This is really a summary of the last three days of fishing. I recently moved to Brewster and have been taking advantage of the salmon fishery on my doorstep. I have several years experience trolling for Kings on the lower river and I've been having great success applying those lessons here in the Brewster pool.

I've been connecting with 2 to 6 Chinook on every outing with bites coming and going in flurries. I do not run downriggers off the kayak but am finding fish on dropper cannoballs rigs with 6-10 oz of lead with anywhere from 40-100' on the linecounter. I am having the greatest success in 30-40' fishing 5-15' off the bottom occasionally allowing gear to fall and kick off the bottom. Troll speeds against the current are 1.4-1.8 mph and with the current are 2.6-3.2 mph.

The trend among the local die hards and regional guides is to run smaller gear (e.g. Brad's Minis or Kokanee Cut Plugs) for the Kings in part because it allows you to target Sockeye as well. However, I have concerns about harvesting Sockeye when its clear the run is in serious peril and we are tens of thousands of fish short of meeting escapement goals needed to ensure a viable fishery in the coming years. For this reason I am sticking to the larger Brad's Cutplugs and Originals and they've always produced for me and continue to do so. I've been encouraging folks to let the Sockeye swim by and will continue to do so until they close the fishery or the run miraculously appears.

Colors working best for me include Hot Tamale, Limit Out, and Wild Fire (the latter two being Sportsman's Warehouse exclusive colors). The common theme among these patterns is the color red. As always I pack them with tuna in oil soaked in scent my favorite being crawfish and anise.

Good luck out there and be safe, be courteous, catch fish!

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