Looking to bank fish for fall chinook

[Devin]

Hey guys, first time poster to this forum. Anyways this last weekend I fished bouy ten on a guided trip and caught a 41lb Chinook. This was my first ever salmon caught! And as you might think I am officially hooked after such a rush! Anyways I am from Albany and am looking to jump right in this season. Only thing is guided trips are too expensive to continually do and I would like to find a river closer to home with reasonably good bank access. So anyone with any good information that could point me in the right direction would be great, or even better yet if you want to just go fish with me! All info would be greatly appreciated. Btw the two attached photos are of the Chinook I caught this weekend. The big one weighed in at 41lbs. (Which I talked about above, and kept) the other weighed 29lbs. (Which my friend kept)
thanks guys, Devin

 

[Raincatcher]

Welcome to the forum! The best thing you can do for info overload is to read the archives. You will find everything you need to know there.

 

[C_Run]

From Albany , the Alsea is probably most accessible to you. Just drive down 34 and look for the wide spots on the shoulder of the road to locate holes. Check the regulations so you know where the deadline is. Pay attention to when it rains and fish the rivers when they are dropping. That information is on USGS website http://waterdata.usgs.gov/or/nwis/rt.

 

[Devin]

Hey thanks for the info. Yeah the alsea seems to be the best for bank access fishing. I read up a bit about the northfork of the river actually producing more catches than the steam, later in the season anyways. I also read that the return of winter and summer steelhead is excellent. I think I might try gettin a map and just do a little scouting and looking around for good holes. So I am assuming the northfork of the river won't be really producing any Chinook until the rains hit or maybe around September?

 

[troutmasta]

First OFF, What a ________ Slug!
Nice fish!
Dont know nothin bout your area though, sorry.

 

[Devin]

First OFF, What a ________ Slug!
Nice fish!
Dont know nothin bout your area though, sorry.

Haha yeah that fish was a beast! I have always done a lot of lake fishing for trout and what not and man for that huge salmon to be my first ever salmon was insane! I'm hooked I just want more. The fight this fish had was just a blast. It took me at least ten minutes or more to tire him out! Then we almost lost him. Lead line got snagged in the fishing net. Had to try and give it line while my buddy was unhooking the lead. I was pretty scared I was gonna lose it.

 

[C_Run]

Hey thanks for the info. Yeah the alsea seems to be the best for bank access fishing. I read up a bit about the northfork of the river actually producing more catches than the steam, later in the season anyways. I also read that the return of winter and summer steelhead is excellent. I think I might try gettin a map and just do a little scouting and looking around for good holes. So I am assuming the northfork of the river won't be really producing any Chinook until the rains hit or maybe around September?

You can fish the lower part of the river near tide water even before it rains if you don't mind the drive. There will be a lot of coho , too, so keep up to date on the regulations which can change and know your fish ID.

 

[steelhead_stalkers]

Hey thanks for the info. Yeah the alsea seems to be the best for bank access fishing. I read up a bit about the northfork of the river actually producing more catches than the steam, later in the season anyways. I also read that the return of winter and summer steelhead is excellent. I think I might try gettin a map and just do a little scouting and looking around for good holes. So I am assuming the northfork of the river won't be really producing any Chinook until the rains hit or maybe around September?

Check the regs! The North Fork of the Alsea is never open for salmon fishing. It opens December 1st for winter steelhead. It also does not get a summer run of steelhead, at least not in any catchable numbers.

 

[Devin]

Yeah my bad. The steelhead fishing in the winter is supposedto be really good up on the north fork up by the hatchery. But yeah thanks for the insight.

 

[Bass Ackwards]

What fishing guide did you use?

 

[GORDY]

Very nice fish, so I'm from canby not far from you we took off sunday the 6th of oct 2013 we made it to tillamook and we hade spotted a bunch of cars at the salmon river down by ottes oregon we grabbed some salmon eggs and decided to try it out WOW in two hours me and my son seen over 30 salmon caught I hooked into 5 and lost them all my son caught a 32" very very hot spot I am heading back down there this next weekend, also if you have heard of oxbow park down here around portland oregon they are killing the salmon there as of sat the 5th and sun the 6th.

 

[Devin]

Larry page fishing guide. But really I know someone who has been killing it over on the salmon river. Personally I've never fished it. Sounds like that is a mistake! But msn that has got to just be heartbreaking to lose all five fish!

 

[DrTheopolis]

Haven't fished the Salmon in quite a few years. Can get mighty crowded. If you go, make sure to check the gear restrictions in the regs (since the barbarians spoil it for everyone).