“After decades of closures, recent years have seen the Columbia River returned to the dominant spring chinook fishery the world has to offer. It’s been an incredible transformation. Primarily, we owe the fishery to a change in ocean conditions that has been beneficial to fish survival, as well as fin clipping of hatchery stocks. Fin clipping allows anglers to identify hatchery-bred salmon, therefore marking them for harvest while troubled wild stocks are returned to the water unharmed.

The Columbia is a big river, and at first the task of locating fish may seem a sizeable challenge, and certainly, at times it can be. Like all fisheries though, you’re faced with a lot of potential water. And like virtually all fisheries, most of the water is of low potential and a small fraction makes up the good stuff.

The fall chinook fishery is much more familiar to anglers than spring chinook. The primary difference in approach to the two fisheries is due to the very different water temperatures the Columbia offers the two seasons. Fall chinook enter a hostile river where surface temperatures often reach and exceed the 70-degree mark (high temperatures are lethal to salmon). In order to negotiate the river safely, fall chinook travel deep, where cooler water collects.

Spring chinook enter a cold Columbia River. Temperatures in the high-thirties to mid-fifties place no restrictions on travel. With this in mind, spring chinook are found travelling in shallow water, say 9- to 25-feet in depth. In order to make travel as easy as possible, spring chinook dodge heavy head-on currents, travelling the river edges where the speed of the flow is reduced.

Running the edges of the river adds another great aspect to spring chinook in that bank fishing can be phenomenal. Travelling fish are within easy reach of bank gear and these fish respond very well to a plunked Spin-N-Glo, with maybe a bit of scent on it, or none at all.

With these basics, it seems easy to find spring salmon, and sometimes it can be, but throw in disruptions to flow due to tides and the full array of other forces that come into play in specific areas, and there is no set of principles that remain standing. To find productive spring salmon fishing throughout the Columbia River below Bonneville Dam and the Willamette River, you have to breakdown these fisheries into zones.

The Lower Columbia
For my purposes I’ll define the lower Columbia River as the stretch of water that begins at the upstream end of the estuary (Astoria area) and continues all the way to the mouth of the Sandy River to the east of Portland. With the exception of a few small runs heading to tributaries like the Lewis and Cowlitz Rivers, this huge expanse is travel water for the Spring Chinook heading to Willamette tributaries, as well as the Snake River and upper Columbia tributaries. In this big section, fish are on the move.

This section of river is also tidally influenced. Most prominently in the lower reaches with the river overcoming the tide with more power as you move up, tides play heavily into angling methods.

The best fishing is had on the outgoing tide. Whether the increased flow triggers movement in these fish, or simply concentrates them a tighter travel corridor, I’m unsure, but far, far more fish will be taken on an outgoing tide than an incoming.
What Makes The Difference
As a boater, there are three key elements that will make the difference in your day. The first is where you drop the anchor. In most of the hog lines out on the Columbia there will be lanes that are hot for fish travel, and consequently, the boat anchored in the right depth will be the benefactor of good placement while those on either side watch. When the fish gods are feeling gracious, the travel depth changes through the tide, spreading the bite around a little bit. But other times it’s a tight lane and the day comes down to the drop of the anchor. The second key element is your ability to tune a wrapped plug to swim properly. Spend time in this effort. Place your wrapped lure in the water and pull it forward, accelerating through the stroke. As you look down at it, if it pulls consistently to one side, you need to make changes. Nudge the top of the screw eye in the opposite direction that the plug favors, in very small increments. Retest after each change until the plug runs stable. Tuned lures catch fish. And finally, the quality of your sardine wrap comes in to play. Do not accept freezer burned bait. Look for packages that appear as if the fish was handled decently, not drug across the floor. Some anglers go as far as buying fresh, food quality sardines at specialty seafood stores. And perhaps plug color is a fourth aspect. In simple terms, every color is good as long as it has chartreuse involved.

From the bank, placement is equally important. Watch the casting distance of those anglers that are scoring. In this fishery, the longest cast does not always win. Doubling up the lure rigging by stacking two rigs, separated by three feet in between three-way swivels is not a bad plan, although if you tangle the rig, you’re not fishing. Good Spin-N-Glo colors include chartreuse/black, chartreuse/pink, chartreuse/orange (big surprises) and pearl pink.

