Columbia River fishing report: The past few weeks we have been targeting Kokanee Salmon on the lakes of SW Washington. Now, its time to switch our gears to steelhead and salmon! We will targeting steelhead throughout the month of July, and then we move on to the world famous Buoy 10 fishery in Astoria Oregon. This year, the Chinook forecast is equal to last years, which even with a smaller than average return it was still very good. The bright spot of this years fishing forecast is we are expected to get nearly a million Coho Salmon back to the Columbia River! And with that, we will be expecting to see limits increase due to that large forecast! Once we move into the tributaries, the limit on Coho could be as many as 6 fish per person! In August, we will target salmon with fresh anchovy’s and herring while trolling. Trolling is a technique that allows us to cover a lot of ground looking for schools of fish willing to bite. The ticket to being successful while trolling is using the freshest bait possible while rigging that bait in a matter that makes the bait resemble a wounded fish. In order to make our baits appear to be wounded, we rig our hooks into the fish in a fashion that puts a bend in them. This makes the fish spin in tight circle while being trolled enticing a feeding fish to strike. Trolling speed is the second most important part of success in any troll fishery. If baits or lures are spinning too fast, salmon have a harder time getting a good look at them, and many times salmon don’t want to chase them down. Trolling too slow is also not good because it doesn’t give the bait a proper spin that salmon just don’t like. There are many more factors that make for a successful day on the water including tides, currents, weather and obviously the amount of fish that are around. Being dialed in on all these things is what it takes to be consistent at any Northwest fishery. We are ecstatic that we are expecting such a large return this year! Don’t miss out on this summer’s steelhead and Fall Salmon fishing season! It will be one to remember!
