Fish for everyone.

[Mikej]

I've got a 15" Koke in the fridge for tomorrow's dinner... one big fish is all it takes for us...

When does that meat quality start to suffer? Don't they get to spawning stage, turn green with red heads, in late September?

 

[Caveman Jim]

When does that meat quality start to suffer? Don't they get to spawning stage, turn green with red heads, in late September?

The majority in October on Merwin generally, but some start turning in Sept so will release those.
I get into Coho mode when it opens up on Sept 15th so rarely so the spawning stages for kokes.

 

[Lazyfaire]

Last Wednesday just east of the Astoria bridge
(Weight unknown)

 

[ZA_Survivalist]

This is a food source and sport Im admittedly not too familiar with.
Lack of time has always kept me away from the hobby, but its something Id really like to learn more about. Especially after watching "Fishermans life" and how simple he makes it look when he brings backpack camp cooking gear and pairs it with basic butter/salt/spices in order to cook right after a catch. Something for a fun afternoon lunch weekend trip.

Id be more into the catching to eat aspect than catch and release.

 

[Caveman Jim]

Last Wednesday just east of the Astoria bridge
(Weight unknown)

View attachment 609242

I haven't fished Bouy 10 in years, don't know that section of the Columbia well enough to go back.
Besides I don't like Tules...

 

[Lazyfaire]

I haven't fished Bouy 10 in years, don't know that section of the Columbia well enough to go back.
Besides I don't like Tules...

This was bright and shiny, not a tules.. We too thought that Bouy 10 was too crowded and stayed up on the east side of the bridge

 

[EPS]

This was bright and shiny, not a tules.. We too thought that Bouy 10 was too crowded and stayed up on the east side of the bridge

Yeh fisherman like bright and shiny.

 

[Mikej]

This is a food source and sport Im admittedly not too familiar with.
Lack of time has always kept me away from the hobby, but its something Id really like to learn more about. Especially after watching "Fishermans life" and how simple he makes it look when he brings backpack camp cooking gear and pairs it with basic butter/salt/spices in order to cook right after a catch. Something for a fun afternoon lunch weekend trip.

Id be more into the catching to eat aspect than catch and release.

Well I'll tell ya'. It's a pee poor time for you to get into salmon and steelhead in the NW. Now, if you want to pay from $200.00-$250.00, (might be more for some guides now ) for a seat in a guides boat, OR, have friends with boats and do an expenses share thing. (Oh, yeah, that friend of you'rs need to be "Dialed-in" to getting fish in combat fishing tactics.) Then go for it. The Oregon salmon/steelhead tag will set you back about $90.00 for you and the wife/partner.

Here's a link so you can get an idea of what the runs are like this year in the Columbia...
7 Day and YTD Adult Counts Ten years ago I would guess those chinook numbers would be 2000-3000+ a day at this time. Steelhead numbers would be waning a bit by now because they traditionally peaked running into 3000-4000/day the last week of July through the first week of August. The highest number I saw this year for steelhead was 1500 +/-.

Fish size has dwindled too. 20-30# chinook and 10-15 steelhead were not uncommon 10-15 years ago. Yeah, some 20-30# Buoy 10 fish still get caught but very few. Me, I've put some dandy fish in my boat! Wifey has a 43.5 fall fish, in my boat. My biggest has been maybe 28#. Maybe. We have been happy over the years to put 10-12 fish, combined, on our tags. That was spring salmon, summer steelhead and fall chinook . So I'm not going to feel on bit guilty for what I took. I put in a lot of time for those fish.

Here it is...I'm bitter because the last two days I sold 90% of my Kwik fish and steelhead spinners, lead weights, some rods and other assorted household type "stuff". Yesterdays take was just short of $800.00 with the majority being tackle. Id rather be out on the GD river twice a week visiting with the new and old timers and seeing people catch fish!

 

[Caveman Jim]

This was bright and shiny, not a tules.. We too thought that Bouy 10 was too crowded and stayed up on the east side of the bridge

True that, I didn't mean to insinuate that was a tule I just mean that there are tules in that fishery and I don't want to have to deal with them Stinky fish. LOL

 

[ZA_Survivalist]

Well I'll tell ya'. It's a pee poor time for you to get into salmon and steelhead in the NW. Now, if you want to pay from $200.00-$250.00, (might be more for some guides now ) for a seat in a guides boat, OR, have friends with boats and do an expenses share thing. (Oh, yeah, that friend of you'rs need to be "Dialed-in" to getting fish in combat fishing tactics.) Then go for it. The Oregon salmon/steelhead tag will set you back about $90.00 for you and the wife/partner.

