2 Fall Days

I love the fall - prime salmon fishing, college football, fall harvest, foliage, etc... With the exception of fishing, fall 2012 is one for the memory bank with a new daughter on the way in November and Oregon State Beaver football setting a winning streak record. Fall fishing however, was nearly non-existent with September and the better part of October passing without my wetting a line.

Vernita Bridge at dawn

I could blame work and a new baby girl on the way but I think life just took over this fall, eliminating my opportunities to hit the water in any capacity. With October nearing and having not fished since Buoy 10 and Curlew Lake, my 4th annual trip to The Hanford Reach upriver on the Columbia was in jeopardy as well due to hunting season conflicts with Papa Dave (antelope in Wyoming and a select elk unit in Washington).

Generally, prime time on The Reach is the first week in October and ideally we fish it 3 consecutive days. This year, we were limited to a last minute 2 day trip toward the end of the season in mid October which capped off my fishing for 2012... but I'll always take what I can get.

I do have to admit, The Reach isn't where fisherman go to catch and bonk fresh, chrome bright salmon; that's what the ocean and the estuary are for. I say that with all due respect and with the fisherie being one of my favorite places to be... It is however, a great place to go for big fish, decent numbers, and some of the most beautiful country blessed by God. It's always a blessing when I get the opportunity to be on the 25+ mile stretch of water.

This year, I kept my boat in the garage and jumped into Dave's boat which allowed me to relinquish the stress of being captain and just kick back and take in the scenery. While fishing two rods, we were able to put a couple 20lb fish in the box each day with a couple jack salmon in the mix as well. Fish pictures are limited this year as all my pictures were taken with my iPhone. I hope to get a few more rods going in the boat next year but just blessed we got to go this year, and always a blast fishing with Dave.

From One Fish Camp To Another

I first wet a line in Washington's Curlew Lake in 2007 and haven't missed a summer since. Amazingly, the experiences and memories get better and better each August. With each trip around the sun, my kids' appreciation and enjoyment of the outdoors increases exponentially making Curlew an extra special place... but more on that in a bit.

Fishin' Buds

Similar to last year, our week of family time at the lake was preceded by 3 days of intense salmon fishing in Astoria, OR; over 500 road miles away. What an experience it was again this year to fish for 20+ pound salmon on a Saturday, clean the salt off the boat at home, switch from salmon gear to lake gear, and then make a 9+ hour boat pull to Curlew Sunday where the rest of the family eagerly awaits fishing for trout.

Garrett with the view from our cabin

Season six is going to hold a special place in my memory bank. Each morning, Gavin woke me up saying "Daddy, do you want to go fishing?". In recent years at the lake, my routine would be to fish early each morning with Papa Dave and be back to shore as the kids woke craving Papa's famous breakfasts. Gavin's attention span during the morning bite wasn't something to write home about, but his desire to be outside and on the water blew away any expectations. Equally entertaining is his desire to use his own fishing rod. It's a light spinning outfit so fighting a 14" trout was like catching a whale for him. The down side was we lost a few fish on leader breaks, but what a blast for us both.

Gavin and the morning catch

In 2010, we started our own version of "redneck yacht club" where we tie up the boats together in the middle of the lake and drift. It's been a great way to hang out, eat, swim, etc... while we beat the heat. Gavin insisted that we always have a line in the water as we drifted and much to our surprise actually caught a few small trout in the process.

Fishing while swimming

In my earlier years fishing Curlew, it was all about intense fishing with a primary objective of catching as many fish as possible. The desire to switch from intense fishing from sunup to sundown to simply sharing the outdoors with family has been a blessing. Sure, catching fish is the goal but the time spent with my boys and the family outdoors is priceless and Curlew Lake has been the perfect avenue for that. What great memories!!!

Got Trout?

Okay, to some of the fishing details...

It's amazing how each year is different from the previous. I take detailed notes of what works and where following each trip and it comes in handy. Regardless, each year requires a day or two process to learn something new and find the fish in order to meet or beat the success of the previous year. As a result, we're starting to really get to know the ins and outs of Curlew Lake... when we decide the trip is too far and aren't able to go (I hope that is never), maybe an article on what we've found would soon be in the works??

This year, we found a hole that was 2.5 degrees cooler than the rest of the lake. The cooler water with the higher outside temps produced some of the chunkiest fish we've pulled out of Curlew without having to go very deep. Our standard rig is a 1 to 2oz cannon ball on a slider. We occasionally use down riggers but they can be a hassle so it's nice to catch the majority of the fish without them.

