Combat fishing at Deschutes mouth

[SR1 5]

On my way to Portland saturday morning there must have been 50 boats at the mouth of the Deschutes. I dont know how fishing was but it looked way too crowded for me .

[Fishalot]

Only 50 boats, that is not to bad for the mouth of the Deschutes. The fishing there is mostly trolling plugs so just fallow the boat patern and no real problem :smile: .

Fishalot

[blackdog]

Was one of the 50 or so boats there Saturday morning. On the water it didn't seem crowded at all. Quite a few fish rolling early in the morning but never did see a really good bit. There were probably 25 fish caught between 6:30 and 11:00 (had to quit when my kicker quit ******* water, which thankfully was easily fixed later that afternoon). Most seemed to be caught on plugs (looked like many were using Mag Warts). Lost one chinook that I hooked on a blue and red Wart. Also had to take the opportunity to explain to one guy what a complete idiot he was after landing a native steelhead, pulling it out of the net by the gills, holding it up for photo ops for a couple of minutes then tossing it carelessly back into the water. Needless to say, this fish was immediately floating belly up :mad: :mad: So, I explain he was a careless A-hole and he should handle fish like this, and his response was "Yeah, I know." What the heck?!?! Of course, this idiot was fishing out of a brand spakin' new North River, proving again that money doesn't buy brains. Looked for a fish and game or sherrif boat but wasn't one in sight. Oh yeah, also busted an older Lamiglas rod (that I stole from my brother) that was one of our favorite boat rods. Overall, not a great day. Then again, would never trade any opportunity to fish.

[Bluwrt]

The wife, daughter and I fished the mouth Sunday. I think we counted 60 boats. Seemed about half were jigging the other half were pulling plugs. It was a little tight in spots if you were one of the ones trolling. But not to bad. I saw very few fish caught. And the ones I saw were snagged in the belly. But the weather was great and no wind. :grin:

[timinthegorge]

And when did snaggin' the bellys of salmon become OK?

This is a new thing up here in the mouth of the Deschutes and Klickitat...... I've never seen this over the last 6 years while I've been here......

And I don't like it! Figure out how to catch fish in the mouth, or don't fish!

If you want to catch fish bad enough to belly hook 'em, you need to just go to Safeway, because you aren't fishin...... you're a gill netter by different means.....!

My .02......

[Herring Impaired]

Isn't that area non-buoyant lure restricted now?

I sure hope they had single hooks on them jigs!

I had a guy cut in front of me while trolling a blue fox last year. It was only about a foot below the surface, and guess what? Treble hooks! Needless to say my kicker got it, and when he realized what happened he high-tailed it out of there.

[Bluwrt]

Tim,
I agree, I was one of the ones trolling. I've heard that if you jig with your line directly below you,(straight up and down) you'll have a better chance of catching one in the mouth, but it seemed most of the people jigging had quite an angle in their line. Some were actually using their trolling motors while jigging.
I heard that so many people are jigging the mouth of the Klicitat that it impossible to troll.

[Vinny]

I had a chat with a game warden at the Deschutes park about a year ago. He explained that he could tell the "snagging" from the real "Jigging" just by watching from a distance.

He described jigging as, lifting your jig then lowering it rapidly. Snagging was the opposite, let it down slowly then yank and hope for a fish. These snaggers will get "caught" (hopefully, soon than later).

I wonder if they do the same sort of thing works at Safeway?

[NEUTRON]

Fish will still get snagged even with siwashes.
Vinny is pretty close to being right on the money for an airline stewardess :tongue: . When does your real job start? The Gill netter comment is right on the money, the Klickitat area is crappy place to fish because of the low lifes but we need to speak up. I'm quite vocal while fishing there but it feels like a losing battle. there is a group of nice folks from Wally world that do very well using jigs. If you watch them, they raise their rod tips maybe 6 inches always staying near the bottom. Those folks do well legally and are fun to fish around.

[Vinny]

Disappear for a month of ground school, weeks of a discontinuitous (if that's really a word it's probably misspelled!) sim training and culminating with a back side of the clock checkride and Neutron call me a stewardess. graemlins/stupid.gif

No respect !!

The truth is, Neutron is such a good teacher (and psuedo-guide) that when we fish together, he teaches me to catch the majority of (and the larger of) the fish! :tongue:

Doesn't matter though, soon I will return to the commuting life, based in Pittsburgh (yeah, PA) from Wally World and my life as a fisherman will be over. :depressed:

Maybe I'll be lucky enough for Neutron to teach me again how to catch more fish than him. What a guy! :tongue:

[Bounty Hunter]

Hey I just wanted to post a report from my experience at the Deschutes this past Friday morning. Lots of boats (~50) and lots of fish (steelhead) rolling. Few biters though. Only saw 7 fish caught between 6:00 and 1:00. 2 were false hooked (jigged on the wrong end) and 2 were jacks hittings something???

The veterans say the weather and the hundreds of Indian nets in the river were the reasons why things were slow. ??? It was my first time, so I threw the tackle box at em. Michael Jackson Wart, Flash and Glo, Tiger Wart, Pirate Hot Shot, a wobbler, Blue Fox with Black, Red, then Green. I also tried Crippled Herring jigging (SLOW UP, QUICK DOWN, not the other way around) All said I caught one stick at about 30 feet. :depressed:

The jet boaters said it was slow up the Deschutes too, with one guy having to work real hard for 2 (and he seemed to know the river well). I did see one jack caught right at the bridge where some fish seemed to be holding in the shade. Just don't fish above there as I hear it's illegal (luckily someone told me before the gammie had to, hey I was desperate :wink: )

[ 09-17-2002, 10:30 AM: Message edited by: Bounty Hunter ]

[Otolith]

Hey Vinny - I seem to remember going fishing for Steelhead in Pittsburgh once as a kid when I was visiting my uncle. I think it was the Allegheny (spelling?) River, but I'm not sure. All hope is not lost.

And you're right about Neutron being a great fishing teacher. He's the best guide I ever didn't hire :grin: I think I'm gonna start a new career selling his techniques and honey holes on E-Bay. Can I get one dollar one dollar two dollar I hear three dollar.....

[Snakebite]

Originally posted by blackdog:
Was one of the 50 or so boats there Saturday morning. On the water it didn't seem crowded at all. Quite a few fish rolling early in the morning but never did see a really good bit. There were probably 25 fish caught between 6:30 and 11:00 (had to quit when my kicker quit ******* water, which thankfully was easily fixed later that afternoon). Most seemed to be caught on plugs (looked like many were using Mag Warts). Lost one chinook that I hooked on a blue and red Wart. Also had to take the opportunity to explain to one guy what a complete idiot he was after landing a native steelhead, pulling it out of the net by the gills, holding it up for photo ops for a couple of minutes then tossing it carelessly back into the water. Needless to say, this fish was immediately floating belly up :mad: :mad: So, I explain he was a careless A-hole and he should handle fish like this, and his response was "Yeah, I know." What the heck?!?! Of course, this idiot was fishing out of a brand spakin' new North River, proving again that money doesn't buy brains. Looked for a fish and game or sherrif boat but wasn't one in sight. Oh yeah, also busted an older Lamiglas rod (that I stole from my brother) that was one of our favorite boat rods. Overall, not a great day. Then again, would never trade any opportunity to fish.<font size="2" face="verdana,arial,helv">