David Johnson
09-17-2009, 12:36 AM
This past week I finally wrapped up my Astoria season. Seven weeks. Thank you ODFW for keeping it open the full time.
And what a season it was!
Some say you have to put your rig in front of a biter. Well we did. Over 560 of them boated. Over 240 just this month.
Every day but four we landed double digits and the very slowest day we got six. When you complain about a six fish day you know it’s been good.
We started off chasing them off-shore and taking advantage of the feeding frenzies out there. It was rare to have to fish more than 2 ½ to three hours to get a limit.
One of the most exciting parts of fishing out there, besides the non-stop action and countless doubles, was the opportunity to take some of these quality coho on light spinning gear as we casted to them.
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/0216.JPG
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/DSC00905-11.JPG
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/00924.JPG
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/006-31.JPG
On August 13th was the last day I went in the ocean (after catching over 40 fish in about three hours) From then on the river had so many fish we didn't need to go that far any more.
Here are some photos. I wish I had more chances to get some action shots while fishing but I just have so many things going on out there I really didn’t get many chances.
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/003-4.JPG
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/0248.JPG
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/027-1.JPG
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/0337.JPG
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/0237.JPG
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/0349.JPG
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/01120.JPG
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/007-1.JPG
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/005-2.JPG
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/004-7.JPG
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/001-51.JPG
When the limit went to three fish the days got longer for me as we had to weed through un-clipped fish to get our limits.
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/006-41.JPG
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/012-1.JPG
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/006-4.JPG
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/004-5.JPG
Bait or spinners fished behind our Delta Divers was our ticket to success. I fished some flashers but surprisingly, they didn’t really make a noticeable difference in our catch this year. A lot of times they do.
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/IMG_32861.JPG
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/0285.JPG
Some dead solders ready fora re-build
I loved some of the sunrises.
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/008-3.JPG
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/00527.JPG
It was interesting that the bite went from 50/50 bait/spinners, then to all spinners, then back to 50/50 and then all spinners again.
For the first time in several years I fished in the Buoy 10 Salmon Challenge, AND WON!
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/IMG_3277.JPG
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/IMG_3303.JPG
Our winning fish.
Blue Light Special OR Blue Plate Special
Maggie came up from LA on her bi annual Oregon fishing trip with her friends Jack, Kris and Norm.
On this trip the hot spinner was the “Blue Light Special” But Maggie kept calling it the blue plate special. Whatever you call it though, the fish were eating it good!
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/007-3.JPG
On this day my big motor wouldn’t start. After trying to get it going for half an hour the clients showed. I figured the show must go on so we headed out with the kicker in hopes that after a rest the big guy would get going.
Unfortunately it didn’t. But after some phone calls around we found a guy in Astoria with a Honda shop who was willing to take a look at it.
So back to the dock. I asked the clients to go have lunch while I pulled the boat over to the shop (since it was a bit rainy there were no complaints by the ladies, a warm restaurant sounded good to them)
A few test and a faulty wire in a kill switch was found and I was back in the water in an hour and back to fishing. Final total, 11 fish to the boat with seven keepers in the box.
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/010-11.JPG
So Easy A Little Girl Can Do It
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/003-7.JPG
Fishing A Second Chance
I had the pleasure of fishing with Oscar this season. Oscar had a heart transplant a few months back and during his recovery he thought about all the things he was going to do and fishing was one of them.
I was glad to be part of it Oscar.
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/0179.JPG
Take a look at this picture and you'll see why being a donner is such a good idea.
I really like to meet people from other areas so it was great to not only fish with people from Oregon and Washington but also from Ca, Az, Nc, Texas, Idaho and Canada.
I saw boats from Montana, Idaho, Arizona, California and Utah.
The sport fishing brings plenty of money from other area’s that would not normally make it to the Oregon coast.
If you want a crack at these fish in my boat next year book early, there isn’t going to be many open spots next year.
