Finally got out after some fish after a couple weeks off. They have us working 6 10s at work, so a day on the water is hard to come by. CD Johnson Invited me on his 24 Bounty for a day fishing out of the Columbia River. He also asked me to grab a couple friends, so Steve and Taylor jumped in too. Plan A was tuna, but the forcasted 25kt afternoon winds and already short steep waves made us stay in. We dropped three pots by A jetty over by Ilwaco, and headed across the bar at 6 am. It was not too bad, short and steep thanks to the outgoing tide, but when we got out to the CR buoy, there was wide open silver fishing. We had 8 fish in little over an hour, from 8-14 pounds. At one point, I gave up trying to get the downrigger set, and just freespooled my spoon back, and then reeled it back in. Hookup! All fish on hardware, crocs, coyotes, Apex. We probably landed 20 fish for our 8 keepers and lost that many fooling around.
We ran inside to continue fishing and to collect the crabs. We got 8 dungees, not bad for a couple hours in moving outgoing water. We set up for a troll again, and managed two chinooks a 20 pound tule and an 18 pound upriver bright, and a couple more silvers to round out the limit. We also release a few more unclipped silvers and dropped a couple nice chinook.
Two hits on bait all day, but we didn't run it until we were in the river, and then just on two rods. Hot setup was a red croc behind a silver fish flash, accounting for both chinook and the largest of the silvers.
Back on the dock by 2pm. I love plan B!
Pics-
Crew and catch
Steve and URB
Taylor and Tule (which cut redder than the URB!)
Good day at the mouth of the columbia
skein
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