With another clear frosty night reminding me that it's now December, I'm longing for warmer days. Man, it seems like it was just yesterday that we were enjoying long summer days, evening campfires, and lots of time in between bobbing around the mouth of the mighty Columbia enjoying the freakin' biggest salmon fishing party the PNW has to offer.



Fishing with a couple thousand of your closest buddies may not appeal to those trying to get away from it all. And while pics like the one above make the fishery seem a bit intimidating, it's not nearly half as bad as it looks. With over 14 river miles to spread the fleet from the Buoy 10 line upriver to Rice Island, there's plenty of room to find some water to call your own.

The excitement level at the ramp on the first day of the trip is typically at red-line for me and my crew. But just outside the East Mooring Basin, anticipation yielded to frustration and despair as the overheat alarm on my E-tec waled repeatedly each time I hit 2200 RPM. Water pump issues!

Decision time....
Fish the OR side, plow across to the WA side, or bag it all together? Well the repair shops weren't open at 5:30 am... and dammit there were fish to be caught... and according to Vedder and others, the opposite side of the river was THE place to be. DONE!

It took over an hour to plow our way to the promised land, and by then the tide had already turned in earnest.

Decision time again. I could see that lots of fish were being caught and I couldn't bear the thought of losing even more time plowing upriver against the tide at glacial speed all the way to the top of the troll path. At least not while chrome slab after chrome slab was being heaved over gunnels all around us. Dammit! Fish or cut bait? Drown 'em boys!

We dropped our lines and painfully slow-trolled our way AGAINST the prevailing troll traffic. OMFG! I could just hear every passing boat muttering about the doughballs in the black sled with the giant useless motor ... doing it ALL wrong. Yeah it cost us a bunch of strikes (at least 4:1) in a wide-open bite, but at least we were fishing! About an hour into the troll, I was losing confidence and decided to attempt a downhill pass. Spun her around and in under 7 minutes we were right back to our starting point.... with no way to get back to the top!

OMFG! This is my worst nightmare as a captain!

Spun 'er back around to start all over again.... reassuring myself and my crew that, hey... at least we were fishing. Thankfully we did a little catching along the way, too. My neighbor Kyle invited a young man named Jesse to come join us for his first real salmon trolling trip. Jesse was an absolute natural at deploying gear. He had the bottom dredging drill down pat in about 3 tries.... and he was the first to score.







Yes... ALL hatchery fish MUST die!

We continued to trudge upriver. At the upper end of the troll, the captain was able to put fish number two in the box...



By this point in our day, our young friend was starting to get a little funky green looking. We decided to start trolling back downhill again. Man the scenery went flying by at 3 knots! Before you knew it we were almost back to the bridge... but not before scoring another nice salmon for Jesse. Funny how a fish on the line almost instantaneously cures sea-sickness!















Fired the big motor up for the painful plow back to Astoria. Trailered the sled and towed it down to Columbia Pacific Marine Works where the guys supplied us the FREE hose material for me and my crew to make the necessary repair. Back on the water, she's pissin' like a race horse... an easy 20 ft stream at 1000 RPM's... and she's FLYIN' upriver at 36 knots with 5 folks on board. We clean the fish and send it all home with Kyle and Jesse when we get back to the ramp.

LMWS f4b and myself take a short beak for a late lunch, and by the time our lines hit the water again, the tide was already well into the incoming. We worked our way along the lower Desdemona Sands and back up above the bridge where LMWS scored this platinum wild beauty.









Family, friends, and fishing.... warms the soul.

Day 2...

I realize some of these are re-runs, but with pics as stunningly beautiful as the ones Twitch captured of the East Mooring Basin at twilight, no one's gonna complain.







Team eyeFISH this fine morning consists of LMWS, Little Miss Achewter, Twitch, f4b, and yours truly. Nothing like an early start with the confidence that the boat is gonna fly across the big river. Looks like we're gonna beat the sun to the fishin' hole... but just barely!



We motor all the way up the WA side miles beyond where we puttered the previous morning. We drop lines for the first downhill pass and before we've trolled 50 yds, Little Miss Achewter's hangback Fatal Flash hoochie spinner scores the first rod down. It's a big WILD snaggle-toothed tule-saurus, so back it goes.









LMWS scores the next bite.... a platinum hi-20's lo-30's URB that takes off screamin' and catapults 4-5 ft out of the water right in front of Achewter's boat. I throw the kicker in reverse to slow the uncontrolled outflow of superline..... only to watch the spool suddenly go into hyperdrive. F'n leonine furbag snatched her trophy! I fire up the E-Tec to give chase, but before I could get anywhere close, he thrashed the chunky king like a limp ragdoll, parting the 40# Max UG in the process. GDITMMM!

