hobster
Well-known member
Very cool post, thanks. I dig the screen shots
Willamette River Fishing Reports
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bass
Most Featured
@Gulfstream , you should definitely do some sturgeon trips. They are so much fun. I love that we have such a fantastic fishery in the winter
Thanks @hobster !
Thanks @hobster !
bass
Most Featured
I hit Swan Island again this past weekend hoping to have another fun day chasing dinosaurs. On my last trip I had found 3 schools of sturgeon. One close to the ramp, one halfway to the mouth and one out near the Coast Guard station. I was hoping I would be able to find those fish again.
I started out from the ramp and had only gone a few hundred feet when I saw the first school on the FF. Last time I had not stopped to fish there but this week I wanted to try to fish every school I could find. The cool thing is that the sturgeon were in about 18-22' of water. This is not super shallow like in the estuary but that is about as shallow as I have found them in the Willamette.
I love it when they are in that shallow water because the fights they put up are insane. They change direction a lot, pull my in circles, jerk me one way and then the next. Definitely keeps my on my toes and makes for an exciting day.
Within a few minutes of casting out I caught my first fish of the day. It was just a small shaker, but it thought it was a lot bigger and really put up a fantastic little fight. That school of fish was not huge but they were biting well in I caught 7 sturgeon out of that school in the first hour and 15 minutes. 2 would have been smallish keepers and the rest were shakers. No monsters but still a lot of fun.
I decided that I would look for some bigger fish so I started heading towards the mouth of the harbor. About half way out I found the second school, just about where they were last week. Those fish were not as good of biters.
I was getting a lot of line rubs but not many fish seemed to be on the bottom feeding which was disappointing. I only managed two shakers in almost an hour of fishing. I also missed a couple of bites. I believe those were from really small sturgeon. Sometimes it takes a little while for it to sink for me that I am wasting my time.
I decided to head up towards the coast guard area which is where I had all my success the week before. This time there wasn't anybody home. I cruised around a fair bit but I could not find any concentraions of fish. I thought perhaps the rising river had lured them out into the current.
I went out to the edge of the current and looked around. I was marking a lot of fish near the bottom in the deeper water. I was pretty psyched to see that situation. After an hour and a half and 3 different spots without a bite I was a little less excited.
I am not sure if the fish I was seeing out there were sturgeon or not. It was the incoming while I was out there so that may have been my problem but whatever the reason I decided not to waste anymore time and to head back to where I was getting bit earlier.
I stopped for just a few minutes at the school that was midway back to the ramp but after getting nothing but line rubs for 10 minutes I packed up and decided to go back to the school near the ramp.
When I got to the area I was relieved to see that they were still there.
The school was not as big nor tightly packed as the week before but the good news is that they were still hungry. Almost immediately I started catching fish. Mostly shakers with an occasional fish that would be near a keeper sized.
Catching a bunch of fish within spitting distance of the ramp was really kind of fun. In the morning I realized I had left my coffee in my truck and it was no big deal to go back and get it. Seemed like the further I got from the ramp the worse the fishing was.
When I did head out for my fishless period I did see the usual good-sized crowds around the dry docks so I am assuming they were on a good bite but I find it a lot more relaxing to catch fish where I don't have to constantly worry about tangling up with other folks.
Overall it was just a perfect and mellow day of fishing. I love that feeling of total inner peace that I can achieve on days like that. Some days I feel like I am in a fierce competition with the fish and some days I feel like we are just hanging out together. The latter days are magical and this was one of those days. Here is some video of me being jerked around by some shallow water sturgeon.
I started out from the ramp and had only gone a few hundred feet when I saw the first school on the FF. Last time I had not stopped to fish there but this week I wanted to try to fish every school I could find. The cool thing is that the sturgeon were in about 18-22' of water. This is not super shallow like in the estuary but that is about as shallow as I have found them in the Willamette.
I love it when they are in that shallow water because the fights they put up are insane. They change direction a lot, pull my in circles, jerk me one way and then the next. Definitely keeps my on my toes and makes for an exciting day.
Within a few minutes of casting out I caught my first fish of the day. It was just a small shaker, but it thought it was a lot bigger and really put up a fantastic little fight. That school of fish was not huge but they were biting well in I caught 7 sturgeon out of that school in the first hour and 15 minutes. 2 would have been smallish keepers and the rest were shakers. No monsters but still a lot of fun.
I decided that I would look for some bigger fish so I started heading towards the mouth of the harbor. About half way out I found the second school, just about where they were last week. Those fish were not as good of biters.
I was getting a lot of line rubs but not many fish seemed to be on the bottom feeding which was disappointing. I only managed two shakers in almost an hour of fishing. I also missed a couple of bites. I believe those were from really small sturgeon. Sometimes it takes a little while for it to sink for me that I am wasting my time.
