Columbia Chinook Report - 8/30

I fished with Puget Sound salmon fishing affectionado (sp? - means he loves it and is really knowledgable about it up there) Jeff Whitehead and his Dad today for Columbia 'nooks below the mouth of the Cowlitz. We anchored a couple hundred yards below the hogline at the mouth to fish the outgoing tide, and from 7 a.m. until 1 p.m. we saw 2 hooked from that line and 2 hooked from the lines a few hundred yards down. Jeff anchored us alone at the upper end of the port docks above the big yellow crane in 48' of water, cooled by the Cowlitz outflow. We tuned up 3 different proven colors of Alvin wobblers and scented them; then fished them with 4 1/2', 5', & 5 1/2' droppers. We tuned 2 of them for the slower 4 to 8 action and I tried mine a little faster with about a 4 1/2 to 8 1/2 swing. We checked and cleaned debris off of them. No bites on them all morning so we started to try different things such as FST's and blue-tipped rainbows, etc. Just as we left the outside boat on this new line that Jeff formed hooked up. *%%$@! At the dock I talked to the fish checker and several fishermen who said that there was a decent bite for the boats all the way down by the Longview bridge. No more than 1 fish for any one boat though; checked in by that time at least. We couldn't quite see well enough to notice any action down that far or we would have moved. Forgot the binos. The ODFW checker at the Rainier ramp told me that the while there's no really good bite going on lately, that the best numbers are coming from St Helen's on down the Columbia, and generally quite slow up the river. I don't know about you other fishers, that only go a few times to this Col. fall fishery like me, but if I could just have a crystal ball that would tell what the bite would be I'd rather have taken my good company golfing today. Of course, if the 2 times I've gone out there this fall were good days with hookups for us I wouldn't be whinning like this . Come on rain, and fishing the tributaries and Tillamook area for me (after Northern B.C. first)! - RT

[This message has been edited by RT (edited 08-30-2000).]

[MoJet Driver]

Okay, I give...

What is 4 to 8 and 4 1/2 to 8 1/2 action?

Is this something perverted or does it have something to do with blow-up emus :eek?

MJD

[MoJet Driver]

Okay, I give...

What is 4 to 8 and 4 1/2 to 8 1/2 action?

Is this something perverted or does it have something to do with blow-up emus :eek?

MJD

Pardon the omission. Didn't someone post what that was? Or am I thinking about the current issue of STS mag. (Aug./Sept.) which has a wobbler article in it? Anyway, the numbers refer to position by the clock. A good wobble for the warm water 'nooks is a back and forth wobble/swing from the 4 o'clock position to the 8 o'clock position. In a faster outgoing tide you will need to tune wobblers by plier bending the wings up into a slightly flater angle, or it will wobble harder from the 3 o'clock to 9 o'clock positions. In the approximate 70 degree Col. water the 'nooks prefer a lazier action on wobblers to most any other lure. So it seems. - RT

[Mrdorkfish]

I've been reading and taking in all this information from everyone and still don't think it makes a difference which color or how your alvin swings.....I've heard about fish caught in deep water ....30'plus, and have seen a picture of my brothers fish...37lbs...caught in 21ft of water with an untuned,nickel,with a 5ft dropper line! I'm gonna be out on the river waiting for light just happy to be out there and thinking i'm gonna go with the chartruse tape on a chrome alvin.....with a 3/O treble to slow down the wobble and a 5ft dropper line ! LOL ha ah ...Good luck everyone !

Maybe i'll try a corndog?

Good idea for the Alvin m.dork.f But I wouldn't try the corndog; it will give you heartburn and badbreath

[Jeffhead]

Just want to say that RT, my Dad and I had another great day of fishin' on the Columbia. The catchin' left something to be desired but that's OK, there will be another day. The company was awesome!!! I think that you build up for the great days by the number of slow days that you have and that makes you appreciate the great days even more. This was my first time in this fishery but I will be back!!! The only thing I can add tech wise is the Alvin's we were using were two different blue and chrome patterns, one with blue dots and the other with more of a herring pattern and a straight chrome one that RT turned into a half green with a black eye on one side. One last thing, I saw the add for RT's "get you to the dock on time Camaro", that may be a misnomer. 25 minutes late and all that motor don't help ya when the traffic is thick as fleas but I'll just let that one go!!! Must have been some early mornin' emu lovin', hmmmmmmm.
Good luck and tight lines, Jeff



[This message has been edited by Jeffhead (edited 08-31-2000).]

[MoJet Driver]

RT, thanks for clearing that up. I had never heard the wobble referred to by clock position but that's what I suspected. STS covered tuning but not that in depth. Mainly they were talking about changing hooks from siwash to trebles and adding swivels etc, to tame the wobble. That is one technique that I use rather than to bend the lure. The Noors seems like a fairly easy lure to tune by bending but I'm always concerned about bending anything over $3.oo for fear that it will never run true again no matter what I try. But that's just me and I have had good luck changing the hooks and adding a swivel or short section of bead chain.