Casey Kelly

It’s about that time! As we’ve been tusseling with winter steelhead the past few weeks, it’s been tougher and tougher not to start thinking about the next best thing, Spring Chinook! Just the thought of catching my first Spring Chinook of the year to put on the dinner plate gives me goosebumps. They are that good!

Springer’s start showing up mid-March, but we won’t start catching them well until the beginning of April. These fish are so very special to the anglers of the northwest and honestly nationwide. Simply put, springers are the best eating salmon on the planet.

The whole month of April and May provides great fishing for these fish on several local rivers. The Columbia, Lewis, Cowlitz, Willamette, Wind River, and Drano Lake all provide great fishing during those two months. Of course, wherever is best at the time is where we will target these awesome fish.

Spring Chinook are known for their tender fatty meat because they have very long life journey’s. When these spring salmon come in from the ocean, they travel hundreds of miles to get to their spawning grounds. Once they get into these tributaries where they spawn, they will hang out for another 6 months, waiting for their reproductive organs to grow. Since they take so long to spawn, they are loaded with tons of omega 3 fat. That’s why so delicious, especially when we catch them straight out of the ocean.

The Spring Chiook season is a long one, so there’s plenty of good dates to get out and fill your freezer. The absolute best times to fish is the first week of April, through the first 3 weeks of May.

Now is the time to get on the books for these epic fish fish the northwest rivers provide. Feel free to send me an email or call and chat about getting out anytime. Looking forward to seeing you on the water!

Wow, what a fall it’s been! And the good news is, it’s not over yet! This has been a year to remember so far, and it doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon!

The Columbia River fall chinook run has been gigantic this year! We started in Astoria, Oregon, in August, and judging by what we saw there, we all knew it was going to be above the forecasted run. Dam counts were impressive early on in the month and just stayed strong the entire time.

Now it’s nearing the end of September, and the days are finally cooling down, but fishing remains hot on Columbia. Big fish and plenty of them have been the theme all season. We are starting to get to that time of the year when fishing gets really, really good!

October is one of the most productive months of the fishing season. We have fall chinook still entering the Columbia, and also the “B” run Coho show up as well. “B” run Coho Salmon are the second component of the Coho run. The B run usually comes with larger and better biting fish as well.

Having the two runs come into the Columbia together gives angler’s a much higher chance of limiting out on both Coho and Chinook. This is the time of the year where the weather is perfect. Not too hot, not too cold, maybe a little rainy at times, but hey, it’s the PNW.

The next couple months is the last chance to get out for the season, so get ahold of me and let’s get out and do some catching! See you on the water

Fishing for Spring Chinook has come to an end on the Columbia River, and it was a great season to say the least! We had great days fishing on the Wind, and Lewis Rivers and am looking forward to next year already. Next up is Summer Chinook! This is my favorite fishery of the year by far! I only have a few days left so contact soon if you’d like a date.

Summer Steelhead will be the next upcoming fishery on the Columbia River. Starting after the 4th of July, we’ll have some great days on the water fishing for fiesty, acrobatic and tasty fish they are. I also have limited days for this fishery as well so please contact asap.

We’re already getting excited for the fall run of Chinook and Coho that will be starting Aug 1st. This is the main event of the year and luckily it stays good for 3 solid months. August is the month we spend our time chasing fall chinook in Astoria Oregon at the world renowned “Buoy 10” fishery.

The Buoy 10 fishery, is an experience everyone must have at least once. Many people think this is a crowded “combat” fishery, but really it’s not. The Buoy 10 fishery consists of 30 square miles of river to fish and often times we are all by ourselves catching one right after another.

After Bouy 10 in August, we move up the Columbia River to Woodland Washington. This is where we spend the rest of the fall targeting Fall Chinook and Coho Salmon. Fishing out of Woodland is fantastic the whole month of September and most of Oct!

I’m starting to book out my days for Buoy 10 and the fall run of Salmon in Woodland Washington. If you would like to get in on it, contact me sooner than later for the best dates. It’s forecasted to be another great year of Fall Chinook and Coho fishing! See you on the water!