Working The Incoming Tide
Predicting fish location on the incoming tide presents challenges. My best guess is that in the absence of the strong current created by the outgoing tide, the fish disperse throughout much more of the available water. Under a scenario of scattered fish, it’s time to troll.
Herring is the bait of choice on the Columbia. In the cold waters of the main river, spring salmon will take a herring with vigor. Use moderate action rods that offer a nice arc when fished with four ounces of lead. The moderate action will allow the salmon to chew on the bait while the rod continues to load, and when the fish moves off, he’ll hit the rod’s butt section and drive the hooks home, all by himself.
A standard herring setup includes a wire spreader or sliding weight rig, two feet of 15lb. dropper to the lead and a five or six foot leader of 25lb. monofilament to the bait. I run 50lb. braided mainline, though many prefer 25lb. monofilament on the troll for the stretch it provides on the strike.

Spring salmon respond well to dodgers and flashers. In recent years, in-line flashers like the Fish Flash and Kone Zone designs have caught fire from the ocean to tidewater to inland rivers. Easy to pull through the water, their fully rotating design puts off a lot of light. When fishing three rods, I like to have one of the forward rods with a flasher on it. If that rod goes off, I’ll try adding flashers to the other two rods. If the rod furthest from the flasher gets bit, I might remove the flashers altogether. On any given day, I’ll try to let the fish dictate what they like.

Target water for trolling on the Columbia is comprised of the many flats that lie at the heads of islands and to the sides of the shipping channel. Again, these fish are not confined by warm water temperatures, so don’t be afraid of the shallow flats that are only ten to fifteen feet deep. As a rule of sorts, I’ll focus on water from ten to twenty-five feet deep. Every year though, many fish will come from water shallower than even ten feet. In these shallow areas, position the bait just a crank or two of the reel handle off of the bottom.

Much of the talk about herring fishing centers on the “spin” that is most desirable to fish. After years of anguishing over the topic, I’ve found my comfort zone in a fast, tight, “bullet” style spin. Where this is commonly referred to as a coho style bait, it’s become my choice for all species of salmon. To speed up the spin of a bait, the hook that holds the forward end of the cut plug is placed in line with the backbone of the bait fish, or slightly to the longer side.

What Makes the Difference
Three key elements to trolling success are: location, troll speed and bait quality. As for locations out on the Columbia, I’d be pretty certain that at this stage in the fishery, there are more quality spots available than are being currently fished. There’s a lot of river out there, and this is a young fishery. In terms of troll speed, we’ve all been ingrained that for chinook, your troll speed should be dead slow. We’re learning however, that many of the top rods troll fast. If the goal is to cover water, troll with the flow of the current, pick up the pace a bit, and get your bait in front of as many potential biters as possible. Good bait goes without saying. In cold water there really isn’t a need for brines as baits will stay together well. Choose quality vacuum-packed herring. Beyond that, look for clear eyes in the bait, as well as those baits with a minimum of scale loss. Pay attention to the details and the success will come.

Where To Go
Places to fish are surely abundant, but I’ll throw a few areas out where you are sure to see other anglers, and fish being caught, so you can get a feel what makes a great spot. Starting low is Tenasillahe Island. Anchor fish the north side, troll on the shallower south side. Reach this area, along with Puget Island from the Westport launch in Oregon, Cathlamet in Washinton. The next major fishery is the Longview/Rainier area (Cowlitz mouth). Launch in Rainier and run down to the islands or up around the first corner and you’ll be in the thick of it. From there you’ll find fisheries at the mouth of the Kalama River, Lewis River, around St. Helens, Frenchmans Bar and the mouth of the Sandy River. How do you choose an area? I pick where I’m going by which area affords the tide I’m looking for. The effects of the tide move upriver slowly, with different locations separated by hours. Either adjust your trip by when the tide is, or adjust your location by what the tides offer. ”

Saturday will be the third opportunity to dip smelt in the Cowlitz River. More dippers were out last week than during the snow storm, but no smelt were sampled.

Dipping is allowed from 6 a.m. to noon and only from the bank.

The Columbia is about 38 degrees, while the Cowlitz is 43 degrees.

Smelt prefer water temperatures around 42 degrees.

Washington and Oregon officials will meet at 1 p.m. today to consider reopening the Bonneville pool for sturgeon retention.