For the rest of the year we are mainly going to be fishing the coastal bays for some quality, trophy KINGS. Dates are starting to fill up so don’t miss out!
And what a season it was!
Some say you have to put your rig in front of a biter. Well we did. Over 560 of them boated. Over 240 just this month.
Every day but four we landed double digits and the very slowest day we got six. When you complain about a six fish day you know it’s been good.
We started off chasing them off-shore and taking advantage of the feeding frenzies out there. It was rare to have to fish more than 2 ½ to three hours to get a limit.
One of the most exciting parts of fishing out there, besides the non-stop action and countless doubles, was the opportunity to take some of these quality coho on light spinning gear as we casted to them.
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/0216.JPG
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/DSC00905-11.JPG
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/00924.JPG
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/006-31.JPG
On August 13th was the last day I went in the ocean (after catching over 40 fish in about three hours) From then on the river had so many fish we didn't need to go that far any more.
Here are some photos. I wish I had more chances to get some action shots while fishing but I just have so many things going on out there I really didn’t get many chances.
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/003-4.JPG
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/0248.JPG
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/027-1.JPG
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/0337.JPG
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/0237.JPG
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/0349.JPG
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/01120.JPG
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/007-1.JPG
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/005-2.JPG
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/004-7.JPG
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/001-51.JPG
When the limit went to three fish the days got longer for me as we had to weed through un-clipped fish to get our limits.
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/006-41.JPG
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/012-1.JPG
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/006-4.JPG
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/004-5.JPG
Bait or spinners fished behind our Delta Divers was our ticket to success. I fished some flashers but surprisingly, they didn’t really make a noticeable difference in our catch this year. A lot of times they do.
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/IMG_32861.JPG
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/0285.JPG
Some dead solders ready fora re-build
I loved some of the sunrises.
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/008-3.JPG
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/00527.JPG
It was interesting that the bite went from 50/50 bait/spinners, then to all spinners, then back to 50/50 and then all spinners again.
For the first time in several years I fished in the Buoy 10 Salmon Challenge, AND WON!
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/IMG_3277.JPG
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/IMG_3303.JPG
Our winning fish.
Blue Light Special OR Blue Plate Special
Maggie came up from LA on her bi annual Oregon fishing trip with her friends Jack, Kris and Norm.
On this trip the hot spinner was the “Blue Light Special” But Maggie kept calling it the blue plate special. Whatever you call it though, the fish were eating it good!
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/007-3.JPG
On this day my big motor wouldn’t start. After trying to get it going for half an hour the clients showed. I figured the show must go on so we headed out with the kicker in hopes that after a rest the big guy would get going.
Unfortunately it didn’t. But after some phone calls around we found a guy in Astoria with a Honda shop who was willing to take a look at it.
So back to the dock. I asked the clients to go have lunch while I pulled the boat over to the shop (since it was a bit rainy there were no complaints by the ladies, a warm restaurant sounded good to them)
A few test and a faulty wire in a kill switch was found and I was back in the water in an hour and back to fishing. Final total, 11 fish to the boat with seven keepers in the box.
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/010-11.JPG
So Easy A Little Girl Can Do It
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/003-7.JPG
Fishing A Second Chance
I had the pleasure of fishing with Oscar this season. Oscar had a heart transplant a few months back and during his recovery he thought about all the things he was going to do and fishing was one of them.
I was glad to be part of it Oscar.
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/0179.JPG
Take a look at this picture and you'll see why being a donner is such a good idea.
I really like to meet people from other areas so it was great to not only fish with people from Oregon and Washington but also from Ca, Az, Nc, Texas, Idaho and Canada.
I saw boats from Montana, Idaho, Arizona, California and Utah.
The sport fishing brings plenty of money from other area’s that would not normally make it to the Oregon coast.
If you want a crack at these fish in my boat next year book early, there isn’t going to be many open spots next year.
For the rest of the year we are mainly going to be fishing the coastal bays for some quality, trophy KINGS. Dates are starting to fill up so don’t miss out!