Not in 103 degrees , yikes.
Non-Fly Buoy 10
- Thread starter 67 VW Beetle
- Start date
I've fished the area two different times - once with a friend and coworkers; we weren't able to cross The Bar in Jim's 21' SeaScout the first day, the next was calm. The fishing was so-so. A few years later a friend and I booked a trip with a guide we'd fished on Lake Roosevelt with. We didn't go out to the buoy but stayed in the river meeting this guide at a pier in Astoria. The highlight of the trip wasn't the catching or even the fishing, it was the Goonie house and fishing in and around the freighters. We boated one fish in two days, a marked Chinook that we had to release. I saw several salmon stolen from angler hookups by the ever present sealions.
At times the boat traffic was congested but nothing like the Wanapum tailrace when the sockeye are running. ;-)
At times the boat traffic was congested but nothing like the Wanapum tailrace when the sockeye are running. ;-)
Wife and son are headed to Fort Stevens later this week to camp with my mother in law for a few days. Been hemmin and hawin about following them out there with the boat... but I just don't think I can talk myself in to it. Feels weird to skip out on it for the first time in a very long time, but saving that gas money and time off to do more saltwater and close-to-home fishing just sounds better this year.
Sounds like pressure has been pretty light so far out there. My guess is folks are trying to avoid the tule push that seems to dominate early August.
Sounds like pressure has been pretty light so far out there. My guess is folks are trying to avoid the tule push that seems to dominate early August.
67 VW Beetle
Smolt
there were a good number of boats out there this past Monday.
Went out at 6am, and due to my son getting really seasick, he and I were back at the dock at 8:30am. He’s been out before with no issues, but never on the lower columbia. Expensive lesson learned. My dad stayed on and they were back at 2pm. Saw a few other boats and folks pull out of the east mooring basin a bit past noon with limits. He got a 12ish pound chrome chinook, and the other guy on the boat got one around 30lbs.
They lost a few at the net and had one break the braid.
Two kept weren’t tules thankfully, and the ones they saw up close before loosing them didn’t look like tules either.
All on spinners with the 3-4” or so long blue colored hoochies. I think mexican hat spinner blades if I remember right.
Tossed a fillet on the smoker a couple hours ago.
Went out at 6am, and due to my son getting really seasick, he and I were back at the dock at 8:30am. He’s been out before with no issues, but never on the lower columbia. Expensive lesson learned. My dad stayed on and they were back at 2pm. Saw a few other boats and folks pull out of the east mooring basin a bit past noon with limits. He got a 12ish pound chrome chinook, and the other guy on the boat got one around 30lbs.
They lost a few at the net and had one break the braid.
Two kept weren’t tules thankfully, and the ones they saw up close before loosing them didn’t look like tules either.
All on spinners with the 3-4” or so long blue colored hoochies. I think mexican hat spinner blades if I remember right.
Tossed a fillet on the smoker a couple hours ago.
That changes today, Hammond lot was packed at 9:00 am. We purposefully started late and headed out to the firing line. Was consistent all day, bites on every pass. Only had to release one and a very large Coho was bonked as well.
The hoard was all by Hammond as well, it looked like old times out there today and we saw many nets fly.
Will be there this weekend , looking forward to cool salt air, Foggy damp mornings and rods getting bent all day!!!!
Had to start the day in rain gear, it was awesome!
Damn, I'm jealous. Even going to Alaska 2wks ago, I still haven't experienced precipitation since like April I think.
Hope you guys kill it this weekend. I came really close to getting the boat ready, but I just can't get motivated to tow it out there for one day.
I can't quite do the Blind Channel bumper boats, but overall, the whole spectacle there is part of what makes it what it is.
All of our fish were away from other boats. Usual asshats running up or down in the herd but we were observers.
Where a hat, not a visor! I am paying the price for that mistake today.
The way I've been doing it for the last few years while camping at Ft. Stevens is to just sleep in and have a nice lazy morning. Wait for the afternoon or evening, then finally make our way to the slip. We caught our fish almost every day the last couple years doing that. Made a few exceptions to work around tides and wind forecasts, but that's been the winning formula.
Fun day and a half at B10, I got a late start Saturday, got on the water at 11:30 we got bit pretty regularly until 4pm when we got blown off the water, we ended up 6 for 9 bonking 1 urb and 1 coho, released some nice wild urbs and couple of tulies fun day with consultant action.....
Sunday we got started at daybreak went above the bridge on Washington side and was on fish the entire day, we finished up at 2pm at hammond, put a lot of miles on the boat but it paid off cause we stayed on them, ended up bonking 5 urbs and 3 plump coho for a crew of five, released 9 kings , and lost at a minimum of
9 that came unbuttoned , who knows how many bait strips....gotta love B10 , only took home quality..... couple of pics of released fish when we thought of taking a pic between the chois...
Sunday we got started at daybreak went above the bridge on Washington side and was on fish the entire day, we finished up at 2pm at hammond, put a lot of miles on the boat but it paid off cause we stayed on them, ended up bonking 5 urbs and 3 plump coho for a crew of five, released 9 kings , and lost at a minimum of
9 that came unbuttoned , who knows how many bait strips....gotta love B10 , only took home quality..... couple of pics of released fish when we thought of taking a pic between the chois...
Nicely done!
IdahoChinook
Freshly Spawned
Me too! I’ll be back in the mix on Thursday
JayB
Steelhead
The mouth of a certain Columbia trib during mid-late October certainly seemed to qualify. Everything about the place was insane, from the launch to the flight-of-the-bumblebees style mega-cluster out on the water. Thankfully everyone was generally friendly, cooperative, and tended to take gear-entanglements in stride.
Well, that could be one of two places, and I don't fish either anymore. Thankfully, I have my own cluster of a trib mouth to play with close to home
At least 4...
Suppose you're right when you count a couple above Bonnie
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