Papa Dave loves cleaning the catch

Buoy 10 Fish Camp

The fourth season as mariner and captain of my own vessel in the saltwater of the Columbia River estuary continued with three consecutive days of intense and productive fishing. Deer and Elk hunters setup their respective camps in the fall so on the 16th of August, Papa Dave and I setup "fish camp", which consisted of staying in an Astoria, OR motel for a few nights. After a successful "warm up" trip earlier in the week that included a boat limit of Chinook, anticipation and expectations were high for a memorable experience.

Big fish make Papa D smile!

Buoy 10 is a "tidal fishery" which means the size and timing of a high or low tide can greatly impact when a Chinook or Coho will enter the river and where they'll likely stage once in the estuary. On an incoming tide, the flow of the river is literally back upriver (which is quite the site to see) and usually brings new fish in with it. In order to maximize opportunities to put fish in the box and given the massive size of the estuary, it's critical to have a predefined game plan as well as a backup plan for each tide and location for a given day (a plan C doesn't hurt either).

At the Hammond cleaning station

Over our 3 day stay at fish camp, we landed 1 native Coho (Silver Salmon) that was released unharmed (only fin clipped hatchery Coho can be kept) and over 15 Chinook (King Salmon) keeping only our daily limit each day with most fish in the 18lb to 25lb range. As we worked the tides according to our plan, we also had to work our bait and color combinations. Earlier in the week during my warm-up trip with Bryan B, all of our fish came on herring. Interestingly, during fish camp, not one of our fish came on herring with a variety of large spinners being the bait of choice.

My fish

I never get tired of fishing with my father in-law and getting the opportunity to spend consecutive days in a fishery that's at the top of my list of favorites made it extra special. The freezer is full of candy red salmon ready for a variety of grilling and smoking recipes. Fish Camp 2013 is only 354 days away, making plans now - who's in?

1/10th of the week's catch!

Side Note...

Hawg Quest at Buoy 10

Hawg Quest is a weekly television show on the Root Sports network that covers various fishing adventures in the Pacific Northwest, Alaska, and BC. Interestingly, their tricked out Wooldridge sled appeared next to us and quickly had a fish on. Not wanting to look too much like a groupie, I secretly snapped this picture as they posed with my boat on camera. (Hawg Quest Website)

Easy Like Sunday Morning

The Columbia River Estuary, better known in the salmon fishing world as "Buoy 10" usually starts to fill with salmon during the first part of August and 2012 is no exception. It's still just a bit early for the mad dash up-river but the best tasting salmon known to man have started to arrive in decent numbers.

As July came to an end, my electric bow-mount-motor was stowed to make room for the big water anchor. The walleye, trout, and bass gear relinquished their designated locations in the boat and are neatly placed on the garage shelves making way for the various tackle options used to entice king/chinook and silver/coho salmon to bite.

Not bad, 10min of fishing and the first fish is bonked!

My 2012 Buoy 10 salmon seeking campaign started early Sunday morning with fishing buddy Bryan arriving at my place around 3:15am for the 2 hour boat pull to the Hammond launch, down river from Astoria, OR. Anticipation is always through the roof leading up to fishing the estuary so the drive can feel like an eternity. With a 5:30 launch time followed by 45 minutes of boat prep, bait cutting, and a boat ride out to the south side of the Desdemona sands, we dropped lines at 6:15am in 21' of water. Add 10 minutes of dragging a plug-cut herring and I had the first Chinook bonked and in the box.

Bryan with a couple nice B10 Chinook that cut candy red

By 9am with our two rods, we'd landed 4 Chinook with 5 chances, losing one on the way to the boat (naturally that was the largest of the 5). High tide wasn't until 11am so the plan was to fish for Coho through the first part of the slack but we couldn't scrape up even a native to toss back. After about an hour with no fish and the steadily increasing wind mixing up a heavy chop in the 2.5 to 3' range, we called it a day and headed back to port just after 10am; big smiles on our faces with a limit of Chinook.

Chrome bright in the sun

Bass and Yellow Cats on the John Day River

Along with another family of two boys, we took the kids camping via boat only access on the John Day River last year and just had to do it again. For 2012 it was the 4th of July and joining us were 3 other families - 9 kids, 8 of which were boys equating to a fun and rowdy bunch. Despite my fishing boat being outnumbered by two wake board / ski / tubing boats in our group, I was able to get a little boat and bank fishing in.

Gavin and the first bass of 2012 - long arming, Roland Martin style...