Through Sunday, the catch is 183 sturgeon. State officials plan to split the 1,100 fish allocation roughly equal between the winter and a brief summer season in mid-June. Catches were poor last weekend.

Battle Ground Lake has been planted with 1,500 rainbow trout averaging nearly a half pound.

Angler checks from the Washington (WDFW) and Oregon (ODFW) department of Fish and Wildlife:

Lower Columbia — Eleven Oregon bank rods with one wild steelhead released. (WDFW)

Mid-Columbia — Bonneville pool, 44 boaters with seven legal sturgeon kept and 164 sublegals released; 44 bank rods with 32 sublegal sturgeon released; three boaters with no walleye. (WDFW)

The Dalles pool, four boaters with no sturgeon; 11 bank rods with one sublegal released; three boaters and one bank rod with no walleye. (WDFW)

John Day pool, 23 boats with one oversize and two sublegals released; 38 bank rods with one legal sturgeon kept and two sublegals released; 13 boaters with five walleye kept and one released. (WDFW)

Washougal — Six boaters with two hatchery steelhead kept and five wild steelhead released; nine bank rods with one steelhead released. (WDFW)

Streamflow on Wednesday afternoon was dropping but still dirty and a high 4,500 cubic feet per second

By Allen Thomas

A fall chinook run for the record books — 1.6 million salmon, the largest since counting began at Bonneville Dam — is forecast for the Columbia River in 2014.

State, federal and tribal biologists are predicting 1,602,900 fall chinook are headed for the Columbia, 26 percent better than the unexpected high of 1.26 million of 2013.

“If there is ever a year folks want to take time off and catch fish, this would be the year,’’ said Robert Moxley, a member of the bistate Columbia River Recreational Adviser Group. “I’m more excited than you can possibly imagine.’’

The fall chinook forecast comes on the heels of a prediction for a huge run of 964,000 coho salmon destined for the Columbia River.

Topping the long list of good news is that 973,300 “upriver brights’’ make up more than half of the 1.6 million forecast. Upriver brights are primarily wild salmon originating from Hanford Reach, the free-flowing stretch of the Columbia River in central Washington, along with Priest Rapids Hatchery and two Snake River hatcheries.

Upriver brights are the most prized of the stocks of fall chinook.

As table fare, an upriver bright fall chinook pales compared to an upper Columbia spring chinook. But they are as good as summer chinook and superior to coho.

Fall chinook are larger than spring chinook.

Two-thirds of the upriver brights are expected to be 4-year-olds, approximately 12 to 18 pounds, compared to 5- to 8-pound 3-year-olds.

“This is an incredible outlook for fall salmon, said Guy Norman, regional director for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. “I would never have bet on this kind of run strength occurring in the Columbia during my career.’’

Norman said he remembers when there were not enough upriver brights to reach the 40,000 spawning goal.

“The fact that we are now expecting over 1 million upriver bright stock is incredible,’’ he said.

The fall chinook run is a combination of seven stocks.

The second largest stock, after the upriver brights, is forecast to be the bright stock headed for the Bonneville, The Dalles and John Day pools at 310,600.

Returns to hatcheries on lower Columbia tributaries such as the Cowlitz, Kalama and Washougal are forecast at 110,000, which is about average.

Returns of the lower Columbia wild stock — primarily a bright stock headed to the North Fork of the Lewis River plus the Cowlitz and Sandy — are forecast to be 34,200. That would be the largest return since 1989.

Spring Creek National Fish Hatchery in eastern Skamania County is predicted to produce 115,100 fall chinook, 40 percent above average.

“I’m still amazed the forecast came out that much,’’ said Stuart Ellis of the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission.

Ellis and Norman both said the massive salmon numbers are likely the result of good survival of juveniles in the Columbia River coupled with an ocean rich in food.

“If we get some decent water when these fish need it, and manage the dams not to kill too many, we can have these numbers of fish,’’ Ellis said. “The ocean can’t do it unless the freshwater puts a lot of fish out.’’

Norman said the big returns forecast this year can be a beginning.

“If this region remains committed to actions that benefit salmon survival, there’s a good chance we’ll see more years like this in the future,’’ he said.

Last week Tacoma Power recovered five coho salmon adults and three winter-run steelhead during five days of operations at the Cowlitz Salmon Hatchery separator.
During the past week Tacoma Power employees released two coho adults and two winter-run steelhead adults into the Tilton River at Gust Backstrom Park in Morton, and they released three coho adults into Lake Scanewa above Cowlitz Falls Dam.