It was an interesting season on the lower Columbia this year to say the least. Numbers of fish passing through my area early were much better than last year by far. With low participation by anglers, we recieved a couple extensions on the season which was great!

Now that were done fishing the Columbia, We’ll be moving into the Lewis and Willamette Rivers to continue targeting Spring Chinook. As the month of April progresses, so do the numbers of fish we catch. Fishing will remain strong through late April, clear into June.

As soon as we see Bonneville Dam counts climb, it will be time to move up into the Columbia River Gorge to my absolute favorite spring chinook fishery. The Wind River! The Wind River is one of the best Spring Chinook fisheries in the lower 48. Not only is the fishing great, but the scenery of the Columbia River Gorge is absolutely stunning!

The best time historically to be at the Wind, is the last few days in April through the first two weeks of May. Limits of Spring Chinook are very common during this time frame.

Spring Chinook are the most sought after species of salmon on the planet. The oil content that these fish contain are higher than any other salmon out there. Anglers travel from all over the NW to harvest these spectacular eating salmon. And the Wind River has lots of them!

After the Wind, we’ll come back to the Willamette River and continue pursuing “springers”. It will be good fishing in there through middle June.

Our fishing season has officially began on the Columbia River! Get ahold of me asap if you’re looking to get out on the Wind River or the Willamette this year. Im just starting to book them, so I do have a lot of really good dates. See you on the Water!

Its about that time! We’re getting close to the upcoming Spring Chinook season on the Columbia River! If you didnt know, Spring Chinook are the most sought after species of salmon the NW has to offer! Spring Chinook are super high in omega 3 fatty acids that are great for our health!

This years projected run of “Springers” is another good one according to the Washington department of fish and game. With 186,400 fish expected to return to the Columbia River this year, we are expecting the season to go through April 7th on the Columbia.  However, once the Columbia closes, fishing for Spring Chinook is far from over.

We plan on starting fishing heavily around the 25th of March and wrap up the Columbia season on the 7th of April. After that, we have the Willamette River and Lewis River to fish until fish start migrating over Bonneville Dam in good numbers. Projections for the Willamette and Lewis Rivers are also looking excellent for 2024.

Around the end of April, we will see fish passage over Bonneville increasing, which will set the stage for one of my favorite Spring Chinook fisheries. Wind River and Drano Lake! These two fisheries are set in on of the most beautiful parts of the state! The Columbia River Gorge!

If you’ve never seen the Gorge before, the landscape is that out of a painting. Having the Columbia River Gorge in our backyard is such a blessing! Catching the best eating salmon on the planet, in one of the prettiest spots in the USA blows my mind nearly every day!

Once we get done fishing the Gorge, there will still be fish to be had in the Willamette and possibly the Columbia until we switch gears to Summer Chinook in June.

Now is the time to start thinking about shaking those cobweb’s off that build over the winter and think about getting out and catching some fish this upcoming spring! Get ahold of me sooner than later for the best dates for our upcoming Spring Chinook season! Looking forward to seeing you on the water!

It’s finally time! The Bouy 10 and lower Columbia River season for Fall Chinook has began! The most anticipated fishery of the year is just a few short days away! We’ll be fishing in Astoria Oregon for the entire month of August catching big chinook daily!

Bouy 10 is a very large area located at the mouth of the Columbia River with nearly 40 square miles of fishable water. The scenery is always great, but what makes fishing excellent is every fish in the Columbia River passes through these fishing grounds.

Luckily, when Buoy 10 is over, we follow the migration of fish upstream to the mouth of the Cowlitz and Lewis Rivers. Fishing is typically every bit as good as it is in Astoria throughout the month of September in these area’s.

If catching some big chinook and coho are on your to do list this year, now is seriously the time to book. Let’s get out there and get em! See you on the water!

Fishing on the Columbia River for Spring Chinook had its ups and downs this year, but in the end it was major success! Springer fishing started off slow because of cold water temps and an abundance of smelt that lingered in the river 3 weeks longer than normal. In Lower Columbia, conditions finally warmed and fishing ramped up quickly in late April.

