The sockeye salmon season on Lake Wenatchee was a great distraction, but now anglers are heading back out on the Upper Columbia to do some serious summer-run fishing. Wells Dam remains productive, when the currents aren’t too fierce, and fishing off the mouth of the Okanogan is getting better actually. Seems like every run of salmon up the Columbia has been at least two weeks later than normal this year, and the fishing is taking longer to settle into the traditional pace. This is getting to be my favorite time of year for salmon fishing. I like to back troll plugs on the Columbia below Wells Dam and some other spots and this about when it gets good. I am having a heck of a time finding sardines that use to wrap my plugs, so I am going have to try some alternative bait. While I wait for my bait to show up, I am keeping very busy on the small streams. The Icicle River is very good, particularly in the late afternoon and evening and next week I am going to try to get to the upper Entiat. There are some tributaries to the Methow River I want to try, too.