Fished 6 hours yesterday and covered a lot of water both above and below Warrior Rock. Started way below Warrior with about 15 boats and in 2 hours saw 6 netted, 1 here and 1 there but nothing like a consistent bite. The one landed right next to us was a very red, very big coho that they kept. Didn't see any fish released so assume coho. That mini bite died and got more wind so we moved up to Lewis area with about 20 boats. Zip zilch nothing. Moved way up past Bachelor and trolled down for a ways. Just 5-6 boats up above there. Most boats left and we got a good strike around lunchtime and landed an average clipped coho. Nothing more for us the rest of the day and nothing seen. At the ramp the checker had 2 fish for 15 boats (ours was 1). Guide boat pulling out had the other fish and said he tossed 1 wild back. Another boat was blanked but said they caught "a few" the day before.
Nice day overall. Actually saw more boats than I expected for coho only during deer season.

 

Fished the mouth of the Sandy from about 3-5pm today. 1/1 but no keeper as it was a “native”. 2 rods - 1 mexi hat spinner but the fish came on a pink and white mini cutplug with pink hoochie. Marked a few more but no biters. Didn’t see any nets from the other 4-5 boats out there.

 

Released 2 chinook today for 4 rods. 1 spinner and 1 spinfish. Weeds were horrible.

Looking at the counts from yesterday, it makes sense why we had such a good day on Friday.

 

Went 3/3 yesterday (Sunday) and remarkably all fin-less. Saw another half dozen caught from ten or so boats near the Lewis. Silver Fire Starter 3.0 spinfish and pink/chartreuse/gold 3.5 spinner both did work.

 

Think it's about time to swap the Grundens for Sitka camo and transition to other adventures. While I'm very good at making use of a lot of fish meat, I'm hitting "greed" status. Was grabbing some more to feed coworkers at an upcoming company gathering. But I'm otherwise all stocked up for the winter

Fun coho season. Pressure definitely increased with each day I was out. I'm sure I'm as guilty as anyone of drawing attention to it. Opening day there was literally nobody out there.

Fun tidbit: Didn't catch a single unclipped fish since Oct 1. Not a single one.

My favorite lunch item is filling the pantry

Some large, high quality specimens this year.

Anyways, timing works out because in past years, my success always dropped way, way off by the second week of October. I may have one more trip left in me due to promising a friend a trip and it not having worked out yet, but I'm otherwise wrapping it up.

 

Between your reports, and the spike in dam counts, it almost got me out this week. But I resisted... would have been fun to fill my tag (been a couple years since I have), but def didn't need to, especially when the wife had a good amount on her's.

 

I think we are done too. We are doing a 3 week birthday trip to SE Asia and don't get back until Halloween. Had a couple of hours yesterday, but should have saved them until the incoming in the afternoon, or at least run up to Cape Horn. We spent our time off the Sandy and have never seen so much aquatic growth in the water. I could feel it hitting the gear as I deployed. A couple of other boats there experiencing the same thing. The fish are there though. Marked lots. Our first fishless day since June, so that's okay. It's funny though. As I age, time goes by much faster, but fishing seasons seem much further apart. It will be long this year as we aren't doing Cabo this fall. First time in over 30 years. Oh well, Springers aren't that far away . Maybe a trip to Roseburg to school my grandson on Umqua winters, or some winter fly fishing. It's been a really good year. jc

 

Yeah weeds seemed to get bad again out of nowhere. Usually that seems to happen after a big wind or something like that this time of year, but I have no idea where this all came from. Definitely sucks some of the fun out of it.

Totally relatable on fishing seasons seeming further apart. Wish I was better at springers, but being likely the worst springer fisherman per hour of time invested in this corner of the world, that one makes waiting on the fisheries I actually succeed at even tougher.

 

1/1 out of chinook landing today. It was a chinook. Looked like a few fish being caught around us though.

 

Back to the reports.....

The coho numbers are impressive for this time of year. If you can get out, you should.

Troll with 30-35' on your counter. Spin fish have been producing better for me and several friends.

Lastly, troll fast.

 

What size spinfish are you finding most productive? And are you using pink hoochies or just bare naked spinfish?

 

Time on the water = getting in front of some fish. Biters gonna bite and they're gonna bite what's there. Overthinking what we use is what we do to amuse ourselves until a biter comes along. Threw most of these at them yesterday evening without so much as a drive-by. Most are proven fish getters.

Threw a spinner on while trolling in a random spot and cleaning up the boat to head in. One blip on the screen, one in the boat.

 

Spot on! "Biters are gonna bite." Good idea for a new T-shirt....

 

That hen was chrome bright with sea lice, no slime and perfect meat... and big berries.

 

Think it's about time to swap the Grundens for Sitka camo and transition to other adventures. While I'm very good at making use of a lot of fish meat, I'm hitting "greed" status. Was grabbing some more to feed coworkers at an upcoming company gathering. But I'm otherwise all stocked up for the winter

Fun coho season. Pressure definitely increased with each day I was out. I'm sure I'm as guilty as anyone of drawing attention to it. Opening day there was literally nobody out there.

Fun tidbit: Didn't catch a single unclipped fish since Oct 1. Not a single one.
View attachment 1075615

My favorite lunch item is filling the pantry
View attachment 1075620


Some large, high quality specimens this year.
View attachment 1075619



Anyways, timing works out because in past years, my success always dropped way, way off by the second week of October. I may have one more trip left in me due to promising a friend a trip and it not having worked out yet, but I'm otherwise wrapping it up.

Back to the reports.....

The coho numbers are impressive for this time of year. If you can get out, you should.

Troll with 30-35' on your counter. Spin fish have been producing better for me and several friends.

Lastly, troll fast.

Nice fish and Great updates!!! Appreciate the details. Have fished Kings below Sandy to 52. Haven’t fished coho here and could use some help. Assume a longer( if any?) lead dropper line is used than 12 “ king set up? Have used 360 with copper spinner, black white tips- thanks to your helpful posts!…Used salmon slammer and herring. Any suggestions on rigging, scents, etc would be great. Thank you !

 

No lead droppers with 360s. No scents unless it's tuna in a stuffer.

Shorter bumper and leaders catch more coho for me, 18" or so. Spinfish, Super Baits, spinners. 25'-35' on the counter, often on the shallower side. Like Devonian said, go fast.