columbia but two nights before they had had an incredible thunderstorm and combined with rising water temperatures as well as it being over 100 degrees that day the fish were just not cooperating! Fishing has been so incredibly good this year on the Columbia that you can keep a total of 22 fish. Now there's a breakdown of how many of each species you may keep but my understanding is that
22 fish is a first for the Columbia.
This was my last shot as we pulled back into shore! There were way more boats out in the water than this picture shows!
Thanks for a fun morning of fishing Jerrod!! We look forward to fishing with you in Brewster!
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