Here's a link so you can get an idea of what the runs are like this year in the Columbia...
7 Day and YTD Adult Counts Ten years ago I would guess those chinook numbers would be 2000-3000+ a day at this time. Steelhead numbers would be waning a bit by now because they traditionally peaked running into 3000-4000/day the last week of July through the first week of August. The highest number I saw this year for steelhead was 1500 +/-.

Fish size has dwindled too. 20-30# chinook and 10-15 steelhead were not uncommon 10-15 years ago. Yeah, some 20-30# Buoy 10 fish still get caught but very few. Me, I've put some dandy fish in my boat! Wifey has a 43.5 fall fish, in my boat. My biggest has been maybe 28#. Maybe. We have been happy over the years to put 10-12 fish, combined, on our tags. That was spring salmon, summer steelhead and fall chinook . So I'm not going to feel on bit guilty for what I took. I put in a lot of time for those fish.

Here it is...I'm bitter because the last two days I sold 90% of my Kwik fish and steelhead spinners, lead weights, some rods and other assorted household type "stuff". Yesterdays take was just short of $800.00 with the majority being tackle. Id rather be out on the GD river twice a week visiting with the new and old timers and seeing people catch fish!

Just took my interest out back behind the shed and gave it both barrels, didnt ya?! Haha

But thank you for letting me know. Those tags are far more costly than I had thought.

 

[jbett98]

My neighbor is a fishing guide and the run is so poor up above Government Island in the Columbia that the only fish checked in today at the boat ramp was a jack salmon with over 75 boats checked as they left.

 

[Caveman Jim]

Well I'll tell ya'. It's a pee poor time for you to get into salmon and steelhead in the NW. Now, if you want to pay from $200.00-$250.00, (might be more for some guides now ) for a seat in a guides boat, OR, have friends with boats and do an expenses share thing. (Oh, yeah, that friend of you'rs need to be "Dialed-in" to getting fish in combat fishing tactics.) Then go for it. The Oregon salmon/steelhead tag will set you back about $90.00 for you and the wife/partner.

Here's a link so you can get an idea of what the runs are like this year in the Columbia...
7 Day and YTD Adult Counts Ten years ago I would guess those chinook numbers would be 2000-3000+ a day at this time. Steelhead numbers would be waning a bit by now because they traditionally peaked running into 3000-4000/day the last week of July through the first week of August. The highest number I saw this year for steelhead was 1500 +/-.

Fish size has dwindled too. 20-30# chinook and 10-15 steelhead were not uncommon 10-15 years ago. Yeah, some 20-30# Buoy 10 fish still get caught but very few. Me, I've put some dandy fish in my boat! Wifey has a 43.5 fall fish, in my boat. My biggest has been maybe 28#. Maybe. We have been happy over the years to put 10-12 fish, combined, on our tags. That was spring salmon, summer steelhead and fall chinook . So I'm not going to feel on bit guilty for what I took. I put in a lot of time for those fish.

Here it is...I'm bitter because the last two days I sold 90% of my Kwik fish and steelhead spinners, lead weights, some rods and other assorted household type "stuff". Yesterdays take was just short of $800.00 with the majority being tackle. Id rather be out on the GD river twice a week visiting with the new and old timers and seeing people catch fish!

I know the feeling Brother, we experienced some good fishing back in the day before WDFW & ODFW went full retard and started mismanaging the resources.
Folks nowadays exclaim with glee that they caught a steelhead or a salmon when back then we caught limits!!!

 

[EPS]

They have screwed up the fishing all up and down the coast.
But don't forget they won't take the blame.
It's global warming .
Not mismanagement.

 

[Flymph]

They have screwed up the fishing all up and down the coast.
But don't forget they won't take the blame.
It's global warming .
Not mismanagement.

It's all of the above.
The drought the last 5 years hasn't helped at all either.

I WAS GOING TO BUY SOME TAGS... but then I read this thread. It's been a good year for bass for me tho. Several 5lb largemouth, a bunch of 3-4 pounders, and even one that was about 7-8 pounds. I might just give up and get back into bass... doubtful.

On the plus, I hear the salmon fly hatch on the deschutes was the best it has been in years. I suppose the pelton regulating dam is finally working. That should help with some of the return salmon in that basin, at least. Of course I opted to get a sunburn at the beach instead... kickin' myself on that one.