About a 1/2 mile downriver, it would be Twitch's turn to battle the next platinum pig. No pics of the battle but here's the moment of glory with a CHROME-alicious hatchery Young's Bay Rogue bright!






We weren't the only ones scoring that morning. Here's Team Canyon puttin' on a Clinique' du Chinuque for fishead5 and Team Hells Canyon.








Late that morning the girls decided to jump ship and went back to the EMB with my buddy Steelies'R'Us. Team Achewter followed suit an hour or so later, but not before letting Achewter Jr climb aboard my barge for a pass or two. First drop below the bridge and Achewter Jr scores with my Cyclops spinner bait rig.

Day 3...

High winds greet us at the EMB... too much for Team Achewter to venture forth across the estuary in their little Bayrunner.... so Team eyeFISH picks up two more to round out the crew as Achewter and Achewter Sr climb aboard to join Little Miss Achewter, Twitch, f4b, LMWS and myself in the black barge.

We catch the last of the incoming tide as we arrive on the WA side and drop 'em right above the bridge to start an uphill troll. With seven rods at our disposal, the team lays out an entire smorgasboard of whole baits, cut baits, spinner bait combos, and nekkid hangback hoochie spinners. LMWS announces that she does not want to battle anymore BIG kings only to lose 'em to a hungry sea lion before she has a fighting chance to reel 'em in. So she opts to deploy a small hangback Colorado hoochie spinner she named the Dream-sicle to specifically target small coho.

We're in the water about 5 minutes when my rod takes a massive dive and line starts melting rapidly from the spool of the Calcutta TE 700.... before we can get the rest of the gear cleared, the reel is DEEP into the backing! Yeah baby, Cyclops spinner bait strikes again! It scored the nice platinum buck for Achewter Jr the day before, but this BIG slab was more than twice the size.... a perfect fish for the old man, and boy did it kick Achewter's butt! Damn hangbacks!

Not sure why I don't have more pics of the fight, but this shot of the ultra-chrome Youngs Bay Rogue bright clearly shows the mechanics of the hangback hookup.



HAPPINESS defined.....





And remember folks....

All hatchery fish MUST die!



We get 'em back down after the glory shots and not 10 minutes later, LMWS's Dream-sicle is getting rattled. WAIT WAIT WAIT... patiently pausing in anticipation of her coho finally burying the rod.... and DOWN for the count she finally goes!

YEE HAW!!!!

But wait... that sucker's staying pinned down.... WAY DOWN... and by something a bit more substantial than your typical Buoy 10 coho.

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BTW that's Achewter's king still standing nose down in the bleeder bucket.



Porky platinum URB! And the biggest fish of the season to hit the box! Way to go LMWS!





Here's a proud dad and triumphant daughter revealing the details of her now infamous Dream-sicle spinner! Another great hangback hookup! So much for that blade being her ultimate coho killer.



So how many 11 yr old girls you figure can heft up a slab like this solo?



(I know of at least ONE other... and she was right on board patiently waiting her turn! )

Ever notice how some guys never get a break. Here's LMWS pokin' fun at Achewter's "dink".... "Ha! Mines bigger!"



And dear old Dad scolding him... "Quit pickin' yer nose, DAMMITT!!"



"OK I've had enough, DAMMITT! Leave me alone, or they're goin' overboard!"




f4b had a couple of non-commital herring hits and Twitch had a couple smack one of his Ricarded rigs, but no sticky! This day would continue to be OWNED by our lovely young ladies. Check out this next exciting daddy-daughter sequence we captured just a little ways upriver.











It didn't take long for Little Miss Achewter to subdue another beautiful Youngs Bay Rogue bright for the box. As I like to say...


ALL hatchery fish MUST die!

Hangback spinners were definitely kickin' some serious ass! I wouldn't mess with this gal if I were you 'cause I think she could, too!



Can't catch a king reelin' like a little girl? Says who?

FYI... HAPPINESS re-defined...




Family, friends, and fishin'... ain't nothin' better.

Day 4....

High tide was getting to be a bit later each day, so on this morning we decided to sleep in an extra couple hours. The short crew consisted of new guest CCW, f4b, LMWS, and me. We met up at the EMB but it was hard to tell if the parking lot was out on the main drag where trucks and trailers were lined up in both directions! As CCW is putting his gear in the boat, he realizes he left his Grunden's bib pants at home in Kalama. Of course that meant it would turn out to be the stormiest, nastiest day of the entire trip! And how!

