David Johnson
04-25-2003, 10:47 PM
Up and down the river from the mouth to Oregon City hot bites have been reported all week if you can be in the right place at the right time. It's like the "Good Ole Days"
Fish have been taken trolling the deep, open water of the Portland harbor and near the head of the channel, working the ledges and shelves in the Milwaukee/Lake Oswego area and all the popular spots in O. C.
But now with all the rain we've gotten in the valley, the river has been on the rise and getting muddy. I'd expect it to be out for the next couple days, which will put the fish off the bite.
But when it does clear again it's going to be Hot!
I guess the good news is this higher, colder water is going to spread out the run so we should have some great Willamette fishing into the middle of May.
Two feet of visibility is usually when the river starts to fish again. The Old Timers have always said if you can see your prop you can catch fish from the Willamette and that seems to be about right.
As far as depth goes this season I've caught fish in as shallow as six feet of water to as deep as thirty. I've seen fish taken by guy’s backbouncing from depths as deep as 55 feet, these fish were on the bottom that deep. For the open water trollers the twelve to twenty foot ranges has been paying off.
From what I've seen and experienced as well as reports from others I know, out going tide has produced the best fishing no matter where you are at.
Another thing is pringers can sometimes be picky so if you're not catching fish while other boats around you are, try and change your bait and give them something different to get in on the bite.
Spring Chinook are great biters if you have something they want, swallowing the bait if you let them. To up your odds of landing one of these prizes let 'em take it and take it....
Today I was backbouncing eggs with a shrimp tail and I had a biter. I let him take it...take it....take it...after he stripped off about ten feet of line and I felt the weight of the fish on the other end I set the hook and it was fish on!
When I cleaned this fish, inside it's belly, it had two whole sand shrimp (remember I was using only the tails) and the remnants of someone’s pink prawn.
Either this fish had been picking off other peoples baits or several people had prematurely set the hook and missed him. This fish was a "biter" for sure.
Recently I've even had fish bite on diver rods then seem to leave, only to reel in to check the bait and find that the fish has swallowed the bait and is simply swimming up river with the diver in tow.
The divers I'm using are the Jumbo Diver. In the last few years the Jumbo Jet Diver has emerged as the "go to" diver in big rivers like the Willamette and Columbia. I've had success with them in up to forty feet of water. These things are a must for getting down were you need to be. If you haven't tried one in the medium to deep water you should.
Also, with the good fishing comes the crowds and with that the higher chances of mishaps on the water. Every day out this week I've seen boats get into minor trouble while anchoring, or more specifically, pulling anchor. My boat even has a new beauty mark from some guy loosing control of his boat as he was doing "I don't know what"
Please be safe and respect the river. And look out for trees floating down river, there's a lot with this high water.
If you are going to anchor fish in a crowded condition, like Oregon City, don't use your anchor pulling. Just pull it by hand.
Also, don't just throw out the hook any old place, especially among trollers or back trollers. Stick to the traditional hog line spots. This will keep you from being unpopular :blush: If the hoglines intimidate you try someplace well away from others.
I hope some of this helps-Good Fishing.
fishermand@aol.com
[ 04-26-2003, 10:18 AM: Message edited by: David Johnson ]
Fish have been taken trolling the deep, open water of the Portland harbor and near the head of the channel, working the ledges and shelves in the Milwaukee/Lake Oswego area and all the popular spots in O. C.
But now with all the rain we've gotten in the valley, the river has been on the rise and getting muddy. I'd expect it to be out for the next couple days, which will put the fish off the bite.
But when it does clear again it's going to be Hot!
I guess the good news is this higher, colder water is going to spread out the run so we should have some great Willamette fishing into the middle of May.
Two feet of visibility is usually when the river starts to fish again. The Old Timers have always said if you can see your prop you can catch fish from the Willamette and that seems to be about right.
As far as depth goes this season I've caught fish in as shallow as six feet of water to as deep as thirty. I've seen fish taken by guy’s backbouncing from depths as deep as 55 feet, these fish were on the bottom that deep. For the open water trollers the twelve to twenty foot ranges has been paying off.
From what I've seen and experienced as well as reports from others I know, out going tide has produced the best fishing no matter where you are at.
Another thing is pringers can sometimes be picky so if you're not catching fish while other boats around you are, try and change your bait and give them something different to get in on the bite.
Spring Chinook are great biters if you have something they want, swallowing the bait if you let them. To up your odds of landing one of these prizes let 'em take it and take it....
Today I was backbouncing eggs with a shrimp tail and I had a biter. I let him take it...take it....take it...after he stripped off about ten feet of line and I felt the weight of the fish on the other end I set the hook and it was fish on!
When I cleaned this fish, inside it's belly, it had two whole sand shrimp (remember I was using only the tails) and the remnants of someone’s pink prawn.
Either this fish had been picking off other peoples baits or several people had prematurely set the hook and missed him. This fish was a "biter" for sure.
Recently I've even had fish bite on diver rods then seem to leave, only to reel in to check the bait and find that the fish has swallowed the bait and is simply swimming up river with the diver in tow.
The divers I'm using are the Jumbo Diver. In the last few years the Jumbo Jet Diver has emerged as the "go to" diver in big rivers like the Willamette and Columbia. I've had success with them in up to forty feet of water. These things are a must for getting down were you need to be. If you haven't tried one in the medium to deep water you should.
Also, with the good fishing comes the crowds and with that the higher chances of mishaps on the water. Every day out this week I've seen boats get into minor trouble while anchoring, or more specifically, pulling anchor. My boat even has a new beauty mark from some guy loosing control of his boat as he was doing "I don't know what"
Please be safe and respect the river. And look out for trees floating down river, there's a lot with this high water.
If you are going to anchor fish in a crowded condition, like Oregon City, don't use your anchor pulling. Just pull it by hand.
Also, don't just throw out the hook any old place, especially among trollers or back trollers. Stick to the traditional hog line spots. This will keep you from being unpopular :blush: If the hoglines intimidate you try someplace well away from others.
I hope some of this helps-Good Fishing.
fishermand@aol.com
[ 04-26-2003, 10:18 AM: Message edited by: David Johnson ]