Feeders

[OregonSportsman]

I would agree and say that the Chinooks are down below the silvers, just my $0.02.

[Mark Mc]

Ab, the short answer is "it depends." There are many variables.

First off, kings like 51 - 55 degree water. A pretty narrow band. 52-53 is ideal. Second, they follow the feed.

Early in the year (April - May) the NW winds are usually still blowing, and the water is clear and cold on the surface. When the wind backs off a little, the water "churns" (turns over, deep to shallow)and you get upwelling. "Upwelling" is the magic word. Nutrients come up from the deep, and mixed with the sunlight this causes a plankton bloom. Then the food chain really starts going, with krill & baitfish showing up. When a plankton bloom happens it gets a murky color to it, preferably a brown color. When you have this upwelling & brown water up high, the fish will be up high too (like within the top 50-60 ft). This generally happens in June - mid July.

If the surface gets too warm, like > 57, you generally won't have surface upwelling. The fish will be deeper in the cooler water. This tends to happen the later in the summer it gets.

Every summer the kings show up on the rockpile (stonewall bank) outside of Newport. They can be down on the bottom in 200 feet, or they can be 50 ft down. You just have to be prepared for both. Watch for the commercial fleet. If you see a bunch of "stick" boats, the fish are definitely there.

Towards the end of the summer & into the fall, kings usually show up within a few miles of the beach near the river mouths. Tillamook, Salmon River, Waldport, Elk & Sixes...

There's usually a run off Depoe Bay this time of year (fall), with the fish down deep in 200 - 300 ft of water. You might want to search some old posts on this one.

A little later I'll put together my salmon trolling essay again.

Good luck,

Mark

[Abalone]

The last couple of years I have really enjoyed the Ocean Salmon fishing off the Oregon coast. I usually fish out of Nehalem Bay. My pusuit has been Silvers but I keep wondering about the Chinooks. I have hooked a few incidentely but would like to spend some time learning where to find the Chinooks. When ever I ask anyone about the subject it seems like they know but aren't willing to share this information. Can anyone explain to me how to find the Fishing lanes ? How far out and how deep you have to go to find them ? I have done this in Canada so I assume
the same thing goes on down here. Sometimes the big Tyee's are down 250 ' and you need a nice electric Downrigger to get to them. I sometimes notice what appears to be large Schools of Fish underneath the Coho's When I am into them and
wonder if they are Chinooks. When I lower my gear to that level I don't get any action.

Any helpful information would be appreciated.

Thanks

[corrirod]

There is lots of good chinook fishing outside Nehalem Bay. Like most have said you'll need to go a little deeper to get them "usually". Between Nehalem and Tillamook there is a rock piling called Twin rocks. This summer try fishing due west of the rocks in 240 ft. of water. Try to keep your line between 50-75 ft. deep and you'll get chinook. Keep in mind, the chinook aren't as "thick" as the coho so don't expect the rods to go crazy as soon as you put them in the water.

Stay on the board and we'll get you into some big FEESH!

[finclipped]

I'm not as knowledgable as some of these other Salty Dogs, but here is my two cents. This applies to the Ocean places I fished the last few years: Tillamook, Nehalem and Astoria. Mostly in 140-240 feet of water.

I picked up a lot of chinook early in the morning on the surface. I had several days where the first fish of the day was a chinook, then silvers the rest of the day. So in my estimation, the chinooks come right to the surface at day break. Then they seem to go deeper. Not always, but as a rule of thumb. After several trips of limiting on coho before we got any chinook, I started targeting deeper water. We would run 2 or 3 deep rods from 50'-120' (downriggers or heavey lead), and one or two surface rods with divers(8-30 pulls.)

On a couple occasions, the surface rods would limit the boat before we could catch chinook on the deeper rods, but.... the deeper rods always produced more chinook.

Fishing 4 people, I averaged about 2 chinook per trip, and the rest coho.

[Pilar]

There are some great books out there on Salmon fishing and one in particular by Dennis Reed. I'll get the title for you tomorrow.

From what I have read and practiced there's a few general rules to follow. Exceptions abound but the general will help you most days.

1) Time of day affects the depth you find the fish.

2) Water temperature influences the location of feed.

3) Converging currents and structure concentrate feed.

4) Feed concentrates Salmon.

