Fishing report 8-14
The Astoria/Buoy 10 fishery is rockin and rollin as we enter into the middle of August. This fishery usually starts to see its largest pushes of Fall Chinook in the next two weeks so it should only get better! Our Pro Staff have been all over the lower river from Toungue Point down to the actual Buoy number 10. And reports are good! Pro, Josiah Darr, has been finding 10 plus hookups most days with a mixture of wild and hatchery Chinook with a few Coho in the mix as well. Pro, Chris Vertopoulos, has also been lining his fish box with fresh Salmon trolling Pro-Troll 360 flashers with Yakima Bait Spin-n-fish behind them. Having a good mix of baits on hand is often times the key to large number days in the estuary. Sometime during incoming tides they will only key in on Anchovies while other days it simply won’t matter what you have tied on as long as you are in the right zone within the water column. Spinners both large and small, Spin-n-fish, Spindawgs, Superbaits, anchovies, herring and squid spinners are all great bait options to have on board.
As you head upriver, the fishery is typically either a troll or anchor fishery for Chinook. Many folks still will anchor fish wobblers on the outgoing tides and troll 360 flashers on the slack and incoming tides. The outgoing tides, especially in the lower river, can absolutely rip. Which makes trolling down river extremely difficult. Things when the wobbler fishery can be very dominate. But again as the river slacks up, the fish will pull up off of the bottom as there isn’t current pushing on them. This makes for great conditions to troll 360 flashers. Again the same baits will work as in the estuary. With the exception of bait. For the most part it becomes predominantly a hardware show once complete in fresh water. Spinners, Spin-n-fish, Spindawgs, Hottails, Cutplugs, Kokanee Cutplugs and Superbaits all work wonders when trolled behind one of the many 360 flasher options.
Once you move farther up river you will start to hit the Bonneville dam fishery, Drano Lake fisbery, white Salmon fishery and Klickitat fishery. Folks will split up into two major groups above the dam, hover fishermen and trolling fishermen. Folks will hover fish eggs just a few feet off of the bottom hoping for that subtle bite. While the trolling fisherman will be actively moving around dragging 360 flashers looking for those more aggressive fish. Below Bonneville the crowd is split between fishermen anchoring with kwikfish and fishermen trolling 360 flashers with small spinners or spin-n-fish.
Bottom fishing has been stellar and should continue to stay that way for the forseable future. Lingcod fishing has been really good and honestly most of the fishermen have switched gears to Salmon fishing, so you may have areas of the bottom fishing grounds all to yourself
Crabbing has been good and as we approach September the Crab will start to really firm up and put on some mass.
Tuna fishing has been great and anglers have been finding some Blue Fin Tun as well! Pro, Ted Teufel, found not one, but two Blue Fin last week while targeting Albacore. Trolling has been the name of the game for most folks, but having vertical jigging rods and live bait rods on board will definitely help you stuff your fish boxs full.
Summer Steelhead fishing on the east side of the state has been pretty good. The Deschutes has been quietly kicking out plenty of Summer Steelhead and Pro, Jeremy Toman, has been one of the main guides doing the damage. Casting spinners and plugs has been the main technique his clients have been using. However, bubble and fly and side planners and plugs has been very productive as well.
