Scouting Water

It's been nearly a month since I had the boat on the water so Sunday, February 20th, Tabasco T and I went out to the Columbia and Multnomah Channel of the Willamette to scout water (some new and some known).  2/20 is really early for spring Chinook so we took it easy and got to the launch at 9:15am hoping it would be a little warmer by then but a thick fog kept the outside temp at around 30 degrees.

We did do about an hour or so of fishing but that time was spent more with an objective of trying out a few new rigs that I put together over the off season.  I really wanted to make sure they worked before game time in a few weeks. However, much to my surprise, we did have a couple take downs (bites) that didn't stick which made me want to fish longer, but we had a lot of uncharted waters we needed to scout in prep for this spring (still kicking myself wondering if that was the right choice).

As soon as the camera was put away the sun came out and we had a clear sky for a beautiful sunny (but cold) day.  Here's where things started:

It's a long boat ride out to the main system of the Columbia in the fog.

It's foggy days like we had this day that make me really appreciate the GPS.  The place I launch at is treacherous with old pier pylons and other water hazards - so much so, last year, I had to mark a permanent GPS trail so I could safely find my way in the mornings.  Part of the scouting trip this day was to also clean up old fishing trails and mark new ones for reference this spring (so it's not as messy and save only the ones to be used again).  We also spent a fair amount of time marking new areas that look "fishy".