5) Structure holds kings.

Depth ... Silvers like the top 50 feet of water. Kings tend to hold deeper and go down to 250 at times. All Salmon can be found near the surface at 1st light. When the sun hits the water look for Kings to descend at a rate of 50 feet an hour.

Kings like structure, silvers like clouds of baitfish, ephasiid shrimp and Krill. This is why you will find silvers in the wastelands between Newport and the rockpile. Miles of sand bottom with tide rips, baitfish and silvers.

You will find Kings most often at depths of 100 feet or more in water that is 180 feet or deeper. Unless you have recent local info to the contrary fish the surface at 1st light and get down to 100 feet by 8 am. Off Garibaldi and Twin rocks the usual deal is to run out to the NW off Cascade head to 200 feet of water and drag downriggers at 100 feet. Start there anyway and work up or down until you get into fish. At 1st light fish for Silvers at 10 feet and you will hit a few Kings right away. They go down after that and you will get only sivers. I can't even count the times I was checking a rig before sending it down only to have it slammed right in the propwash by a big gnarly king. This always happens on the 1st or second drop of the day. That purple flash in the water in the half light of dawn will stop your heart.

Temp This is something I need to learn more about. Mark has some good pointers. I have learned to look for 55 degrees or less. Many more hookups there and very few in clear green warm water (55-60). Also I love to see the thermocline near the surface (50 to 100 feet). This shows up as a line on the sonar when you turn the sensitivity up real high. Set the down rigger just above the line.

Tide rips These show as a line of scum on the water. Also it can look like a line of smooth water and a rougher stretch running side by side. Currents colliding push bait fish together. You will find silvers here. Sometimes you find kings down deeper under this same water. Troll back and forth across the line and figure out which side the fish are on. Check your gear often as it will load up with seaweed and trash.

Concentrated feed Use the Mexican fish finders. Birds spend every waking hour looking for something to eat. Diving birds make a hell of a racket and you can spot them from miles away. Usually this is a bait ball and you get salmon below, bait in the middle and gulls above. Once they gorge themselves they will sit in a group over the spot. You will see scales and feathers in the water. Often these birds are too fat to fly. Intense bird activity marks the spot to fish almost every time.

Structure Kings favor rocks on the bottom and along the beach. You will find these fish in the same spots every year. Unlike silvers that are keyed to the tide rips, Kings like to hang in certain places. By all means make a note of any King you catch trolling near the Rockpile, seal rocks and other places. GPS will take you right back there again and again.

The last thing is to make good notes on your trips. Weather, what was working, water temp, GPS waypoints and so on. This becomes a goldmine as the years go by. Just look up last year ,this day and try the same spots and the same rigs ....


Tight lines and 3 cheers for the King of salmon.

[whaleraddict]

I haven't fished out of the Nehalem much but as you can tell by the posts being able to fish deep is important. For that you typically need a downrigger. However, if you don't have a downrigger you can rig up with 50lb spider line and the heaviest diver you can buy. The spider line doesn't stretch much and has a diameter equivalent to 12lb mono so it won't bend as much as well. I use line counters so I can guess at the depth I am achieving. Also, I fish out of Ilwaco and beginning mid August the Chinook begin pouring in. During this time you can run north out of the mouth and fish just outside of the breakwater along long beach in 30-50 feet of water (watch out for the crab traps). Last year, we couldn’t catch anything but Chinook and had to move out to deeper water to get our silvers. Also, I am already stocking up on large frozen hearing (purple) strictly for hunting Chinook. Long leaders and a slow troll seem to work the best. I am thinking about adding a downrigger to my boat this year because they are truly the best tool for Chinook.

[Abalone]

Wow you guys are great !

I think I stated this before but my Boat is a Sixteen ft. all Black inflatable. I am in the Ocean a lot
during the year. When I get the motor Back I may head down there soon for a Botttom fishing
excursion.

Ever since I first used an Electric down rigger on a guide boat in Canada I have wanted to own one.
So it looks like I have the excuse now. I bringing the down rigger up really an issue when you get a fish on. It sounds like an obvious question but I never have gotten a fished wrapped up in my hand operated style down riggers, so I am wondering if that happens ?

I like the idea I read about with the diver you can send you line up and down with.


Thanks again.