columbia gators

[Biteme]

we were up in the kelly point area on sat and the usual amount of boats were in the t6 kelly point area. I scouted around in and out of the boats with my electronics and marked only 1 fish, now I know that you cant always see sturgeon but usually with my Bottomline HR It does give a pretty good representation of whats down there. We also noticed that no one had any poles bent. We went down river about 10 miles or so and also observed all of the boats along the wing dams and saw no fish on the finder as well as only one small shaker taken that we saw. We wound up back in the willamette and found a ton of fish on the finder and even with tough (very windy) conditions managed to catch several. Am I missing something about kelly point, and where are all of the fish in the columbia? Im sure that with all of the boats that fish from t6 down to st. Helens that fish are being caught, but how many? Also anyone fishing upstream from t6 and if so how are you doing.


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Dennis H.

[Richter]

Dennis,

I went out friday afternoon and fished my spots between Longview and Cathlamet. It was the first time I've been out sturgeon fishing since " the curtains of death" came out of the Columbia. We marked very few sturgeon. Normally, even if we don't catch a legal sturgeon, we catch lots of shakers. Friday's result 2 bites, o fish.

Rich

[whitewaterbill]

Hi Dennis,

The last couple weeks have been slow for me also. Not sure where they went but 2 and 3 weeks back it was very productive. I did mark a lot of fish but they were for the most part suspended 8 or 10 feet from the bottom.
I saw you cruise by mid day. If you want to check catch rates....look at ODFW site....They update on Wednesdays. It has really been pretty good all winter....just a couple of slow days, But that is fishin!!!

Bill

[birdhunter]

Thanks again to Ayefsh who took me and Coot22 out on Sat to Kelly Pt. Had a great time out there with him and his son. Caught two keepers including a tagged fish which we released.

Got my keeper on a my Shakespeare Intrepid salmon rod and 20lb test. Let me tell you, that was a fun fight. My buddy was sure the rod was going to explode. It was completely doubled over with the tip in the water. Learned really quick that the fish don't like it when you twang the line. Tried it once to see if it would jump (that's what I've heard) and the fish went on a very long run. Finally got the fish in after only about 10 minutes. Beautiful, fat 45 incher.

Caught lots of shakers all day long. Toughest thing was they would be nibbling on the bait down there and you would set your hook and get nothing. Happened a lot. Don't know if they were just biting really light or bumping the line or what. Great trip, although we learned how hard it can be to start up a cold diesel when we got back.

Saw plenty of other people catch fish. Couple of other nice keepers. Also saw quite a few salmon jumping. I just have to keep telling myself it's too early. Must resist.....oh what the heck. Thanks again Ayefsh. Let me know when you wanna go hit some metalheads or springers on the Clack.

[aye fsh]

Hey Hey birdhunter! what a day. Got that all happy went fishing glow going on today. What a blast. Nothing like gator fishing with noodle rods 'eh? Got some good pictures this trip, will post them on the picturetrail album thingy asap. Erik is getting over his loss. What happened folks was my 11 year old son had to learn the rule about releasing fish that are hooked other than in the mouth. He was not a very happy boy when he realized I was serious about turning back the biggest legal size fish he had ever caught. In his mind he hooked, fought and wrestled that baby all the way up from 100 feet and he earned that fish. Felt like I was throwing his puppy overboard! We'll send in for the tag info and that will give him something good to remember. Has to learns the rules, even if it stings a bit. He's ready to get after 'em again, really wants that keeper!
John ended up only keeping one of those fish, ran into him today and had a good laugh over the rodbusters next door.
Guess what I did today? Has something to do with never ever ever having to try to start a cold diesel with bad glow plugs again. Took a buddy and I about an hour and a half to change 'em out, 45 minutes of which centered around one valve cover bolt. Anxious to see how it fires up after sitting all night.
I really do want to go chase some silver fishes, sturgeon fishing is just so much fun! I think I'm going to have to be responsible for a couple of weekends here and not fish (shudder!) I would like to get together with you and coot and try the hogline thing just for the experience. Kind of like watching WWF, right? Really appreciated coot's handling of the anchor, never heard a single chain clatter or tine stroke. Really nice when someone respects your stuff. You guys are welcome in the boat always.

Biteme - I think the thing with kelly point is location. If your not fishing in the deep spot you're not catching fish, and it's hard to stay on it when the wind and tide start messing with the program. I ran my kicker and stayed pretty good but it's just kind of a wierd current at times.

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ayefsh,there4ayeam

[Biteme]

I have and do fish the deeper slots and use my kicker as well but I am curious, how many fish have you been bringing up on average the last few weeks (including shakers). How long are you having to wait in between biters.

[aye fsh]

Biteme,
The other day was only the fourth time I've fished that spot. I fished it 1/6 - limited, 1/13 - limited, 1/20 - 1 keeper, and 2/17 - 1 keeper. With three guys in the boat and staying ALL day we'd catch 20 - 30 fish. A friend has gone a couple of weekends I didn't and done well (limited with three guys). The fish would come in waves, we had a batch of bigger fish move in and doubled, and if we drifted out of the slot we got nothing. Haven't seen late comers fishing alongside catch anything at all. There was definitely more activity when we first showed up and the tide was still outgoing. once the current slowed down so did the bites. maybe one every 20 - 30 minutes. I suspect that overnight fish move in there and get snatched up by the early birds and then it's just a matter of waiting for some new ones to move in. What I don't get is this stuff where they are just banging away on your bait and you set up and nothing sticks. A lot of times you can feel the fish and then it just lets go. Frustrating as all get out! Anyways, hope this helps!

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ayefsh,there4ayeam

[Biteme]

how about upstream from kelly point, t6 anyone doing any good?