Columbia River Spring Chinook Salmon Fishing Can Get You Hooked
By Mark Yuasa, Seattle Times
Apr. 16–VANCOUVER, Wash. — The morning was crisp and freezing along the Lower Columbia River, but a sure hint of spring was evident.
Not only are the dogwood and cherry trees in bloom, but a huge pilot run of 269,300 upriver spring chinook — the third largest return since 1977 — is now moving up the river.Always wanting to try the popular spring fishery, I decided to hook up with Joe Hymer, a longtime state Fish and Wildlife biologist, and his co-worker Wil Morrison.
The semi-cloudy, orange-hued sunrise greeted us as we launched our boat at the Marine Park boat ramp in Vancouver, along with a wave of others in search of this most highly prized salmon.
The trip was executed like a well-planned battle.
The night before we strategized where we’d fish by networking with people who’d been on the water the past few days. And we settled on what gear we would use: A 5- to 6-ounce ball sinker attached to a spreader bar with a green or red Fish Flash with an 8- to 10-foot leader linked to two hooks laced with a cut-plug herring.
Once in the water, we made our way just downstream to the red can marker just off the Beaches Restaurant above the I-5 Bridge where the shoreline is adorned with luxurious waterfront condominiums.
We started by slowly trolling upstream under the I-5 Bridge, which was jammed with commuters headed to Portland, and ending the drift at the railroad bridge crossing from Vancouver to Hayden Island.
On our first couple of drifts in water 20 to 30 feet deep, we kept our bait bouncing right off the bottom. Every so often we’d see someone catch a fish, but so far we’d come up empty.
Then just after 7 a.m., it was our turn to get in on the action.
With my pole in the rod holder, I watched the tip vibrate as the sinker kept in touch with the sandy bottom. Right before we drifted under the I-5 Bridge, I saw my pole take a couple of bends. I let the fish slowly engulf the cut-plug herring.
One of the keys to catching spring chinook is to let them inhale the bait, as they often just nibble on it first, Hymer told me.
The pole made a third dip, and then I knew the fish was on. It made a few strong runs around the back of the boat, and on the third time near the boat, Hymer netted the 12-pound hatchery spring chinook.
We had a couple takedowns on a few more drifts downriver, and one time I jerked the rod too soon out of the holder, with Hymer calling it the “Wilbert Move,” named after our fishing companion Wil who is known to have committed the act on more than a few occasions.
It happens to all of us at one point, when an overly eager yank of the pole pulls the bait away from the fish before it has a chance to chomp.
We all had a good laugh at my costly mistake.
A couple times, Times photographer Mark Harrison’s rod made a jerk move that resembled a fish bite, and he, too, had the urge to yank on the rod. Hymer quickly wrapped the security clip across Harrison’s rod to prevent him from making the “Wilbert Move.”
The bite slowed, and Hymer began to make some calls to see how everyone else on the river was faring.
“Looks like we are in the best spot on the river,” Hymer said as the others he talked to at Cathlamet were fishless downstream and another near the Willamette had only one fish.
Hymer decided to move us out into the middle of the Columbia along the same area to see if the fish were holding in a different spot.
We started to track salmon on the fishfinder, and this is where manuevering around sometimes pays off.
Minutes after we started our drift downriver, Morrison’s rod was slammed and the fight was on. We cleared our poles from the water and chased his fish around, and after a five-minute battle, we got the 20-plus-pound hatchery king netted.
We all got back to business, and suddenly Hymer’s pole took a big dip toward the water, and we had another hookup. This time I noticed it was a large wild chinook, which we immediately released.
Instead of making the long drifts, we made shorter ones from Beaches to I-5, working a pasture of spring chinook we found corralled in the middle of the river.
This time I watched my pole twitch as the bait made contact with bottom, and as I gazed overhead at an airplane preparing to land at Portland International Airport, I quickly snapped back to reality when my rod jerked its way into the water.
I got it out of the holder and handed it to Harrison as we wanted everyone to get a chance at these remarkably good-tasting chinook, which rival the Copper River king in Alaska.
I had an extra-long leader (about 12 feet) tied to my pole, and Harrison wasn’t used to that. So when the fish got near, he would raise the rod high, but the fish still managed to swim about 3 feet under the surface of the water.
I got the net under it on the fifth try, and we had another nice 13-plus-pound hatchery chinook in the boat.
The clock was close to 1 p.m. when Hymer’s pole made the hard hookup, and in a matter of a few minutes we got the 15-pound hatchery chinook into the boat with a lot of hooting and hollering as we all got our one-fish daily limit.
In all we brought four hatchery spring chinook from 12 to 20-plus pounds into the boat, released one 20-plus-pound wild chinook and lost two more fish.
Anglers need to get in on what is expected to be a stellar season with the run nearing its peak in the lower river.
“The catch has crept up to over a one-fish-per-boat average on most days, and occasionally up towards Bonneville we saw a couple-fish-per-boat average, which is still outstanding fishing,” Hymer said. “We are seeing lots of angler effort, and on Sunday alone there was 1,500 boats between the Hayden Island west power line towers up to Bonneville Dam.”
“Normally mid- to late April is the peak of the spring chinook run, but the run still appears to be building and we may be looking at a later-timed return,” Hymer said. “Fish counts at the dam have crept up to almost 1,300 [on Sunday] and about 5,600 total [for the season].”
The Columbia River spring chinook fishery is a huge economic boost for both Washington and Oregon. State Fish and Wildlife predicts about 117,000 angler trips will be taken this spring.
Including mine, which was well worth the wait.
Mark Yuasa: 206-464-8780 or myuasa@seattletimes.com
If you go
Where/when: The Lower Columbia, from the west power lines on Hayden Island to Bonneville Dam, is open through April 30 but is closed every Tuesday for a commercial fishery. Don’t hesitate: The fishing season could close earlier if the catch guideline is achieved. The limit is one adult hatchery-marked chinook daily.
The Columbia, from the Tower Island power lines above Bonneville Dam to McNary Dam, is open through May 10 with a daily limit of two adult hatchery-marked chinook. The bank fishery is open from Bonneville Dam up to the Tower Island power lines.
The portion of the Lower Columbia from the west power lines on Hayden Island downstream to Buoy 10 is closed.
–Ramps: Good boat ramps on the Washington side can be found at Marine Park, Beacon Rock, Hamilton Island, Landsdorf Landing, Port of Camas in Washougal (one of the larger launches), Ridgefield and the Lewis River mouth. In Oregon, launch at the Sheriff ramp along Marine Drive in Portland, Chinook Landing and the Fishery ramp.
–Elsewhere: The Columbia mainstem isn’t the only spring chinook show around. The Wind River, Drano Lake, White Salmon River and Klickitat River are also open. These fisheries tend to be later and will peak by about late April through early May.
Anglers participating in all these fisheries may also retain shad and hatchery steelhead within daily catch limits of Washington and Oregon.
–Not allowed: While this year’s return is one of the largest, anglers still must release all wild spring chinook. Only hatchery fish with a missing adipose fin may be kept, which is the small fin on top near the tail.
–Fishing from the bank: Bank anglers will also find plenty of areas to catch their share of spring chinook, and for the first time since the early 1980s Washington anglers will be able to fish the entire shoreline of Bonneville Pool. This year, fishing is allowed between Bonneville Dam and the Tower Island power lines located about six miles below The Dalles Dam.
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