River flows at Mayfield Dam are approximately 5,290 cubic feet per second on Tuesday, February 18. Water visibility is six feet. River flows could change at any time so boaters and anglers should remain alert for this possibility.

As Old Man Winter starts loosening his grip, the first thing that comes to my mind is salmon fishing. A great option for early season action would have to be Alaska’s Kasilof River. The Kasilof River starts its life as the waters of the massive Tustumena Lake in the heart of the Kenai Peninsula. The Kasilof River spills westward only 15 miles, when it reaches the deep waters of Cooks Inlet. Alaska’s most popular drift boat fishery, the Kasilof River provides the highest king salmon success rate on the Kenai Peninsula. Early run kings begin making their appearance in early May. However, fishing doesn’t really begin to pick up until mid-May, when the river opens to the use of bait. By the last week of the month, king fishing is in full swing with the run peaking around the second week of June. The early run of kings on the Kasilof River is primarily of hatchery origin. These fish are returning to Crooked Creek, about five miles from the rivers mouth. This fishery provides the rare option in south central Alaska, for keeping two king salmon per day.

Early season Kasilof kings normally average around 20 pounds and will often reach 30-40 pounds. Hard fighters, they often leave wakes behind them in their sizzling runs across the early-season shallow waters of the Kasilof.

Most of the early season fishing will consist of back trolling sardine-wrapped kwikfish or jet diver/spin ‘n glo / egg combos. Although when the time is right back bouncing eggs right along the boat can be stellar.

So when you’re looking for that early season king, don’t over look this great river. The Kasilof offers some amazing tidewater fishing along with a drift boat-only setting, great scenery, rich abundant wildlife, and through most of the season, lighter fishing pressure than the nearby Kenai.

The largest recreational fishery in Alaska is supported by the Kenai River, a glacially turbid stream draining the central Kenai Peninsula (originating at the outlet of Kenai Lake in Cooper Landing). This popular river supports excellent runs of androgynous (sea-run) King, silver, sockeye and pink salmon, both resident (exclusively fresh water) and androgynous Dolly Varden char, in addition to resident rainbow trout. Lake trout are common in the Kenai and Skilak Lakes of the Kenai River System.KING (CHINOOK) SALMON. 48,343 Kings entered the Kenai River in 2010. The very name “King” connotes a large fish, but not all King salmon caught are necessarily large. A combination of genetics, food availability and the life history of each fish determine the size of a salmon. But the Kenai River boasts more than its fair share of “King” salmon both in name and size; the world record (sport caught) King salmon was taken in 1985 from the Kenai River and weighed in at a whopping 97 pounds and 4 ounces.Two distinct runs represent the largest freshwater King salmon fishery in Alaska. The early run usually begins to enter the Kenai River around mid-May, reaching a peak in June and finishing by the end of the month. Fish from the late run enter the river in early July and provide excellent fishing until the end of July.
King Salmon caught on the Kenai River in Alaska.
Bring along an ample supply of patience and courtesy on your Kenai King salmon fishing trip, because the Kenai River King salmon fishery is extremely popular and on occasion can become a bit crowded. Operate your boat in accordance with the “rules of the road” and extend to your fellow angler the same courtesies you would like to receive. Give boats with “fish on” the widest berth possible to avoid line tangles. At its best, King salmon fishing is not a sport recommended for the impatient. On the average it requires approximately 31 hours of fishing before an angler boats a king. However, you can improve your chances by hiring a guide. On the Kenai River, guided anglers are about three times as efficient as non-guided anglers.

Posted by Mark Yuasa

State Fish and Wildlife sent out the fall chinook return for this year and with more than 1.6-million forecasted on top of another 1.2-million coho, which may lead to some outstanding fishing in the ocean and in-river this coming summer!

Here is the report that came out this morning:

In addition to nearly a million Columbia River coho swimming in the ocean, 1.6 million fall Chinook are expected to the Columbia River in 2014, the largest return since at least 1938!

Nearly 1 million of those Chinook are expected to be upriver brights of which 2/3 will be four-year-olds. This year’s forecasted run is over 25% larger than the 2013 actual return. Last year’s actual return came in nearly twice as large as the preseason forecast.