We raced across the estuary thru a new upper crossing I learned from guide Devon of the GreatWhiteHooker. Before high water, I got CCW into the first king of the day... a reasonably bright tule.



This one was hooked on a plug-cut hangback herring... in typical outside-in fashion with the trailing hook buried solidly under and all the way around the maxillary plate.




Glad it was in decent shape because boat rules state that....

ALL hatchery fish MUST die!



Turns out CCW's would be the HOT rod that morning. And since he was free-cutting his own plug-cuts and regularly getting bit, I was more than happy to relinquish the task to the bait master (see, I went easy on you, Chris!) Not only is he a classy standup dude, but he is an extremely gracious guest as well. When we finally stuck the next king, he simply walked away from the rod and said, "Here Emi.... YOU take it!"

Not missing a beat, LMWS handily stepped up to the task, and she and I tag-teamed it against another purple-platinum URB to put the team's second king in the box. Thanks, Chris! You da man!









Don't forget the meat-hook shot, Dad!




Once the tide started going out, it was especially challenging to troll downhill into a stiff quartering south wind.

You know it wouldn't have been that bad... except for all the doughballs that absolutely refused to crab into the wind as they trolled. Strange how some people are completely oblivious that they are ferrying 50, 100, 150 ft cross-current in a gust. Sometimes you have no choice but to abruptly change course with them, even when it means taking you off course... WAY off your intended depth line!

Oh and the guy who cut right across all my lines as he suddenly tried to get back on the right troll path.

One guy immediately to my left at 8:00 ferried over hard three gusts in a row, causing me to lose 18 ft of depth as I took evasive action from getting rammed. I asked if he would try crabbing into the wind. "We are," he replies.

Well not really...

"Didn't you notice how we are now only trolling half as deep as we were 40 yds back? You're pushing us out of the strike zone."

"Are you telling me how to drive?" he asks.

"No just asking you to crab into that wind so we can all maintain proper depth and not drag our gear across the bottom."

"We ARE pointed into the wind!" he insists.

JFC! Whatever, dude! OK after getting ferried hard right with the next gust, I lost it. "Pick 'em up, boys, let's do it right." We hauled up our gear and I promptly cut left immediately in front of Mr Can't-Crab-Worth-a Fk's nose to get us back on the RIGHT troll path. "Drown 'em, boys," I barked. Seconds later CCW's rod goes off as another chrome king attacked his hangback herring. Talk about making a statement with a piercing point! Hope that guy learned something.

CCW lands the third king of a different flavor.... his free-cut baits were attracting tules, URB's and YB Rogue brights with universal appeal.



In a few hours the seas got so bad that most folks simply turned tail for the barn. WHEW! Finally able to fish in relative peace! Only problem was the bite flat died! LMWS was ready to dig out at any moment, so the Achewter crew motored over the bridge to the roadside rest stop just upriver, and we dropped off LMWS to scramble up the rip-rap for the kid-exchange. We fished another hour or so suspended in the deep hole immediately above the bridge without so much as a whiff.

Plan B... head back across to the EMB and trailer over to Hammond for the late incoming, a strategy that produce handsomely for Team Canyon the previous afternoon. I fashion some makeshift rainpants for CCW (actually, more like a tube-skirt) out of a plastic fish bag for the WET sloppy ride back to Astoria.

We break for lunch and pickup another crew member.... FleaFlkr02... to continue fishing a full complement of four rods. We launch out of Hammond to join Team Canyon in a HOWLING south wind. But by staying tight to shore, we were able to crab into it and maintain a hover position without swiftly getting blown across the bay. We stagger our divers from 14 to 35 ft to root out the preferred travel depth.

The mystery was quickly solved as my diver at 22' was violently tripped. CYCLOPS strikes again! Before we can clear the other three divers, however, a furbag suddenly snatches my mid-high 20's URB. It's another aggressive sea lion, dammit, and it makes short work of my platinum king. At least I got the spinner back!

We collect our composure and re-deploy. Wasn't long before FF02's diver tripped and line was leaving the rod tip straight DOWN. YEE HAW.... another king in less than an hour's fishing! Green dot Fatal Flash hangback hoochie spinner seals the deal and FF02 makes short work of the brand new ocean-fresh tule....





ALL hatchery fish MUST die!



