fishing/frenchmans

Grant Betts · 09-11-2001, 07:29 PM

I haven't been to frenchman's for a few weeks. Last time I got skunked. Is it getting better?

WaterDog · 09-12-2001, 06:30 AM

I was at frenchman's last Saturday and got skunked too. Did see a few, and I mean a few caught.

Fishinmission, Garyk, anyone been out there in the last day or so? I'm trying to figure out where to go for the weekend. Astoria, Frenchman's, nestucca.........choices [img]images/icons/rolleyes.gif[/img]

FishinMission · 09-12-2001, 10:39 AM

Was there Monday afternoon. 2 "Ifish" members hooked and landed the only two fish we saw. "Sureset" got one, and so did I. Might be worth your time to go there if you've been following the tech tips for out there. However...if it's a sunny weekend day, and you expect lots of pleasure craft, you may wanna go somewhere else. Last Sunday, it sounded like a swarm of bees out there with all the waverunners, and we only saw one fish caught. I'm startin' ta think there's a connection between waverunner activity, and fish hooking activity. Lots of waverunners=very few fish. Best during the weekdays, and only about 10 boats out there. Good luck...Mark

garyk · 09-12-2001, 04:11 PM

I'm no expert and don't have much to add other than we do plan to hit Frenchman's both Sat. and Sun.

If I was familiar with the water, I'd be more inclined to fish down around Astoria.

For what it's worth, last year Sept 24 was our best day.

We know the fish are there, just have to get them to bite.

And I do concurr with the with the jetski noise. I've done better with less motor traffic.

Wave the ******** away when they come within 100 yards -- it gives you something to do between bites!

WaterDog · 09-12-2001, 08:55 PM

The fish counts tell the story. Over 100K chinook over bonny in the last 5 days. WOW [img]images/icons/shocked.gif[/img] The coho counts are up as well so the fish are on the move. The whole river is full of fish. The tides are early so we may be able to fish with out the noise for a bit anyway.

What is your stratagy when you fish at frenchman's as far as where you anchor? I know 40-50 feet and find a "slot". But I have seen one day the bite is toward the middle then the next day it's a quarter of the way from the Washington side to the middle of the river. I see the same boats every weekend and they always seem to move around. I keep fishing the same spot only because I did well there a couple of weeks ago.

Now, if they would only bite. [img]images/icons/rolleyes.gif[/img]

garyk · 09-12-2001, 09:25 PM

Again, I'm no expert....

Everyone seems to have their favorite spot(s).

Notice that the bottom undulates. There's not just one bar, but a whole series up and down the river.

For myself, I'm looking to anchor just upstream of one of the low points that drop off to 46'-50'. Then I want to drop our offering on the lip of the dropoff.

Something else though that hasn't been discussed on here this year is tuning your wobbler to slow the action; by bending and in my case going to 4/0 hooks.

I also think scent is important, we've been using herring.

I also like blue tape this year, but I notice the guys in the Spectrum boat who've been hammering them apparently are using green tape.

We'll keep our fingers crossed for a better weekend. I would feel better if some of the chinook we caught were clipped fins.

WaterDog · 09-13-2001, 05:54 AM

Thanks Gary. I've looked for the same things. I have also been "tuning" my wobblers as well and using a variety of scents. May try a kwikfish with a wrap this weekend. I've seen a few fish taken on a rainbow alvin and a white/blue tip clancy. We caught our fish on a silver/charturse tip alvin. Gotta keep trying............

garyk · 09-13-2001, 08:50 AM

Waterdog, both days we should have three or four rods out and one thing I'll try on one, if the current is strong enough to get a roll, is a plug cut herring.

SureSet · 09-13-2001, 03:50 PM

Spent the morning tide today without even seeing so much as one fish for twenty boats. I did get to meet "Gizmo" the dog who is pretty cool, his owner Walt was a nice guy as well, although he didn't seem to appriciate Gizmo's unplanned jump from the boat. [img]images/icons/shocked.gif[/img]

Nice to meet both of them and their buddy Steve as well.

SureSet

garyk · 09-13-2001, 05:18 PM

Sureset,

Yikes, that's not very encouraging.

Were you there to the bottom of the outgoing tide? Thanks!

Tilla · 09-13-2001, 05:27 PM

Our boat has put five in the fish box in four trips. We Used an array of wobblers but, all fish were on silver Alvins with a oval reflective green dot placed between the legs of the A. We did break the leader on a Chartteuse green dot one AM.

Gizmo Man · 09-13-2001, 07:17 PM

Sureset: it was nice talking with you also.

We fished til about noon. Not much water moving. We did not see any hooked. I was in 47'

Seems like its an every other day out there. The day I take off is the day they bang them.

It is nice, however, to be out there on such a nice day and not have to fight the crowds.

Meeting nice new dads like sureset was an added bonus.

Giz. [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

Tinman · 09-13-2001, 08:43 PM

Fished Frenchman's for a couple of hours this evening, but no luck. Used one silver Alvin, one Brass Alvin, 5' and 5'. There were only a half-dozen boats out. One boat scored a Chinook and a Coho, but other than that it was pretty slow.