We should probably start downing trees across all of these rivers asap... might as well dump some large boulders to help secure them too.
Allowing buffer zones in flood plains to allow rivers to meander would likely help too.

 

[Mikej]

Just took my interest out back behind the shed and gave it both barrels, didnt ya?! Haha

But thank you for letting me know. Those tags are far more costly than I had thought.

Sorry about that but I sure didn't want you to think all you had to do was get the gear, the licenses, drive 10-50 miles and stand shoulder to shoulder with 20 or so of you new friends to get you some fine steelhead and salmon.

I don't know where you are but if you must have a boat to fish the waters in your area I'd say at this time that's too much expense for the return with salmon/steelhead. Unless you were going to fish the salt. Lot's of possibilities, more $$ too. You also need to have that boating/water/ ocean in your blood. Need to love just being on the water with taking home fish as a secondary fishing inland anymore. I'll be getting back to simpler days I hope. Small streams, lakes with bass, pan fish and trout, surf fishing. I'll be close to clamming. I'll be closer than two hours each way to fresh tuna, in season.

I know the feeling Brother, we experienced some good fishing back in the day before WDFW & ODFW went full retard and started mismanaging the resources.
Folks nowadays exclaim with glee that they caught a steelhead or a salmon when back then we caught limits!!!

Don't the law suits by "The Native Fish Society" and the likes to cut hatchery production have a lot to do with the returns? All the places we used to have steelhead that we could keep (clipped) that no longer get hatchery fish. Upper Clack summers, mmmmm. Damn that was some fun fishing. They still have summers in the Clack but they keep them below NoFo Res. They certainly plant many less summers now than they did when they went way WAY up the Clack. And there's very little bank access compared to miles and miles above NoFo Res. The Eagle Creek hatchery that feeds into the Clack, I believe plants only a small fraction of ? I don't know. They used to do spring chinook, steelhead and coho.

And speaking of The Clackamas
Hatchery steelhead didn't affect wild winters on Clackamas River, scientist say

The Sandy R used to have the same summers that went up for miles and into tribs like The Salmon R and ZigZag R. After awhile they closed the upper areas to hatchery fish by sorting them out at Marmot Dam. So only wild fish, and no fishing, above Marmot after that. Then they took out marmot! Now there was no way to sort hatchery from wild. At that time I believe they severely cut the numbers of hatchery plants of summer/winter steelhead and figure what hatchery fish return will go no higher than Cedar Creek which is a good distance below Marmot and is where the hatchery is.

The Nehalem River is another one that used to be a good fishery with wild and hatchery fish. Some brutes too. They stopped hatchery plants there. I'd like to know if the wild fish are thriving?

How these thieves at state fish and wildlife can, with a straight face, announce license increases is mind boggling.

Oh! There's a plus! This was a "Free Fishing Weekend! I've pretty much had a fishing free 2019 so far.

 

[jbett98]

The gill nets take a heavy toll on the Columbia fishery.

 

[Mikej]

The gill nets take a heavy toll on the Columbia fishery.

IMO the gill nets on the Columbia take what they are allowed to take. I don't believe there are any substantial discrepancies between their quota and what they really take. High seas netters? What don't we ever talk about those? US net fisheries intercepting Columbia, and others, fish in their travel around the Pacific? Why don't we talk about these?

I this will be MY new emoticon, for when I'm whining about things not being like they used to be. About my knees......

 

[ZA_Survivalist]

Sorry about that but I sure didn't want you to think all you had to do was get the gear, the licenses, drive 10-50 miles and stand shoulder to shoulder with 20 or so of you new friends to get you some fine steelhead and salmon.

I don't know where you are but if you must have a boat to fish the waters in your area I'd say at this time that's too much expense for the return with salmon/steelhead. Unless you were going to fish the salt. Lot's of possibilities, more $$ too. You also need to have that boating/water/ ocean in your blood. Need to love just being on the water with taking home fish as a secondary fishing inland anymore. I'll be getting back to simpler days I hope. Small streams, lakes with bass, pan fish and trout, surf fishing. I'll be close to clamming. I'll be closer than two hours each way to fresh tuna, in season.



Don't the law suits by "The Native Fish Society" and the likes to cut hatchery production have a lot to do with the returns? All the places we used to have steelhead that we could keep (clipped) that no longer get hatchery fish. Upper Clack summers, mmmmm. Damn that was some fun fishing. They still have summers in the Clack but they keep them below NoFo Res. They certainly plant many less summers now than they did when they went way WAY up the Clack. And there's very little bank access compared to miles and miles above NoFo Res. The Eagle Creek hatchery that feeds into the Clack, I believe plants only a small fraction of ? I don't know. They used to do spring chinook, steelhead and coho.