A good day was about to turn into an great day when my rod folded for the second time. CYCLOPS delivered the goods yet again.... another YB Rogue bright.... and luckily this time there were no furbags in the immediate vicinity to execute the interception.






What a fantastic finish to close out another glory day of friends, family, and fishin'.

It's Day 5... and today Team eyeFISH = Eric, Keith, f4b and yours truly.

I'm a little fuzzy on the fishy details of the day, only that I remember that for the first time all week, the team's coho encounters outnumbered chinook, and virtually all of them were taken at high water. Were they finally here in strong numbers? Only time would tell.

A bit short on coho pics largely because once hooked, they come in so damn fast that we almost never capture the fight.... or the angler doesn't want to bother with a pic of another cookie cutter coho. Regardless I was able to convince a reluctant Keith to pose this one briefly for my Canon D10.



Action on the outgoing was a bit more spotty... at least for us. But I seem to recall at least several "other" boats on the hunt for the elusive bite. If you look carefully, you can spot fishy dudes Steelies-R-Us, Canyon Man, Neal M, and Stam.





On the other hand, the weather was HOT HOT HOT. I offered to put up the top to give my crew some much needed shade (like I did for Twitch and f4b two days earlier), but they politely declined. I was already half-nekkid long before high noon and the sun was just killing me.



Even the steady flow of microbrews was NOT enough to cool me down.

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DAMN, we were sucking eggs! But you know if you start goofing off on a boat for long enough, fish is bound to happen. Drive by here.... half a hit there.... but then finally something decent sticks.... HARD!

YEE HAW! f4b rescues the team reputation with this platinum pig! Orygun 40 = we no longer suck! Damned fine fish, Murray! So mirror-bright that it's reflecting my red shirt!








Check out the electric green back in this meat-hook shot of a prime Columbia URB! Gorgeous buck!



Orygun 40? Who am I kidding man? That pig was at least 50 once f4b put it in the bleeder bucket!



Nice as that fish was, it was a struggle on the WA side of the river and we decided the prospects might be better repeating the Hammond Hover on the incoming that afternoon. Took a lunch break and relocated to the OR side. Achewter Sr took an open seat with Team Rosales, our campmates at Ft Steven St Park. It was a beautiful sunny afternoon, but the bites were far and few between. Perhaps just another sign that we were swinging out of the soft tides that favor the chinook bite.











The fishin' was slow, but the company was superb with a bunch of dedicated Grays Harbor dudes on board.



Before we knew it, the sun was getting pretty low on the horizon.



If those crazy fish were ever gonna show with this incoming tide, they'd better do it PRONTO! With only 1/2 an hour to sunset, Keith's rod finally took the plunge. The stubborn fish bull-dogged for the depths and was determined NOT to come to the surface. Keith had other ideas and slowly worked the king to the top. At that point the wild tule decided to take an entirely different tact.... straight into the air multiple times. The final jump would seal the deal.... fish 1 Keith 0

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Day 6...

Smallest crew of the entire week... Keith, f4b, and me... had only three rods to deploy. I felt half naked trolling the estuary with HUGE 12 ft gaps between each presentation. Sin of mortal sins! Just imagine all the fish we'd be running over that wouldn't even see one of our baits!

Turns out my fears were totally unfounded. The sun wasn't over the horizon twenty minutes when my rod folded. YEP! still running that tired worn out CYCLOPS spinner bait combo. And the ocean-fresh URB's were still biting it! Hey, if it ain't broke, why fix it?



The fleet is picking up a fish here and a fish there, but it's far from good bite. By the time we troll all the way to the top, it's virtually high slack, and the team is poised for the next bite.... well everyone except the captain. I was suddenly overwhelmed by abdominal cramps and a raging case of irritable bowel. I turned the tiller over to f4b as I reached for THE bucket. As I'm sitting there with my shorts around my ankles doubled over in pain, f4b does his best to steer me out of direct view of passing boats. Of course I know EXACTLY what's gonna happen next.

FISH FISH FISH!

JFC!

Keith grabs the fish while f4b clears his gear and grabs the net. I clear my gear and uncase my Nikon D90 and start snapping pics.... all while still sitting on the pot! Talk about multi-tasking!





Not bad for pics taken 3 ft off the deck, eh?





We fished half way thru a slow grinding outgoing bite before deciding to find greener pastures back on the OR side.

f4b was promptly rewarded with our third fish for the box.... another platinum URB!








Since we're now after coho, f4b swaps out his herring for a hangback hoochie spoon. First downhill pass and it's fish on! Keith is closest to the rod so he takes it.... only it's NO COHO! And WTF? Why is this stinkin' crank on the WRONG side of the reel? And why is this leader so freakin' LONG?







