Troll depths

When looking for Chinook you need to look at the depth you will troll if you are under 25 I would troll right on the bottom if over 25 feet use your fish finder to determine the depth then use the appropriate number of pulls to get down to the fish.

Flashers yes or no

Last springer trip I was asked why we are not using flashers like everyone else. I replied I like to fish right on the bottom and the bouncing of the weight on the bottom causes tangling without the flasher the weight has little to wrap around suddenly his rod went down a nice 20 lb springer did not hear another word that day. It does raise the question to use flashers or not. I dont like them above Rainer a lot of people use them I choose to use the small green wings to add some flash and this reduces the chances of the line tangling.

Springers

Go out this past weekend for springer fishing with early success. I was asked by another boat how many pulls I was doing to catch the fish. I replied no pulls put your bait on the bottom. The past few years all my fish have been caught dragging the bottom even at Astoria (Except for Coho) and Tillamook you need to be near the bottom to catch these fish.

New Regs Released

The fish managment group released the new Spring Salmon and Sturgeon rules for 2010 and it will be an absolute zoo below the 1-205 bridge this year. There will be no boat fishing above the 1-205 bridge pushing everyone down near the port. The also limited days. For Sturgeon they moved the marker another 3.5 miles downstream of marker 85 to marker 82 by skamania island making that area basically off limits this means the troutdale area will be packed with boats for oversize. I will post all the details in my E-Newsletter. sign up now. gofishnw@comcast.net

Spring Salmon

We are seeing increasing numbers of Spring Salmon on the Columbia the past few days we have hooked 4 landed 3 this will continue to grow and get better I am looking for a great salmon seaons this spring

New Regs

We should be seeing the new regs for Sturgeon and Salmon come out this week. We have already seen the complete closure of Sturgeon from Bonnevill to the The Dalles dams I am expecting many more closures as well for below Bonneville Dam as well.

Springers

Springers are showing up on the Columbia though a bit early it is a perfect time for a split day Salmon and Sturgeon since there are great opportunities for both in the same area.

New Web Site

Just uploaded my new site still a few bugs but is much more desgined around what I wanted. Feel free to check it out. www.gofishnw.com

Sturgeon Heating up

The sturgeon are heating up all over the willamette is prodcuing from oregon city to the columbia and the mouth of the cowlitz is doing equally as well. Shrimp and anchovies are catching the most fish on the willamette while smelt and anchovies are what is need on the columbia.

Weekend Fishing

This past weekend I fished for Steelhead and Sturgeon both on the Willamette we had one day we hooked and lost three Steelhead and another day we landed one. Sturgeon fishing was good capped off with a 45 incher. The rainer area is hot right now for Sturgeon and that will be the focus for the next few weeks.

Strugeon Bait

You see a lot of postings about Sturgeon bait - Squid, Smelt, Sandshrimp etc. but what to use when. When the water is warm 60+ there are these crabs that will eat the guts out of Smelt so during summer I avoid Smelt. Usually it is trial and error recently I was fishing with Squid and Shrimp the bite was slow so I put on an Anchovie and 1 hour later we had 3 keepers in the boat. I have come to realize I will put a different bait on each rod and see what they like. One thing to keep in mind, from the fishery to St. Helens the Columbia is one big clam bed so try adding Clam scent from May - Sept when the clams are active.

Sandy River Steelhead

Picked up two Steelhead side drifting eggs on the Sandy water was just starting to rise and a bit off color, fish are biting pretty hard. Had one hit backtrolling plugs really slow we were in the same spot holding still for about 5 minutes when the rod buried but we missed the hook set.

Steelhead

Feb and March are tradionally the best months for winter steelhead, the tricky part is watching water levels and putting in your time. In high water fish close to shore or look for breask in water due to rocks, trees etc. When water is dropping look for water in that 3-5 foot range with a little break on the top. Be sure to cover all the water dont be in a hurry. This past weekend we hooked 6 fish most hooked on the 10th plus cast into a hole.