Astoria Fishing: Columbia River Spring Salmon
The Astoria fishing calendar is officially underway for 2018. And while there is lots of fishing to come, the Columbia River Spring Chinook fishing that happens in the lower river is taking center stage at the moment. The Spring Chinook season on the Columbia River is a short one and is currently slated to last through April 7. Seasons are set preliminary as estimates with catch quotas, so seasons can be shortened or lengthened depending on our catch rates.
Astoria: Columbia River forecast
Columbia River fishing managers are expecting 166,700 Spring Chnook to be headed East of Bonneville Dam. Combine this number with projections for the Willamette at 53,820 and Cowlitz Rivers and we’re looking at about 225,000 fish that will enter the Columbia River and swim by Astoria. The nice thing about fishing the Lower Columbia out of Astoria is that you get a shot at all the different runs headed up the river.
Astoria Spring Chinook: How we catch them
Fishing techniques vary, but we mostly troll small herring behind a flasher or fish bait wrapped Kwikfish on anchor on the outgoing tides. Columbia River Spring Chinook are amazing to eat and personally, I’ll take 1 spring fish over 10 fall Salmon. The fat content is amazingly high and because of this, there is nothing like a Columbia River Spring Chinook.
About Fishing in the Astoria Area
Along with the fishing, there are a lot of great reasons to come to the area. There are plenty of hotels, places to stay and certainly plenty of things to do. The food in Astoria has become almost foodie like in the last few years and when you consider it all, this might be one of the best fishing Salmon fishing destinations in America.
If you’re in the area, or going to be in the Astoria area, feel free too contact us to arrange your fishing trip.