Fishing Reports

Spring Chinook season are finally here!  The most anticipated season of the year has finally arrived and fish are starting to show in good numbers. The Spring Chinook fishery is one of our longest seasons, lasting from late March through mid May!  We are so very fortunate to have the best eating salmon in the world right here in our back yard! There are no longer commercial seasons on Spring Chinook so getting your hands on one at a super market is near impossible.  The last price on springer’s was $52.00 a pound in specialty seafood markets. That’s just how good these fish are!  Our Columbia River season only goes through April 7th, but there are several other rivers to catch good numbers of fish through May.  Time to wake from winter hibernation and get after some fish!

After a short winter break it’s time to start getting excited about the up coming fishing season. Right now we have been targeting hatchery and wild steelhead on the tributaries of the Columbia River.  In between steelhead trips, we’ve been fishing for Kokanee with decent success.  Our two big upcoming fishery’s are right around the corner and will be here and gone before we know it.  First we have the late run winter steelhead on the Cowlitz River.  This is one of the best hatchery Winter Steelhead opportunities in the state.  We’ll be fishing for these awesome fighting fish in the month of March and April.  Our Spring Chinook season on the Columbia will also be heating up around the last week in march through April and into May!  If you haven’t heard, Spring Chinook are the most prized fish the northwest has to offer.  Very little fish make it to the market anymore, but when it does it goes for nearly $50.00 per pound!  The Spring Chinook forecast is calling for 170,000 fish over Bonneville Dam which is still really good.  Especially when you factor in all the fish that come into the tributaries below Bonneville.  Shoot me and email, call, or text to get on board for another fantastic fishing season!

What a fall season it’s been!  The Columbia River fished well clear into the end of Oct this year!  Great water conditions, with plenty of Coho and Chinook salmon gave us some super awesome days out there.  Now we have switched gears and started targeting Coho and Chinook in the tributaries of the Columbia.  The Coho were a little late showing up, but they are starting to show in good numbers.  Our tactics totally change when we start fishing the smaller rivers.  Casting in small areas and getting our lures right in front of their faces drives them crazy!  We have already had double digit days and it’s just getting started.  Now’s the time to have some fun casting and catching some crazy fighting coho through November!

Fishing has been a non stop beat down!  We fished out of Astoria for Fall Chinook and Coho Salmon for the whole month of August and had some really great days down there!  Now, the Fall Chinook have now made they’re way inland and we’re still catching really great numbers of fish!  Quite a few Coho have made their way into the river as well, and now with a little rain and cooler temps water temps, I’m expecting some really great Coho fishing for the next few weeks.  We will leave the Columbia to start targeting the silvers in the tributaries in mid October and are expecting another great run this year.  If you haven’t done a trip for Coho in the tributaries I would highly suggest it..  Looking forward to another few weeks of hot action on the water!

Fishing on the Columbia River in Astoria has really turned on in the last few days!  It’s exciting to finally get easy limits and knowing fish are entering the river in large numbers.  We will be continuing to target Fall Chinook and Coho Salmon up river after September 1st.  We will be catching both species of salmon all the way through October and November!  Limited space is available in September, but October still has some very good dates left for catching high numbers of Coho and Chinook!  See you out there!

Finally the month that is infamous for awesome fishing is here!  August 1st is the day we are given the green light to start fishing in Astoria to target Fall Chinook and Coho Salmon!  So far, it’s  been a better start than previous years, and we are just getting started.  There are reportedly a ton of fish in the ocean still and will be entering the Columbia every day.  After August is over we will move inland to continue catching these big bright Fall Chinook all through September.  Hope to see you soon!

While Summer Steelhead fishing remains decent, Summer Chinook fishing has continued to be fantastic!  The Summer Chinook run was updated to another 30,000 fish than previously forecasted!  With just another few days left in July, we will be switching gears and heading to Astoria Oregon for the world renown Buoy 10 fishery.  I only have a few days left for the month of August, so please get in touch asap to book your Buoy 10 seats!  Fishing for Fall Chinook and Coho Salmon will continue to be red hot from here on out!

Fishing for Summer Chinook on the Columbia River continues to be very good!  We have been averaging three to five fish per trip with some Summer Steelhead mixed in with the catch as well.  Summer Chinook fishing will probably be winding down as we move further into late July.  Nonetheless, right after Summer Chinook and Steelhead fishing ends we will be switching gears to Fall Chinook at the Mouth of the Columbia River aka “Buoy 10”.  Fortunately,  this year is projected to be another stellar year for Fall Chinook and Coho Salmon on the Columbia and it’s tributaries!  If Buoy 10 is not what you’re wanting to fish, we will be moving back to our home waters in Woodland Washington in September to continue targeting Fall Chinook and Coho. Here we have a two fish limit and can keep hatchery or wild fish!  We are so very excited for this upcoming fall fishery, it will be another one for the record books.

The Summer Chinook fishery started off with a bang June 16th!  High water conditions made targeting these fish really easy, in result we had some very stellar days fishing for them.  Steelhead started showing up in the daily catches as well and we’re excited to start targeting Summer Steelhead exclusively as we head into July.  Summer Steelhead are a great eating, hard fighting, and often acrobatic fish that are a blast to catch!  We fish for steelhead with light tackle while casting and feeling the bites with the fishing rods in our hands.  Steelhead fishing will be great the whole month of July!  Looking into the future we have one of the most world renown fisheries coming up in August.  The Buoy 10 fishery is probably the most talked about and anticipated fishery that exists in the lower 48. Buoy 10 is typically great fishing the entire month of August!  September 1st, we return home to our local waters in Woodland Washington where we continue catching Fall Chinook and Coho Salmon clear through later October!  Summer fishing is in full swing and we are excited for the season to get better and better!

Fishing for Spring Chinook has been mostly successful the entire month of May and now into June.  We are still getting 2-5 fish a day most days, and now a few Summer Steelhead are starting to show up in the catch!  The Columbia River will reopen on June 16th for Summer Chinook, Sockeye, and Summer Steelhead (which we catch all species  in the same day)!  We are absolutely  ecstatic to get to fish for all three species for the remainder of June!  Summer Chinook are beautiful fish that are on locally called “June hogs”  they average 20-30lbs and can go upwards of 40lbs! Up next after June we have Summer Steelhead in July on the tributaries of the Columbia.  We target these fish with light gear and an “hands on approach” drifting for them.  I still have some really great dates left for that so email for details.  Despite what you might hear pertaining to how the fishing is, we always have something great to fish for.  Just call and I’ll shoot straight with you on what’s going on.  Looking forward to seeing old faces and new ones as well!