Here's a little that might help...
You can fish two ways, trolling and anchored. Both of which work best on the outgoing tide. I've always preferred bait with "fresh frozen" green label herring being my favorite,I usually fish them fresh out of the pack but at times brining them in rocksalt, water, anise, and some other bite enhancers does help. I always use a cutplug and remember THE TIGHTER THE SPIN THE BETTER. I run that off a 5-6ft leader and use a 18-24" dropper depending on if I'm fishing the bottom or trolling deeper water. I prefer to fish water that is 14-24ft depending on water color. If your out in the columbia look for shallow sand flats on the inside bends of the river ie. Buoy 72 and Bachelors island as fish with take shortcuts on there migration upriver and fish the same water depths as mentioned above. Never be afraid to troll upriver and especially downriver as you will cover more water while headed downstream. If you're fishing river mouths you'll want to watch for current seams as fish tend to follow those, especially the Columbia/river mouth water as they will tend to be different colors with the river dumping into the columbia being cleaner.

If you anchor (fish have to come to you) and that's when I prefer K15 kwikfish wrapped with sardines and the types of sardines you use (different species available) does make a difference. If there's not a lot of trash fish around for instance in the mouth of the lewis I love running baitdivers and sandshrimp with a chartruese/orange dot spin glo in the size #10 again depending on water color because you will up your odds of catching the early april summer run steelhead. If waters are real clear don't be afraid to run some K12's and K13's in green pirate and blue pirate as both springers and steelhead love them and don't be afraid to troll them slowly too.

Last but not least, if you hook a springer in the columbia always be on the lookout for the harbor seals and sea lions. If they're around and get ahold of your spinger it's the fight of a life and nothing hurts worse than seeing a fricken sea lion eating the belly out of your 30+ springer...
Good luck and if you have any other questions feel free to email.
Keith