This year, we spent most of our season at the Wind River and Drano Lake surrounded by the beauty of the Columbia River Gorge with plenty of fish under our boat.

After coming home from the wind, we targeted Springers in the Willamette River and some of the tributaries of the Columbia for a few more weeks. Overall, that was a success as well.

On June 16th, our Summer Chinook season began and it was on heck of a good time until it closed July 1st. We had Plenty of fish in the middle to upper 20’s hit the boat this season! Sad to stop fishing for these awesome fish, but excited for the next season to begin.

Summer Steelhead is up next! Early July is when our steelhead run really starts to ramp up and its best around the second week to the end of July. I have a few days left open for this fishery so contact me asap to get a date.

After that, August kicks off our most popular fishery of the year. Buoy 10! Buoy 10 is located near Astoria Oregon and has a very high success rate for catching limits of fish. It’s time to start booking for Buoy 10 as dates are filling up fast!

At the end of August, we will return home to continue targeting Fall Chinook out of Woodland Wa. This fishery is also a very popular, and successful fishery year after year! I have quite a few days open for September still, but that won’t last. Now is the time to secure your dates for the fall fishing season! It was great fishing with all my regular and new customers this spring, and am excited to see everyone in the fall too!

After some time off from fishing every day for Fall Chinook and Coho in the fall of 2022, it’s time to get fish back on the brain.  We have very exciting news for this year, as we are expecting some huge runs on nearly all Columbia River species.  First order of business is our Spring Chinook run!

Spring Chinook are the most prized of all of the NW salmon.  The fat content that these fish retain are only rivaled by a couple other species that run the Columbia River.  What makes these fish so delicious is the fact that they have hundreds of river miles to travel before getting to their spawning grounds.  But they don’t just spawn and die off right away after getting there.  They actually will hang out for another 6 months depleting their fat supply to grow their reproductive organs. This is what makes “springers” so fatty.  And we all know, fat is flavor.

Catching a fresh Columbia River Spring Chinook is a treasure that anglers from all around cherish.  Anglers come from great distances just to have a chance to catch one to bring home and eat.  Springers are definitely one of my favorites, and even I get super excited to catch my first one of the year.

The Spring Chinook season is forecasted to the highest returning number of fish since 2014. Columbia salmon managers are expecting an overall return of 307,800 Spring Chinook back to the Columbia this year! That’s up from the 2022 forecast of 197,000, which the actual return was 274,945!  Ocean conditions have been stellar the past 3 years and also the outgoing flow of the Columbia has been great as well.  This is the recipe we need for great salmon and steelhead runs on the west coast.

Another shining light is the amount of Spring Chinook that are expected to return to the Columbia’s tributaries.  71,000 Spring Chinook are set to return to the Willamette River this year which is up for 50k last year!

Expectations are also up for the Cowlitz, Kalama, Lewis, Wind, Drano, and Yakima Rivers compared to the 2022 forecasts.  Overall, the Spring Chinook run this year looks to be not one to miss!  If you’ve never caught and eaten a Spring Chinook, you don’t know what you’re missing!

This year, we are most excited to fish The Willamette, Wind River, Lewis River and Drano Lake.  Once fish counts increase over Bonneville Dam, we can actually see when the best time to hit Wind River and Drano Lake are.  Historically it’s always the last week of April through the first two weeks of May.

Just before that timeframe, we will be jumping in between the Lewis River and Willamette.  The Lewis River is finally getting back to its glory days of being able to catch great numbers of Spring Chinook in a small river setting.  The Lewis River is my home river and having spent thousands of days on it, I fortunately know where the fish are hiding on any given condition.

After we beat up Spring Chinook for three months straight, we are also very excited for our Summer Chinook, Summer Steelhead, and Sockeye Salmon runs.  All of which are forecasted to be above average for 2023.  I’ll post a blog in the future on those runs and how they are shaping up but get your seats early for the best possible dates.  Looking forward to seeing all of you on the water!