Heading to Portland next week for the salmon run. Any of you readers have any expertise on this. Went last year and bombed out - too early for the run. We float with a 10hp keeping us even with the current and vertical jig. The area looks like a big striper school with all the boats doing the same thing in a small area. Any good suggestions from you experts would be greatly appreciated. That's a long way to go to bomb out. Shucks, I can do that at Amistad.

Have fun, I am jealous. This is my first summer in several years I have not done salmon fishing in northern canada.

I fished the Sacramento river for years almost the same way. Always used a spreader with an F6 pearl flatfish. We wrapped a small sardine piece arond the center with a rubber band.....Always did well but it was later in the year.

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THE DOG

I,ll check out the sardine. That sounds practical. Thanks. I hope we aren' too early but just in case we are we are heading up to Astoria after a couple of days.

Hey PopScot
Check out the Oregon department of fish and wildlife link for current info http://www.dfw.state.or.us/ODFWhtml/InfoCntrFish/InfoCntrFish.html .
Buoy 10 at the coast looks to be your best bet, the fall chinook run is just building up as the coho are just entering the river too. I live in Portland for quite a few years but never had the patience for salmon and steelhead. Trout were stocked year round and my kids enjoyed catching them. My solo trips we for warmwater species, my biggest bass and cats there could be bait here !!
Smelt are great as bait there, WD-40 is the scent of choice up there to lure them in !
David C.

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Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day; teach that person to use the Internet and they won't bother you for weeks.

Popscot; In order to use the sardine wrap we removed the fron treble hook and used the eye to help hold the sardine slab in place. I don`t know about the Columbia current but use enough weight to get to the bottom about 60` behind the boat. You can feel the flatfish working real nice. Hope you have a great trip, I sure miss those river salmon.

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THE DOG

Hey David and Bluedog - Thanks for the report. The web site is really interesting. I'm looking forward to the trip and will give a report when I get back.

The Columbia is a bit too big/crowded for my liking, but I've done well fishing the southern Oregon coastal rivers (Chetco, Rogue) around this time of year. People in boats seemed to use the sardine wrap method more than anything else.

I usually fished off the jetty casting buzz bombs (red or pink) and various gold/silver spoons.

Popscott,
I just returned from a two-week stay in The Dalles, OR. My first time to the northwest. Unfortunately I was working and only went fishing one day. I went on the Deschutes, fishing for steelhead. Caught a small rainbow and a nice redside. I did see one person carrying out an 18 lb. chinook. Quite a fish. From what I heard it was a little early, especially for salmon. I guess the summer run was over and the fall run was just starting. Some said it was slow because the Indians had their gill-nets out down river. Just the same, it was a heck of trip. The Columbia is very impressive. Have a great trip.

Popscot,
I grew up fishing the Columbia river, and the costal waters of washington state. I love the salmon run and unfortunately will be missing it this year. I have never used artificial lures for salmon though. I have always used herring with either a left or right hand cut. I can explain just in case you are not familiar. a right hand cut you lie the herring on the cutting board, tail facing the left, head on the right. YOu make a diagonal cut at about a 45 degree angle from where the head meets the body to just behind the first abdominal fin. You use a 2 hook setup, with the first hook set to come out at the end of the tail with the shank of the hook inside the herring, the other hook goes in the stomach hole you created and comes out the dorsal fin area, just to the same side as the other hook. Depending on the run, sometimes they are extremely deep and you need a down rigger, even on the columbia, other times they are on the surface and you dont even need a weight at all. IF everyone is all grouped together and doing the same thing and nobody is catching anything, (catching a 15-45 lb fish when nobody else is never goes unnoticed) Get heavier weight, and plumit to the bottom, bring it up about 5 cranks every 5 min.

Without taking you, this is the best I can do. Also the first 15 miles offers the best fishing during the run. Though they have been and are caught all the way into Idaho and beyond.

Have a good one, maybe next year I will be home and will be able to make a trip from TX back to WA for the salmon run.

Ed
"from location in the desert of Iraq"

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Get in, sit down, shut up and fish.

Wow, what a great bunch of guys, all the way from Iraq, even. I appreciate all the information and will use as much as I can in three days. We will probabaly hit the Deschutes a bit and then on down west to where the Klickitat joins. There's a little flat just downstream that catches a lot of action. I don't know anything about the area we will hit Sun. except it's around Astoria. Hey fishing4fun - good luck and I hope you'll be able to hit the salmon run next year. If I go next year I'll post a thread and maybe we can communicate.