Still looking for my first salmon.

Hey all,

I have posted a few times throughout the year speaking of my frustration in not being able to catch salmon. I have recieved some great advice about plunking, drifting, trolling etc. In several areas on the columbia and grande ronde.

I have had 16 days on the water trying my luck on my own and one day with a guide... not even a hook up.

So I am gearing up for day 18 overall. I am thinking about taking my canoe with trolling motor to a forebay somewhere this weekend.

I live in Spokane so I am thinking the clarkston area, or tri cities area.

Basically, I am looking for some advice on water safe for my rig, and a method to hopefully put my first salmon on ice.

Thank you in advance for any and all advice!

Check out Brewers post about heading East. Private message him and maybe get details or fish with him if he's kind enough.
Or research the Brewster Pool area on the Columbia also.

Hey thanks warrenty.

Anyone know anything about the waters near wawawai landing? Worth fishing? Any info on the water conditions around there? I am thinking about dragging around super baits?

Brewer is only good for upside-down fish.
They count for half a fish.

Fish are coming your way.
I'm fishing steelies on the Deschutes.
Got one Chinookie last Sat.
This is the absolute best time of the year right now.

Cowboy songs, beer and steelies.
And some spudgun action tossed in for good measure.
Life is good.

Simplify your style. How much time are you actually fishing something in the water as opposed to working towards that goal? Find your way to keep fishing and be confident. I watched a guy have a great day in early March catching winter steelhead on a vibrax because that is what he knew how to fish for brown trout back home. Any technique will usually work at a time and a place just choose your technique, learn it if you don't know it, and go. It is easy to carry a [Bleeeeep!] ton of gear for salmon and thats great but as a noob I would always recommend simplify.

Looking at the fish counts it seems above mcnary may be the ticket. I have been skunked there twice, any advice on that location would be great as well.

getting skunked is very common.

that's some big water, you in a boat?

A little early for McNary. There's fish crossing, but they don't get real snappy until October/November. Put a shrimp 10-20ft under a bobber and see what happens. Or drag some plugs or superbaits around. Get off the water if an east wind comes up.

I am thinking about pulling around some super baits... do people recommend a flasher?

I am thinking I am going to launch on the Oregon side I am wondering about depth...

Should I be fishing relatively close to shore in say 40 feet of water... or should I get out into deeper areas?

I found this chart and am hoping to get some insight:

http://www.charts.noaa.gov/OnLineViewer/18541.shtml

Any advise as to should I try and get down as deep as possible or try and target surface or suspending fish?


Again any help is appreciated!
I

Sounds like you're pretty green (new) to salmon fishing.

I would hire a guide for a day or follow a guide in your boat. Either way, observe where the guide is fishing, what he is using, and so on.

Good luck,

Agree 100%... If you can get close enough to snag his gear and get it into your boat, so you can examine it even further is recommended. Don't hover around him all day and then get desperate and cross his lines. Act like your being chased by bees, swerve over, etc.... When he screams at you, tell him you didn't think he was down that deep, he will yell back something in relation to depth he is fishing and BAM...You have gear he is fishing and the depth figured out, the rest is history.

so looking at that chart.... and knowing salmon habitat.... and never having been there in my life...

I would start above the fish ladder as close to the ladder as possible. I know at lower granite by Pullman we fished within feet of the top of the ladder. no Idea whats legal here but I would want a steady amount of fish coming by my gear. bobber eggs or bobber shrimp try to find out at what depth the fish ladder top is and stay within 5 feet of that depth for about 50 yards in all directions. from there I would go up stream to those pilings nearest to the fish ladder. stay as close to the structure as I could. my last try would be upstream to the 7 on the map... it looks like a nice point with a deep drop to 25 60 then 102.... fish the down current side of that at all depths till I find them... if none of that worked I would go up to hat rock park looks like some water dumps in there so you might find some checking that smell out. last of all I would go up in a large boat with good eletronics and hit the lee side of the old gravel bars and high spots on the bottom. much harder to find and stay on but there should be fish there.

good luck.

I would suggest an anchovy below a float just off the bottom of the inside water seams.

Went to McNary today. Fished from 7:15 to noon. Trolled super baits, stuffed with tuna in oil salmon lunker lotion and pautski krill powder, behind 8 inch flashers, a few different patterns if each. Long lined wiggle worts in a few patterns. I was rocking s turns from the ladder to around 500 yards up the bank... snunked again. Only saw one fish caught.

Hope to go back in a week or two... might try plunking at ringgold, maybe explore somewhere on the snake...

You should try one technique and stick with it until you catch a fish.

+1

While Brad's super baits will work, I've never found them to be near as good as a real bait. If I were you, I'd pick up a dozen herring and brine them up the night before. Squirt some anchovy oil in the brine and/or crush up an anchovy with the herring. Rig the herring as a choked herring (here's a good video on that - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7tXyJTngXc). Troll those behind a rotating flasher and diver or with a rotating flasher and a dropper weight. Stick with it until you catch a fish. I can guarantee that such a setup will catch salmon in most any river that has a salmon run and it's probably the most common way to catch salmon in the Columbia.

Fishing in a river, the bites often happen in little "episodes" as schools come through. Thus any gear you use will often go without a touch for an hour or two or more. If you switch between different types of gear, a) Your line is out of the water while switching and b) you may have switched from gear that is more productive to something that is less productive just because the fish weren't there at the time. Then when the "bite" is on, you've got crap in the water that has a low probability of a catch. Day in and day out, a good herring with a little anchovy scent behind a rotating flasher has a high probability of catching. Stick with that until you get fish. I will say that some flasher/diver combos work better than others so it's sometimes worth swapping flashers around.

Fish with killers of fish.

Two very solid pieces of advice right there.

Fish on...

Todd

I've caught more salmon on a plug cut herring and a 4 oz lead than any other combination combined...

if I don't know what to use, that is what I fall back on!

Here is a great opportunity. All you have to do is show up!

May be the best advice on here. Find someone who is an accomplished fisherman and watch them like a hawk,try and mimic what they do,and ask questions.

this seems to be the best advice so far! bring a couple 40s old English 800s .

+ whatever we're up to now.


McNary isn't bad because there should be a lot of boats down there (if the fishing is any good). Hopefully you paid attention to what the boat that got a fish was doing.

I'll elaborate on the "fish with killers of fish" part. You don't have to know these people. As much as a I HATE crowded fishing, that's where you'll learn the most.

The Ringold bank will be busy and a good place to learn. There will be guys drift fishing, maybe bobber fishing, fly fishing, and plunking. Pay attention to where people are using each technique.

Nothing wrong with a shotgun approach at the start to figure out what you like, but you would do well to pick a spot and a technique.

It won't be a cheap date, but check out some good guides that are fishing the Reach at this time. There are several. You might check with Austin Moser, check him out on the Internet, he knows his stuff, but many guides do that fish that area. You probably will need to get some buddies to join you as guides are not inexpensive, but worth the money and in the long run may be less expensive that several fish less trips on your own.

Good advice ^^^
When yer beatin yer head against a brick wall 'til it's bloody, pay the man and learn how to do it.

I took my first guided trip in '85 and learned things that I still use today.

And yeah, I know your first guide experience didn't pan out.
Might have been the guide.

If you want to catch a salmon on the Reach, a guide will do that. You'll learn little to no technique you can apply from a canoe or the bank. If you can do superbaits, you could learn a bit. Find someone who isn't running downriggers since you won't be either.

Closest thing to learning bank and forebay technique would be an October/November steelhead trip with Hester.