Took my brother's Searunner on its maiden CR voyage today. Original plan was to cross the river at Longview and launch from the Oregon side near Clatskanie. NO GO!

ADVISORY: Be forwarned all... Longview bridge is closed thru 5:30 am Monday.

Plan B... launch from Washington side at Cathlamet. Cross over to Clifton Channel and join the troll festival.


Within an hour, we hook our first springer on plug-cut brined blue label herring trolled behind a green Fish Flash in 16 ft of water at the bottom end of Tenasilahe Island. The cookie cutter chromer puts up a nice topwater show for my brother, but throws the barbless hook during a boatside pirouette. Within minutes, another takedown, but doesn't stick. Yeah, baby, they're biting! Major confidence builder for the day to come... NOT!

We troll the entire channel up, down, and sideways for hours right up to high water.... and not another bite! The non-bite was shared with a hundred other boats who managed to scrape up a fish here and a fish there, but nothing like you would expect for the number of boats out there.

We round out the bottom end of the island back over to the WA side of Tenasilahe to anchor up with Kwikfish. Almost immediately, one guide boat is on the fish... BONK! Minutes later, another... BONK! Finally we get a double whump drive-by on a K15 Chinese Measles. AARGH.... 0 for 3!


Twenty minutes later, Chinese Measles gets pounded again, but this time line is absolutely ripping from the reel!


Finally, my brother is redeemed... but wait, what's that fleshy thing near the tail?


Native number one released.


A few minutes later, my rod goes down, and a flat-lined K16-X Fickle Pickle finds solid chrome. Yee Hah! Another plug loses its virginity.


This fish is red hot, but as it nears the boat... you guessed it... native number two.




Fickle Pickle and Chinese Measles each get one more takedown in the next two hours, but neither one sticks long enough to let the fish turn and bury the rod.

Had a great time learning some "new" spots (for us), but it just wasn't our day to put a fish in the box.

Nee ho ma, thinking yall's need more black bean and garlic on the herring strips....YUM! Thanks for the report, had a co-worker tell me he went out and was red-hot! I'm thinking he was shoveling the bull.

Robert

Nice Reel.

Nice Reel.

At least you were hooking fish. Looks like you had fun.

Kris

FNP, great report and pics. It's always a lot of fun to have success in a new boat.

good way to break the new boat in! nice fish

sound like a great time on the big c !!!!

Oh, now..............you can't go complaining after a day like that. Sure, the tastebuds have seen happier days, but you got some good action.........and the fish gods don't like disappointment being shown when you are rewarded with chrome.

Now throw a sardine fillet over your left shoulder, burn some incense, and eat a can of sardines in Louisiana Hot Sauce before your mojo turns bad.

fishNphysician-
Glad to see you guys got into some fish! We had a great time up at bonny with 16 fish in two days!!! Fortunately for us the bbq will be fired up tonight . I'll post some pics when I have time! Sounds like the end of June for the ocean. Let's hook it up!
Canyon Man

Nice ones. So the fish that don't stick, is it a drag thing? Cuz I'm thinking everyone uses sharp hooks. Do you want the drag to be a little loose so they can run a little without alot of resistance. or a tight drag so when they turn & run the hook gets buried??? Thanx

Geez Doc,

How did we miss each other?

We were there over the weekend and caught 4 keepers Saturday (12 hours) and 2 keepers Sunday (9 hours).

fp

fp:
Didn't know you were down there.... would have said hello if I had seen you. Sounds like you found more than a few fish.


KNOPHISH:
That drag question sounds like a good poll topic... headed there now.

Doc, thanks for the post. Looks like a great day to me. I will be at Bonneville on Wednesday afternoon then either Cathlamet or Wind River on Thursday. Going with Guide Tom Nelson (Skagit River Outfitters) great guy and a chance to learn that CR fishery. Next year I will have the boat to do it on my own.

Hey Fishdoc, maybe if you replaced those silly siwash hooks with the original trebles some of those fish woulda stuck. I was bitter about losing one yesterday on the original trebles but I'm pretty sure that was my own cracker job and not the hooks.

Just hoping to start a multi-page thread about hooks on Kwikies.

Doc,
Thanks for the awesome report and cool pics!!!
But you should give those new 510 hooks a try, you might like them.
Winterun.

Winterun:

Sorry I never made it up your way to pick up those 510's. I have some coming in on special order from one of the local Aberdeen tackle shops tomorrow. I'm wishin' I had 'em for the Columbia last Saturday.

If you look carefully at the Fickle Pickle pic, you'll see I modified the siwash hooks with a slight offset and a slight inward bend toward the shank (a la General Zog). Gives it a somewhat circle-like bend, kind of like the new 510's.

That modification might be negatively affecting the strike:hookup ratio on the Kwikfish. I will say this, though... the hookup:landed ratio was 100%. The exaggerated bend made the typically easy task of removing the hook a little more difficult than usual, even with my trusty de-hooker. Once they hook, they really do hold.

The other possibility for all our missed strikes is the drag factor.... still waiting for a larger sample of replies on the poll I started.

Guys, I tried the 510's for a statistically insignificant four strikes. Results were 1 for 3. I may try them for a while longer, but I'm not convinced they are any kind of magic.