People often ask, “what are the best techniques for catching salmon and steelhead? that question is a loaded one that cannot be answered with only one answer. Salmon and Steelhead change what they want constantly. How we fish in one stretch of river can be completely different than what we do in another. For instance, on the Columbia River, we catch Spring Chinook and Fall Chinook mostly trolling herring or spinners in particular depths to catch fish. Go another 2 miles up any of the tributaries of the Columbia, and we would be using salmon eggs, prawns. coon shrimp, or twitching jigs to turn fish on a bite instead.
Starting with Spring Chinook, we target these fish on the Columbia River with triangle flashers and green or red label herring. Generally, when the water is low, we will target these fish in 25-45ft of water. The herring we use are locally harvested in Washington and are processed for bait use only. Choosing the right bait company that starves these herring correctly and strives to package these herring with all of their scales is a big factor in being successful Spring Chinook fisherman. When water conditions are high, we find our Spring Chinook traveling in much shallower water while the try to avoid heavier currents of deeper water. Generally, 10-20ft of water in these higher water conditions is where you’ll find Spring Chinook.
As Spring Salmon start to leave the Columbia River and enter its tributaries, fish completely change their mentality of what they do once the enter smaller rivers. We’ve found that while trolling herring still works for catching springers, using salmon eggs combined with sand shrimp is also a very successful method to catching springers. Spring Chinook will tend to rest in deep holes while they wait to finish their life cycle and spawn. When fish are schooled up like this, they are very easy to target but are a little more finicky on what they will bite.
When fishing for Spring Chinook, it’s important to bring multiple bait presentations that are known to work for these fish. One day, they may only want to bite herring, while the next day they only want salmon eggs and shrimp or prawns. Even if you are fishing eggs only for several days straight, it’s important to have multiple different egg cures at hand. Cured salmon eggs have much different levels of salt and sugar from cure to cure. These levels of salt and sugar can differentiate day to day on what salmon want to eat.
On the largest tributary of the Columbia River such as the Willamette River, we continue to troll mostly just herring and prawns or coon shrimp to get fish to bite. As the largest tributary of the Columbia, it mimics the Columbia River in a way. The only differences are the speed of the current is slower, and the water temperature is slightly warmer than the Columbia. Even though the Columbia River and Willamette River are so close in characteristics, we change our tactics to catch them slightly.
On the Willamette, using 360-degree flashers tend to work a bit better than triangle flashers due to the speed of the current. 360 flashers revolve in a wide 360-degree spin while triangles do not. Triangle flashers are usually paired with a five-foot leader while trolling whereas a 360 flasher is used with 32-38inch leader. The shorter the leader length, the more action the presentation behind the flasher will have. Leader lengths play a huge roll in getting fish to bite. Some days they like longer leader lengths and other days shorter.
After our Spring Chinook fishery on the Columbia River, Summer Chinook start to enter the River from the Pacific Ocean. Generally, from a boat there are two different methods that are most effective. The first is anchoring in spots that are known travel paths that Summer Chinook. When the water is high on the Columbia River which typically is in June, we find these fish travelling in shallow water and on tops of ledges as they move through. On lower water years, we are able to troll 360 flashers and coon shrimp paired with spinners to entice fish to bite.
After the great fishing ends for Summer Chinook, we start to focus on Summer Steelhead. Summer steelhead travel through the Columbia River mostly in shallow areas out of heavy current. Anchoring up in these areas and using spin n gloes and coon shrimp is the best way to target summer steelhead. Using scents for Summer Steelhead is very important in getting fish to bite as they might not without it. Summer Steelhead go to scents are anise, shrimp, sand shrimp, squid, crawdaddy, and sometimes garlic.
After the Summer Steelhead have moved into the tributaries, our methods of catching them completely changes. Summer Steelhead will rest in long runs or “riffles” that provides cover for them. These riffles can be anywhere from 2-10 ft deep. In order to target these fish, we use a technique called “side drifting”. Side drifting is when the captain of the boat drives to the top of the run and then matches the current speed while casting baits of eggs with a small amount of weight. Sometimes boat operators need to go in reverse to drag baits through holes that have very little current, and other times they need to be in forward with a good amount of throttle to slow the presentation down. Side drifting is an easy method to learn, but a very difficult one to really master. Side drifting is by far my favorite method of fishing and one where I’ve spent countless hours learning to master.
As Summer Steelhead fade away, we start our most popular fishery of the year. Buoy ten! Fishing techniques have changed drastically in the past five years at Buoy 10. Prior to five years ago, trolling anchovies and herring with triangle flasher was the ticket to successful fishing for Fall Chinook. Now, using 360 flashers with either spinners or bait has become the most popular method to catch Fall Chinook by far. Using bait behind 360 flashers is a great way to catch Chinook and Coho when the water is colder due to ocean water pushing in on incoming tides. When the water is warmer on outgoing tides, fishing with 360 flashers and spinners is the way to go. Many still use triangle flashers with great success, but the popularity of 360 fishing has exploded in recent years due to higher success rates.
As Fall Chinook and Coho salmon migrate up the Columbia, how we catch them does not change much. 360 flashers are still the best way to target these fall fish by far. Colors of spinner blades may change day to day, but not much else.
Once these Fall Chinook and Coho leave the Columbia and enter its tributaries, we use a lot of the same techniques as we would if we were Spring Chinook fishing. Salmon eggs and sand shrimp seem to be what Fall Chinook bite on the best in the tribs year after year. Coho on the other hand tend to strike lures a little more than Chinook. Casting wiggle warts and twitching jigs are very popular methods to getting Coho to bite on the tributaries of the Columbia.
Within all of these techniques, there is a list to the moon on tricks and tips that help anglers catch more salmon and steelhead consistently. One of the most important parts of the whole equation is being able to adapt to conditions on the fly and know when to switch things up. Time on the water is the only thing that teaches us this and separates good anglers from great anglers. If seeing these techniques executed, or learning how to implicate them better for yourself, booking a trip is a common way to get better faster. Thanks for visiting the techniques page. See you on the water!
