starcrafttom
Active member
What a weekend!! I got a call from Russ and Toni of Traveler wanting to know if I would like to come down to Chinook for some silver fishing before the season closed. Well let me think about that for ½ second YES!!!!.
Now follow the time line. I left on Sunday morning from Marysville Wa at 5 am. 3 ½ hours and 200 miles I was at Russ and Toni’s house loading my gear in the boat and off to the ramp. We ran across the Columbia bar in a small swell with a little wind. This was my first time across the most dangerous bar in the world and Iam happy to say it went very nicely. We ran out to buoy #1 and started trolling south east. Now I have never trolled with divers and bait before so I was learning a lot on this trip. Basic set up is a diver, flasher and a two hook bait rig with a whole herring rigged to rotate. Pull out you line about 20 pulls and set in the rod holder and wait for the fight to began.
Well the fight begin in earnest, we hooked six fin clipped fish in less than three hours. I took longer to get the last fish then the other five combined. We ran back to the launch and then back to the house by 2 pm. Clean and vacuum pack fish and clean the boat before getting a tour of town. What a great day. My first Columbian river trip and we get three limits, how can you bet that??
You bet it by getting up a 5 am and launch by 6 to head out again. Russ and I crossed the bar in bigger seas with 6 to 8 ft with wind waver on top to run back out to buoy 1 again. Russ really knows the bar and his boat. We arrived to 12 ft seas and a lot of wind. After only a short troll we and the other boats in the area decided to run back to buoy 10 (inside the river) as to not get caught in worsening seas. It was a good safe run back in building seas. Again Russ knows his business.
Once back inside the waves were only 3 to 5 but still with a lot of wind. Now Russ says he does not know how to fish the inside very well but I think he was only joking. We set up with the same gear and trolled from the north side to the south side of the channel in the buoy ten area. On the first pass I picked up a nice 12 Coho , on the second pass I picked up a 15 lb Coho, on the third pass I picked up another 10 lb fish and Russ got a 10 lbs fish. Three passes four fish and all hatchery clipped. Off the water and back to the house by 11. 9 am Sunday to 11 am Monday =5 limits of hatchery clipped Coho to 15 lbs.
Now that was a great weekend. I got back to my house by 4pm and started to cook fresh Coho for Susan. Russ and Toni, Thank you very much for a great weekend of fishing.
Now follow the time line. I left on Sunday morning from Marysville Wa at 5 am. 3 ½ hours and 200 miles I was at Russ and Toni’s house loading my gear in the boat and off to the ramp. We ran across the Columbia bar in a small swell with a little wind. This was my first time across the most dangerous bar in the world and Iam happy to say it went very nicely. We ran out to buoy #1 and started trolling south east. Now I have never trolled with divers and bait before so I was learning a lot on this trip. Basic set up is a diver, flasher and a two hook bait rig with a whole herring rigged to rotate. Pull out you line about 20 pulls and set in the rod holder and wait for the fight to began.
Well the fight begin in earnest, we hooked six fin clipped fish in less than three hours. I took longer to get the last fish then the other five combined. We ran back to the launch and then back to the house by 2 pm. Clean and vacuum pack fish and clean the boat before getting a tour of town. What a great day. My first Columbian river trip and we get three limits, how can you bet that??
You bet it by getting up a 5 am and launch by 6 to head out again. Russ and I crossed the bar in bigger seas with 6 to 8 ft with wind waver on top to run back out to buoy 1 again. Russ really knows the bar and his boat. We arrived to 12 ft seas and a lot of wind. After only a short troll we and the other boats in the area decided to run back to buoy 10 (inside the river) as to not get caught in worsening seas. It was a good safe run back in building seas. Again Russ knows his business.
Once back inside the waves were only 3 to 5 but still with a lot of wind. Now Russ says he does not know how to fish the inside very well but I think he was only joking. We set up with the same gear and trolled from the north side to the south side of the channel in the buoy ten area. On the first pass I picked up a nice 12 Coho , on the second pass I picked up a 15 lb Coho, on the third pass I picked up another 10 lb fish and Russ got a 10 lbs fish. Three passes four fish and all hatchery clipped. Off the water and back to the house by 11. 9 am Sunday to 11 am Monday =5 limits of hatchery clipped Coho to 15 lbs.
Now that was a great weekend. I got back to my house by 4pm and started to cook fresh Coho for Susan. Russ and Toni, Thank you very much for a great weekend of fishing.
