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.


View Larger Map
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.



View Larger Map
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.



View Larger Map
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!

Sugar, Spice & Smoke

One of the most enjoyable aspects of being a fisherman is sharing fish stories, especially with those who don't fish regularly.  Not because I can get away with telling "a whopper of a story" but because they're always marveled at the thought of catching even the smallest of salmon.  It's fun to try and recall the details pertaining to the catch as they ask the most unexpected and interesting questions.  A sure way to ignite these adventures conversations is through the sharing of smoked salmon.... of course with salmon that I've both caught and smoked myself.

Although it was a tough year for salmon fishing, I was blessed to have enough fish in the freezer for two days worth of smoking.  I spent two Saturday's in October with a full smoker, resulting in some of the most flavorful smoked salmon.

With a dry brine blend of brown sugar, salt, garlic salt, celery salt, lemon pepper, dill weed, hot mustard, and just the right amount of time over smoke, I believe I've found a near perfect recipe for both salmon and trout.

1st batch ready to go in the smoker!

The trick is to coat the salmon with honey and finish it off in the oven at low heat for about 20min.  The end result is salmon candy you can eat warm or cool/freeze for gifting.