Spring Chinook Salmon - Soon to Be in the Columbia River

As February turns into March in the Pacific Northwest, a trickle of spring salmon entering the Columbia and Willamette Rivers will turn into a flood, and with the salmon will come a mass of anglers pursuing them. Perhaps most accurately penned a "hatch" of boats, the most popular fishing areas will be covered with so many aluminum and fiberglass vessels it sometimes will appear as though you could hop across the entire river from boat to boat. For the last few years, drivers crossing the Interstate 5 bridge between Oregon and Washington in March and April have had the chance to observe several hundred boats a day within a mile of river searching for silvery salmon treasure. The anglers query: Columbia River Spring Chinook salmon. This particular fishery attracts such a large number of fishermen and women not only because the sheer amount of fish usually produce good catch numbers, but the spring salmon, or "springer" is widely considered world-class table fare.

In the main stem of the Columbia, as well as the Willamette, anglers generally use one of two popular techniques- trolling or anchoring. The troll fishery involves slowly motoring with the current while dragging bait (generally herring, anchovies, sardines or prawns) or lures (spinners, plugs, or bait fish imitations). In cooler water conditions and when the salmon are scarcer, trolling is a very successful technique. As the water warms and the river begins to fill with fish, many anglers prefer to anchor, and allow the current to do the work on similar types of offerings. The two schools of thought- go look for fish, or let the fish come to you. Both techniques will ultimately catch fish, and both are very popular. Usually river conditions and fish preferences play a big role in which technique dominates the river during a particular time.

During the peak of the run, catch rates sometimes hit about one fish per boat. Of course, many boats have several people fishing in them, so that rate usually translates into considerably less than a fish per person. Also, the fishery has many idiosyncrasies, and some anglers understand those better than others. It is not uncommon to see one boat routinely go home with several fish, while another typically goes home empty handed. If you are new to the fishery, or just want to try it out once, I would highly recommend hiring a guide to help you along the learning curve. Guides are not cheap (trips often are around $150 a person for a day of fishing), but a day spent with a person that fishes professionally has a good chance of yielding a nice, fresh fish, and an excellent chance of saving you tens or hundreds of hours of frustration. Considering that Columbia River Spring Chinook will sell in local grocery stores at prices between $20 and $35 a pound, and they usually run between about 8 and 25 pounds each, the cost of the trip does not seem so harsh if it ends up including a fish for your barbeque or freezer. For Pacific Northwest residents, it is definitely worth going at least once- it is close to home and a world class fishery! Visit www.wdfw.wa.gov for information about season length and other regulations.