Salmon Fishing In Astoria  -  Aug 27th, 2009 4:10pm

"I've never caught a Salmon" is something I'm thrilled I can't say anymore.  It was one of of many fish I hope to check off my list in the next few years as I travel around working with various guides.  This trip was with Capt. Scott Pitts on the Columbia river in Astoria.

My father and I joined some folks from Idaho: Mike, Karl and Ela on a full day fishing trip for Silver and Chinook Salmon.  Apparently there are just a few weeks each year that you can harvest these fish in each area, so when that time comes to a town like Astoria,  the fishermen hit it hard inundating the river with boats and crab pots.

We added to this fray from first light, showing up at the doc to meet Scott in some cold and seriously wet morning air.  There was a little bait shop called Tackle Time next to the boat ramp that sold licenses, snacks, and drinks.  They open when the sane world is still sawing logs and were full of sass when we walked in at 5:30.

As the sun rose, I got my first real view of Astoria and the River itself.  A massive river as wide as a lake, spanned by bridges and surrounded by cliffs and forest.  It looked as I always imagined Alaska would.  The real surprise was that the fast moving water wasn't that deep.  Occasional shipping barges were navigating very specific channels as they went out to sea.  The water was moderately warm, blue/green and just slightly salty - the result of the ocean mixing with the Columbia during the incoming tides.

The area we were fishing is called buoy 10, and I think everyone in the zipcode knows about it because they were all there.  The horizon was boat to boat on each side of us.  Scott had told us earlier that this was supposed to be a record run of over a million fish and since each angler can only keep 2 fish a day, folks show up daily to land the pricey fish.

The fishing is done almost exclusively by trolling.  Large weights with spinners are kept down in the fast moving waters by downrigger or glider.  Cut herring or spinners are used as bait and most boats which hold 5-6 fisherman put out 1 line per person spacing all that equipment out by depth.  Our guide described this kind of fishing as long periods of waiting interrupted by complete panic.  This turned out to be absolutely true as nearly every fish we caught immediately raced for someone else's line in the mass of tackle that flowed behind our boat.

Things started off slow that morning and after an hour or so Mike nabbed the first salmon on a fluke as he was pulling out his line for us to go elsewhere.  It wasn't a bad catch at around 7lbs, but it was a native so we had to let it go.  Only hatchery fish are allowed to be kept.  They clip a fin on all test-tube fish so that you can tell the difference.

The day picked up though as the tide changed.  The fish came in waves where you would sit and bullshit for a few hours.  Then suddenly 3 lines would all hook up at once.  When they did it was complete panic and we actually lost a lot of fish.  Mike and my dad definitely had the lucky seats as they each picked up 3 or 4 fish while I had a tougher time just landing a single small silver all day.

The salmon there are heavy enough that along with the current they can snap a leader as I found out after my father handed me what was probably the biggest fish of the day (upwards of 15lbs).  I felt pretty bad as you could see it thrashing about 20ft behind the boat - but that's just how it works sometimes.  If it was always guaranteed then it wouldn't be such a thrill when you did land one.

The weather changed as often as the tide did.  At some points it was downright hot and at others it was cold and wet.  One of the most interesting things we ran into was the "rip".  A standing wave where the out flowing river met the incoming ocean and created a turbulent wall of water.  Following this for a while netted us our best fish including a 8-9lb silver for Mike and a scrappy Chinook for Karl - the only one we landed that day.

We were still short a couple of fish though as the day was supposed to end.  Scott really wanted me to land a few more fish though and help everyone limit out so we actually stayed out till nearly 6 oclock running up and down a specific stretch of the river landing about 2 fish per pass.  Unfortunately we had to call it a day before I got another strike, but it has to say something great about the day that I didn't mind.  Good company, a beautiful day, and my first salmon was more than enough to hold me over till our sturgeon trip a few days later.