Buoy 10 Salmon Fishing Mayhem
I like to do a little more blogging than I have been able to do the last few weeks, but with the Buoy 10 Salmon fishing season, I’ve really been living hand to mouth trying to keep up with everything. Customer fishing trips, bookings, boat repairs, egg curing, radio and a little time with the wife and kids brings me to capacity.
This years Buoy 10 Salmon run on the Columbia River was highly publicized. Huge forecasts predicting big catches had everyone freaking out and ready for something historical. What occurred was another story entirely as the Chinook run didn’t come in as forecasted (purely my opinion at this point), but the Coho run did. As a result we experienced a few lean days that might happen in any season, but with all the hype, these less than acceptable days felt unexpected. If I sound harsh, it’s because all of us expected a spectacular Chinook return. Fishing was decent, even good on days, but the pre season build up left little room for any of us to be impressed.
The Coho were the big bonus this year as we haven’t seen numbers this impressive in the last 7 years. This years return couldn’t have come at a better time as Coho made up a bulk of the catch during the last period of hold over tides during the first few days of September and saved the day on many occasions outside of this tide series. Disappointing Chinook availability during these hold over tides, however didn’t keep us from some of the best fishing of the year with early 3 fish limits daily. So bear with me on my honest assessment, because 15-20 Salmon laying on the dock at the end of the day certainly isn’t bad. I’m just not one to pull any punches when assessing a fishery.
I’m headed up to Longview for a week to fish for Chinook in the deeper water around the mouth of the Cowlitz and Lewis Rivers. Fishing has picked up there in recent days and I’m looking forward to a little Salmon fishing in the sun. From there we’ll be heading to the Gorge where I’ll be fishing the mouth of the White Salmon, Klickitat and Deschutes Rivers. We had some incredible fishing in the Gorge last year and I’m looking forward to big numbers and liberal limits.
Let me know if you’re wanting to get out.
Thanks and tight lines,
Lance