Outdoor Report 8/24

Astoria salmon fishing has stayed consistent through this past week. We all expected to have lots of silvers push up river on the big tides, but they never seemed to show up in huge numbers. When the silvers do show up, which should be any day now, it will be a fast and furious bite. These little chrome bullets will eat just about anything when they first enter fresh water, but herring, anchovies and spinners will be the top producers. They tend to push in on a good size incoming tide, and will hang around for high slack before shooting upriver. Even though the coho haven't shown up in great numbers yet, chinook fishing has still been good. This last week the big tides seemed to push a good number of chinook up river but, a fresh push of chinook were right behind them. Our ProStaff guides reported that, on the incoming tide the chinook and coho really keyed in on anchovies or smaller herring. Then as the tide slacked and started to go back out, the fish seemed to switch over to a herring bite. Although, there are fishermen that religiously fish spinners down in Astoria, and they are having great days as well. Typically, Astoria is known for people fishing larger trolling spinners in sizes 5-6.5 and even 7's, at times. However, with the new 360° flasher craze, there have been a lot of people trying the smaller 3.5 size spinners. That is what worked well last fall and this past spring up in the Portland areas. Those folks using the smaller spinners are offering fish something a little different, and some days they are filling their fish box's faster than the bait guys. When fishing Astoria, it pays to have several different techniques aboard, and the willingness to switch it up. Up the river a little further the wobbler is just getting going. Everyday the bite seems to be improving as more and more chinook enter the river. Those that don't want to sit on anchor have the option of trolling either a regular triangle flasher, or a 360° flasher with a spinner behind it. Mixing up the colors and sizes on your spinners can really pay off some days, especially if the fish have been in the same general area for a while. The Bonneville Dam anchor and backtrolling fishery is just starting as well. These folks will typically fish Kwikfish, Flatfish, Killerfish or Mag Lips. Whether you prefer backtrolling, or anchoring, Bonneville is a great option; as it has lots of different areas to fish, for both techniques. Tributary coho will start to get better in the next few weeks as well. Typically, the lower Columbia Washington streams will see the first big pushes of coho. A lot of those rivers have two runs of coho, the “A” run coming in early and the “B” run coming later in October or November. The Lewis and Cowlitz are both great options in Washington. More locally the Sandy and Clackamas will have coho starting to trickle in any day. Spinners, spoons, plugs, eggs and jigs are all very effective techniques to use when targeting these coho. They can get lock-jaw from time to time so it's good to bring a variety of baits with you, just in case you run into some stubborn ones. Trout fishing remains a great option as most lakes will continue to get stocked into the fall. A lot of times they will get stacked with a nicer grade of fish as well. Fishing bait on the bottom or casting spinners along the shoreline are still great options for these guys. Oregon archery season opens this Saturday the 26th. Because of dry, hot weather locally, be sure to check for fire restrictions before heading into the woods. Be sure to check the local regulations before heading out and, as always, be safe.