After getting camp setup, Gavin and I got things started off chasing bass with plastic worms and lizards. In between jumping into the river to cool off, we hooked into a few nice small mouth near several rock piles and boulders. Gavin is practicing his casting and is getting okay at it. However, on day one of our trip, he threw his rod overboard while trying to cast, sacrificing it into the depths of the John Day. (he's lucky we never go anywhere with just one of anything but he was done casting for a while)

Chasing channel catfish only to find several (small) yellow cats!

Last year (see post), I fished the John Day exclusively for bass. This year I expanded the game plan to include channel cats from the bank. With 1oz. of lead (which was probably too much for the slow current) on the bottom of a leader and a night crawler up line 16", we could hang out at camp with the group, waiting for a fish to bite.

Waiting for a catfish to tug on the line

Buddies Rhett and Gavin killing time on the river

As always when we go camping, we brought enough food to last a month, so we had no intention of killing and grilling any of the fish we caught. All the bass and cats caught where tossed back in the river in hopes they grow for us next year.

Washington Walleye

It's probably crystal clear by now that I absolutely love salmon fishing. However, a little known secret would be that summer walleye fishing is a very close second.  Not only are they an excellent eating white fish, but when you find em', the action can be non stop chaos. The challenge (and most enjoyable part) is searching the lake to find where they're holding up.

Eyez!!!

Walleye fishing is generally associated with the Midwest.... but don't tell anyone, Washington and parts of Oregon have their share of both healthy numbers and trophy size walleye. I was recently blessed with catching (and releasing) a 10lb+ trophy walleye of my own. I've heard many fisherman say "if their isn't a picture, than it didn't happen" so if you're having a hard time believing it, take a look at the video of a trophy, as well as some perfect size eaters. (Turn up the volume!!)

Generally when we're fishing walleye, we'll keep all of our catch in the live well. At the end of the day, we'll pick just a few that we want to take home for the grill and release the rest back into the lake. The best tasting walleye tend to be the small to mid-size fish in the 14" to 18" range. I am told anything larger has diminished quality (but of course are more fun to catch). I've personally never kept/eaten anything over 18" but eating a few of the mid-size fish suite me just fine.  

The good eatin' size

My Trophy!!

Springer Break Trout

With the rivers on the rise and clouding up, a couple weeks ago I took a break from the combat salmon fishing of the Willamette and took the whole family to Henry Hagg Lake for some trout fishing.  We got to the launch at the crack of 11:00am, launched the boat, parked the truck and much to our surprise, an ODFW truck backed in for a trout stocking.

Hagg Lake trout stocking

Little G ready to catch some fish!

Word of advice, if you're going to take a 1.5 yr. old trout fishing, do it on a day they're stocking the lake....it helps!  Actually, I do think we caught more carryovers than planters but it was really great for the kids (and me) to see the stocking.  

Big G with a fish on!

Proud fisherman!

At 3.5 yrs. old, my oldest son is really learning his way around boats and fishing. He's adamant about learning to bait his own hook with a night crawler and insists on de-hooking his fish with his own needle nose pliers.  (he even knows which side of the boat is port and which side is starboard)

Cooking our catch, tailgate style!

Both boys helped with parking and cleaning the boat but the best part of the day was cooking our catch.  They didn't want to cook the trout on the big grill in the back yard, they wanted to use "the garage grill".  So we tailgated in the garage, cooked some trout and watched the Seattle Mariners game.

Great family memories!  I am so blessed with the wife and sons I have.  

Perfect Spring Day

This past Saturday, which will now be referred to in future story telling as "the perfect spring fishing day" started with a thick fog covering the Columbia River - the type of fog that makes one thankful for every penny spent on GPS and river charts.  At 6:30am, with a fresh cup of coffee in hand, EP and I dropped two plug cut green label herring into the river for the first down hill troll of the morning.  By 6:37am, we had our first fish and 15lbs of chrome bright spring Chinook bleeding in the fish box... The first fish in what turned out to be a limit for the day!

EP with a 15lb Columbia River Spring Chinook

With an early morning high tide at 6:38am, our objective was to start the morning lower in the river and follow the slack up river.  Fortunately, the tide wasn't the only thing on the rise as the outside temperature made it's way to the low 70's and the hot morning coffee was quickly replaced with an ice cold beverage.

12lb Cookie Cutter Springer

Every day of salmon fishing ultimately comes down to one last pass.  Most of the time it's that last chance to get the skunk off the boat for the day.  Rarely, the last pass is a chance to fill the boat with a limit.   With one fish to go for our limit, my nitrile bait gloves off, and the boat all washed down, I gave EP the last call; do we call it a day or take one more pass?  One more pass!!!

