Hanford Reach On Fire As Upriver Brights Are Here

If you haven't fished the Hanford Reach on the Columbia River, you're really missing out.

Considering the quick drive across Highway 24, I think you're taking this "boot snobbery" a bit too far.

Buy a dang smoker already and don't just assume all you catch are tired, slimy salmon.

“Anglers have an opportunity to catch bright, good-eating fish through the first half of the month,” said Paul Hoffarth, a fish biologist for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW).

Salmon fishers are using a variety of techniques, including superbaits stuffed with tuna behind a flasher, fillet-wrapped Kwikfish, and drifting or diving eggs.

Anglers must use barbless hooks when fishing for salmon and steelhead in the Columbia and Snake rivers and are prohibited from removing any chinook or steelhead from the water unless those fish are retained as part of the daily bag limit.

If you're a bank fisherman, there are some spots to fish.

If you're already in the Tri-Cities, the mouth of the Yakima is a great place to set up shop.

North of there even is a spot past Mesa called Ringold. A killer steelhead spot in other years, this is a great place for bank fishermen. Especially for fly fishermen.

There are different things about this spot that make you use completely different tactics and gear than other places. Watch what others do, but I love pissing everyone off that got the good drift spot early and walk just a bit upriver throwing out a spinner and catching my fish and leaving after a few casts.

Some people like standing in water I guess. And half of them don't feel the slight tap on their eggs amid the strong current.

My arthritis doesn't afford me that much time standing on those big rounds rocks.

Color is your main weapon there.

Even when you're trolling superbaits or kwikfish.