And speaking of The Clackamas
Hatchery steelhead didn't affect wild winters on Clackamas River, scientist say

The Sandy R used to have the same summers that went up for miles and into tribs like The Salmon R and ZigZag R. After awhile they closed the upper areas to hatchery fish by sorting them out at Marmot Dam. So only wild fish, and no fishing, above Marmot after that. Then they took out marmot! Now there was no way to sort hatchery from wild. At that time I believe they severely cut the numbers of hatchery plants of summer/winter steelhead and figure what hatchery fish return will go no higher than Cedar Creek which is a good distance below Marmot and is where the hatchery is.

The Nehalem River is another one that used to be a good fishery with wild and hatchery fish. Some brutes too. They stopped hatchery plants there. I'd like to know if the wild fish are thriving?

How these thieves at state fish and wildlife can, with a straight face, announce license increases is mind boggling.

Oh! There's a plus! This was a "Free Fishing Weekend! I've pretty much had a fishing free 2019 so far.

Nah. I appreciate the reality check. Any small time, local river fishing that can be done?

 

[jbett98]

Any respect for gill netters, which I had very little to begin with was lost when I witnessed a gill netter running his boat downstream in the Columbia right across from the mouth of the Sandy River.
I was watching an 80 year old fisherman fighting the biggest salmon of his life, along with his son in their boat.
Right as they were ready to net the fish and while their backs were turned, the gill netter purposely revved up his boat and swerved near them as close as he dared just to produce a huge wave in his wake.
If it wasn't for a quick grab by his son, the old man would have been pitched overboard as their boat was violently rocked by the waves.
They did manage to net the fish and considering the circumstances it should have been lost.

 

[Caveman Jim]

Don't the law suits by "The Native Fish Society" and the likes to cut hatchery production have a lot to do with the returns?

The problems started when dams were introduced in the Columbia and it's tributaries long ago. TPTB's who wrote the litigation to continue the fish numbers and passage of said fish let the court battles from the BPA, TPU and a slew of other entities reduce their obligations.


All the places we used to have steelhead that we could keep (clipped) that no longer get hatchery fish. Upper Clack summers, mmmmm. Damn that was some fun fishing. They still have summers in the Clack but they keep them below NoFo Res. They certainly plant many less summers now than they did when they went way WAY up the Clack. And there's very little bank access compared to miles and miles above NoFo Res. The Eagle Creek hatchery that feeds into the Clack, I believe plants only a small fraction of ? I don't know. They used to do spring chinook, steelhead and coho.

And speaking of The Clackamas
Hatchery steelhead didn't affect wild winters on Clackamas River, scientist say

There was a study on the Cowlitz river that also had the same consensus but it was discredited by the WFC AND WDFW!!!

The Sandy R used to have the same summers that went up for miles and into tribs like The Salmon R and ZigZag R. After awhile they closed the upper areas to hatchery fish by sorting them out at Marmot Dam. So only wild fish, and no fishing, above Marmot after that. Then they took out marmot! Now there was no way to sort hatchery from wild. At that time I believe they severely cut the numbers of hatchery plants of summer/winter steelhead and figure what hatchery fish return will go no higher than Cedar Creek which is a good distance below Marmot and is where the hatchery is.

The Nehalem River is another one that used to be a good fishery with wild and hatchery fish. Some brutes too. They stopped hatchery plants there. I'd like to know if the wild fish are thriving?

How these thieves at state fish and wildlife can, with a straight face, announce license increases is mind boggling.

Oh! There's a plus! This was a "Free Fishing Weekend! I've pretty much had a fishing free 2019 so far.

IMO the gill nets on the Columbia take what they are allowed to take. I don't believe there are any substantial discrepancies between their quota and what they really take. High seas netters? What don't we ever talk about those? US net fisheries intercepting Columbia, and others, fish in their travel around the Pacific? Why don't we talk about these?

WDFW District 6 (Grays Harbor) meeting told attendees that Alaska and Canadian betters intercept 1/2 of the returning fish to the Chehalis river watershed!!!! HALF!!!!!
That's not counting other nets in the oceans off the west coast!!!!


I this will be MY new emoticon, for when I'm whining about things not being like they used to be. About my knees......