Columbia River fish report?

[woodrat]

Anyone been down to Buoy Ten in the last few days? In the ocean? How is it?

 

[LubeDude]

Re: Columbia River fish report?

Here is a great camera shot of the Boneville fish ladder. There was a fish going through it just as I checked it.

http://www.nwp.usace.army.mil/op/b/fishcam.asp

 

[LFK]

Re: Columbia River fish report?

I have always heard about fishing out by Buoy Ten, but have never been. Is it too risky for a 17" open bow?

 

[woodrat]

Re: Columbia River fish report?

Not if you use common sense and caution. I fished down there two seasons in a row with an open 16' Valco Bayrunner. We crossed the bar three or four times last year, with good fishing and safe returns, but I decided to get a bigger boat after that. Now I have a 19' Bell Boy I/O. It's nice to have a little more freeboard than 10 inches or so... You want to do your research and have good safety equipment and a good VHF and GPS and so forth, but it is do-able. Look at the article on http://www.salmonuniversity.com about ilwaco and buoy ten. here's the link: http://www.salmonuniversity.com/westport_to_columbia.html .

 

[woodrat]

Re: Columbia River fish report?

Ok, I guess I will just answer my own question.

My oldest daughter and I went down there today, and, after a pretty flat bar crossing, ran out 6 miles to the CR buoy. Hooked the first fish about 10 seconds after putting the first line in the water. I was still letting out line when it hit. Nice keeper coho, about 9 # or so. Fished for about an hour and a half, caught one more keeper coho and a undersized king, and then hightailed it back in becuase it was getting windy and pretty sloppy out there. The fish counter at Chinook said that we were the big winners for the day, even amongst those who were in the ocean. I heard on the VHF about a lot of natives being released, but not many keepers

It was my 12 year old's first salmon, and first ocean trip, and she was pretty stoked. The only real bummer was coming back to find all three crab pots GONE. At first I thought maybe one had washed away, but I had 100' of line on each one and they were only in 30-40' of water, and all three were missing. We looked everywhere and found not a trace. I think some creep bagged them...grr! :|

 

[Tail_Gunner]

Re: Columbia River fish report?

Ive been keeping tab's on how the fishing is out there and as of yet thing's are slow..............Finally i have a boat that i feel secure enough in to have a go @ it and its dead .........lol but im waiting for the run to start.

 

[woodrat]

Re: Columbia River fish report?

I spent five days down there, from the 20th on, and only kept two silvers. And that was in the ocean! We were ranging up to 13 miles out and still not finding any fish. They were all down south at Tillamook head, out of reach of my puny gas tank...

Fishing is supposedly picking up this last week, and I will try again this weekend and next week.