YEE HAW! Check out this ultra-CHROME hen!



A QUICK lift to show her off....



And back she goes!







What a way to end another glorious day in the CR estuary.

Day 7....

Even the Creator Himself was smart enough to declare a day of REST on the Seventh Day.

But as a sage surgical nurse often reminds me, "There'll be no rest for the wicked, Doc!"

And so we set forth upon the water one last time. But this would be a leisurely gentlemen's launch... late morning under full daylight. First had to break down camp, re-pack a weeks worth of supplies and leftover food, re-arrange the past three days bounty of fish, and make a stop for bait and coffee. CCW returned to join Team eyeFISH for its final foray.

We launched the sled about 10-ish and made the upper "Chicken Coop" crossing to the WA side. I guess our luck was due to finally run out in our accustomed "comfort zone". We probably stayed WAY too long waiting for a bite to materialize, even venturing much further upriver with a guide buddy who was able to find some fish. Can't recall if we even got any bites on the WA side that day.... all I know is there is ZERO digital documentation of "fish on" or blood-in-the-boat that day from 3 separate cameras. PIcs or it never happened?

We returned to the OR side where I got reports of a half-hearted outgoing bite. I faintly recall f4b promptly getting a couple of coho on two successive passes, releasing one wild.... but no pic proof in any of the cameras. The only pics stamped with that date are a couple of CCW and I tag-teaming a victory over what would be the last chunky URB of the season for the box.







After landing that king, the afternoon wind REALLY kicked up so we we decided to slow-troll homeward. No way we could have motored back any faster with the big E-tec, at least not without a grinding pound-N-plow thru monstrous waves. While quartering toward the south bank across the depths of no-man's-land, CCW's rod gets rattled then quits. Hmmm... draggin' bottom from wave action or turbo-nibble? A few seconds later the turbo-nibble is back. I tell him he's probably been smolted. He reels in only to discover he's got a shad on his hangback trailer. I'm jumping for joy knowing that only good things happen when you plug cut a shad.

So who wants it?

Keith volunteers his rod and f4b hooks him up. Keith drops in and almost immediately gets hammered. The fish buries his rod for just a few seconds, and suddenly... FISH OFF. He reels in the freshly raked shad that had split out from the top hook.

Hey let's plug that thing back just a bit and put it out again. DONE!

The now twice-cut shad isn't in the water another 5 minutes when Keith's rod buries again, and this time it sticks! He's playing the fish with powerful yet graceful finesse for a good 3-4 minutes when the big king inexplicably comes unbuttoned (Hey Coley, notice I did NOT say "spit" the hook!). Sorry to have lost the fish, but gotta love the confidence of the shad bite!

As we dropped our lines for the last time, we put a final deadline on the trip.... tip of Tongue Point or bust!

Bust it was... and on that bittersweet note we closed another chapter on what has become an annual highlight for Team eyeFISH. Makes me wonder why I ever go to Alaska to fish kings when some of the best the PNW has to offer is only an hour and a half from my back yard! And while it may not be an Alaska wilderness experience, the CR estuary has an undeniable beauty all its own.



Can't wait to do it all over again!

I'll fish with that Jesse dude anytime! Looks like he's a real natural getting it done. Liked your daughter's appearance as well on your barge.

Those bent rod fish-on pix are priceless!


Nice, as usual, doc!

LMWS sure knows how to put the screws to the fish, nice bend in the rod.

Great stuff Doc. Really enjoying it so far.

Great photos!

Cool shots, great stuff Doc!

Too many examples of that there! Good the girls got into them to show how it's done, and Ach & dad pics are stellar too.

Likin' it!

some great shots there Doc. that little girl of yours is a serious fish slayer.
the bend in that rod and her leaning back on it hard, she is puttin the wood to those chromers. they are definately no match for her.

thanks for posting that entire collection and keep up the good work.

Makes me feel like I was just there yesterday.Cool stuff.Good luck,
SZ

Dctr, That was an extremely enjoyable post. Thanks for putting it together.

Truly one of the very, very best threads of the year!

Bravo Francis!

Awesome post, Doc!
Love the shot of you & daughter holding that chromer nookie slab!

Nice pics Francis. I saw my boat in a background shot! How do you know the origin of the fish? IDK how a Youngs Bay fish is marked?

Left ventral clip.

They sure are NICE fish... great eaters!

Put more of 'em in the boat in 2011 than in all prior years combined.