Anyone fishing Mcnary?tommorow does'nt it open tommorow?steelhead

McNary has been open for quite a long time. Lots of fish moving through but catching sounds a bit spotty due to the warm water. Worth a try though!

We hit McNary on Sunday. Lots of fish, jumping, rolling, ect. Only saw two steels caught in about 9 hours. One on our boat on the wing wall.

Water temps were 70-71, just a little too warm right now.

We were marking TONS of fish though

hello all,i was just wondering seen an ad for guided fishing above mcnary for salmon starting now it said/the only way i've ever fished for them was at vernita back trolling quik fish,how would you fish mcnary with no currrent,would you just troll?or use different setup?

frank wrote:

hello all,i was just wondering seen an ad for guided fishing above mcnary for salmon starting now it said/the only way i've ever fished for them was at vernita back trolling quik fish,how would you fish mcnary with no currrent,would you just troll?or use different setup?

Hey Frank, Well this is the area I know I can help. Above McNary you either flatline plugs, Or, bobber and shrimp/jig. With plugs you need to flatline (75 feet mainline) and troll around 1.0- 1.5 mph with GPS. Bobber and shrimp : I like my bobber stop around 6-12 ft. You slow troll around .5 mph (gps) or fish from the bank . Now the hard part is to figure out what plug to use and what pattern to troll. How much time do you have???? If you want specifics, P.M. me and I'll try and help.

I am going to Mcnary tommarrow AM, does anyone have any reports? First time steelhead fisherman here (well I have been 3 times but got skunked so untill I catch one I am a first timer lol)

Welcome aboard! I've been hearing good things. I might show up down there Saturday evening or so... will have to see how the weather and the fishing elsewhere turns out. I think I'll try bobbers during daylight and blinkies at night.

what kind of blinkies do you use there's the cheaper ones like brads but then i seen some expensive ones at griggs. vortex i think was the name

I like Brads but sometimes will use K13x or laserlures. Old style Vortexes can be great sometimes too.

Thanks for the info, am getting ready to leave now, I will post how the fishing was tonight.

I have one of those old vortex lures. Battery is dead. Has anyone ever had any luck re-charging them? I have heard that some of them can be re-charged with a 9v battery to the hooks.

Eric, I doubt if that would work but it wouldn't hurt to try I guess. The connection between the hooks simply makes the circuit that allows the blinking action to switch on, I don't see how you would be able to backfeed enough to recharge it that way. But... ya got nothing to lose by trying!

I went out last night above McNary. I pulled blinkies from 8pm-11:30. I netted two very small native steelhead for 2 poles. 4-5lbs. Lots of boats out.

Don, I'm surprised you have never tried re-charging lures? I will let you know if it works.

Wow you're a glutton for punishment... all day at Vernita and then night fishing at McNary!

I was hoping to hit it tonight but it looks like the weather wins.

In my opinion and from what the others where saying the fishing here was quite a bit slower the past two days, got skunked Friday morning and caught two this morning(one keeper). What a hoot though.....