As we motored up river for one last troll down river, I baited both rods with fresh herring along with a hint of garlic.  About 3/4 the way down our last troll, my rod folded over - Fish on!!!  What an experience to not only get my first boat limit of salmon but to hook into and land fish on both the first and last troll of the day.  I was especially proud when the ODW fish checker at Chinook Landing had only counted 20 fish for 50 boats that day.

Once again, it's been a slow start to springer fishing with high water and weather conditions similar to 2011.  The river was originally supposed to close on April 6th but was extended to the 13th and then again to the 22nd.  Sadly, the Columbia officially closed Sunday just as the Bonneville Dam fish counts are really starting to take off.  The run should materialize as predicted and I am hopeful ODFW and WDFW will open the river back up soon.  Until then, you'll see my boat on the Willamette.  

Skunk off my back

Getting that first fish of the year and getting the skunk off my back is a great feeling and relief.  In 2011, I got skunked a lot and went much deeper into the year than I'd like to admit before picking up that first fish.  Although the water conditions in 2012 are turning out to be comparable to 2011, I was blessed with putting blood in the boat a little bit earlier this year.

17lb Willamette River Spring Chinook

"Friday the 13th"; what better day to sneak out of work, take some conference calls from the boat and get some spring salmon fishing in under sunny, blue sky's?

Last Friday was my first trip out on the Willamette this year and having some success made it extra special.  Historically, I haven't spent much time on the Willamette targeting salmon, only bass fishing later in the spring and summer.  In fact, my two trips out last year is my only previous experience targeting salmon on these waters.  Adding to the new found excitement of this fishery is it's location relative to my home - this 17lb hen was caught just 2.5 miles away as the crow flies.

Secret Fishing Hole

Well, it's not much of a secret to share here on the world wide web as the stretch of the Columbia River I fish for spring salmon is 40+ river miles. Actually, it's really hard to call it a secret at all given the increasing size of the aluminum boat hatch that occurs on these waters every spring.  The variables that drive salmon to strike change daily, so the real secret is putting the right combo together in order to have the best opportunity.  It's less about a single secret location that produces day after day.

As I make preparations for fishing in 2012, I am excited about the number of people that are making plans to take a trip (or several) with me.  Living in Oregon, there are literally thousands of places to fish so the question of where we're fishing is a frequent conversation topic.  Here is some general information and maps pertaining to where I'll fish the Columbia in spring.


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Fishing out of Scappoose Bay is probably my favorite for spring salmon.  Although it's a 30+ minute boat ride in the dark out to the Columbia, it provides the opportunity to fish for both Willamette River and Columbia River fish.  This location is down river from the mouth of the Willamette so there is a larger number of fish that pass through the area than the stretch of water above the Willamette.

On the flip side, fishing downriver from the Willamette comes with some challenges.  When the valley gets too much rain, the Willamette will "blow out", turning as brown as chocolate milk before it dumps into the Columbia.  The extreme off color makes if very challenging to attract and catch fish.  This area also has a decent tidal impact so it can be tough to time the besting fishing tides.



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Fishing the Portland airport area is probably the most popular area for spring salmon as it's the closest to both Portland and Vancouver.  It has a nice long stretch of good fishing water which makes it perfect for taking people new to salmon fishing.  We often start fishing up by the I-205 Bridge and troll all the way down past the rail road bridge before running up and doing it again.



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Chinook Landing is a large, beautiful launch further upriver near Troutdale.  Also very popular, this is where I go when I want to keep all my options open.  This launch is a good central location for fishing the airport all the way up-river to Rooster Rock - the best for fishing both near the city as well as getting away from it all.

2012 Spring Salmon Season Set!

It's mid-February and the springer juices are finally starting to flow.  I recently read that this year's Columbia River spring salmon run is expected to be the 4th largest ever and the Willamette River is expected to have a strong run as well with a forecast above its 10 year average.  To help fuel the anticipation, rumor has it that a large percentage of the run this year is expected to be larger, 5yr. old fish in the 20 to 30lb range.  (a "normal" springer is in the low/mid teens)

Although I haven't posted anything new since November, I have done a few preparations for 2012 fishing this winter.  My bait supplier was worried about a herring shortage late last year so I actually stocked up with a case of green label, Puget Sound herring in early December instead of January.

That's 420 herring ready to spin like a drill bit!

Oregon and Washington partnered earlier than usual this year and set the spring salmon fishing season in late January.  Generally, they don't get around to it until February.  Here's a snapshot of what we're looking at for 2012:

• Columbia River - 1 fish per person limit - March 1st through April 6th
• Willamette River - 2 fish per person limit - open all year round

Generally, the peak of the run doesn't occur until around the start of April so I expect to start my 2012 campaign in mid-March... more to follow - Happy 2012!