I decided to head up towards the coast guard area which is where I had all my success the week before. This time there wasn't anybody home. I cruised around a fair bit but I could not find any concentraions of fish. I thought perhaps the rising river had lured them out into the current.
I went out to the edge of the current and looked around. I was marking a lot of fish near the bottom in the deeper water. I was pretty psyched to see that situation. After an hour and a half and 3 different spots without a bite I was a little less excited.
I am not sure if the fish I was seeing out there were sturgeon or not. It was the incoming while I was out there so that may have been my problem but whatever the reason I decided not to waste anymore time and to head back to where I was getting bit earlier.
I stopped for just a few minutes at the school that was midway back to the ramp but after getting nothing but line rubs for 10 minutes I packed up and decided to go back to the school near the ramp.
When I got to the area I was relieved to see that they were still there.
The school was not as big nor tightly packed as the week before but the good news is that they were still hungry. Almost immediately I started catching fish. Mostly shakers with an occasional fish that would be near a keeper sized.
Catching a bunch of fish within spitting distance of the ramp was really kind of fun. In the morning I realized I had left my coffee in my truck and it was no big deal to go back and get it. Seemed like the further I got from the ramp the worse the fishing was.
When I did head out for my fishless period I did see the usual good-sized crowds around the dry docks so I am assuming they were on a good bite but I find it a lot more relaxing to catch fish where I don't have to constantly worry about tangling up with other folks.
Overall it was just a perfect and mellow day of fishing. I love that feeling of total inner peace that I can achieve on days like that. Some days I feel like I am in a fierce competition with the fish and some days I feel like we are just hanging out together. The latter days are magical and this was one of those days. Here is some video of me being jerked around by some shallow water sturgeon.
Admin
Well-known member
Great report as usual.
G
Gulfstream
Most Featured
KOOL!
troutdude
Moderator
Dude...your moniker really ought to be "dinosaur hunter" IMO. lol
bass
Most Featured
Thanks @Anatoliy and @Gulfstream!
That is funny @troutdude . Sounds like a crappy TV show. On this week's episode of Dinosaur Hunter our brave adventurer once again enters the forbidden world of superfund clean up sites in pursuit of his ancient adversary...
troutdude said:
That is funny @troutdude . Sounds like a crappy TV show. On this week's episode of Dinosaur Hunter our brave adventurer once again enters the forbidden world of superfund clean up sites in pursuit of his ancient adversary...
troutdude
Moderator
And, ladies and gents, we now have the opening theme / intro for the new adventures of Mr. Bass!
Can I do the voice over? I'll try and sound like this guy:
P.S. I just started watching season one again, last night. ;-)
Can I do the voice over? I'll try and sound like this guy:
P.S. I just started watching season one again, last night. ;-)
G
Gulfstream
Most Featured
One of my favorites!
bass
Most Featured
troutdude said:
You are hired! Just waiting to hear back from Spielberg and Scorcese on who will direct. They are both being coy and playing hard to get
troutdude
Moderator
bass said:You are hired! Just waiting to hear back from Spielberg and Scorcese on who will direct. They are both being coy and playing hard to get
Well who woulda thunk?
305to503fishermen
Member
I have never fished for sturgeon. What bait do you use and how big of a hook?
I think i might give it a go, while i wait for the steelhead to show up. Maybe i will catch my first one this year.
I think i might give it a go, while i wait for the steelhead to show up. Maybe i will catch my first one this year.
Admin
Well-known member
Yeah, bass, give us all the details - what pole should be used, what line, weight, etc...
bass
Most Featured
I keep it pretty simple for sturgeon fishing. I use a Gamakatsu circle octopus 5/0 about 95% of the time. I break the barbs off myself by grabbing the hook around the barb and the rotating it in the jaws to snap off the barb. That works really well.
For bait I pretty much always use 1/2 an anchovy. I can't remember the last time I used anything else. I like the size that has 10 or 12 to a pack. One half of that size matches well to the 5/0 Gamakatsu. I often add some Sticky Liquid Sturgeon Fesast and/of Ultra Clam to the bag. I cut up the bait the night before and put the scent in the bag with the bait the night before. Minnowmagnet pretty much alwasy uses 1/2 a herring. We do about the same. Neither of us is a big believer that a change in bait makes any difference.
For leader I use dacron braid of about 100lb test. It is a good strong leader that is easy to grab and control the fish at the kayak.
For weight, you have to match the current. I used to use a 2oz weight in the harbor but the last few years I never go below 4oz. It is easier to keep that in place when I am fishing without anchoring and holding myself in place with my paddle. I have my weight on the normal sturgeon slider (tube with a snap in the middle). When anchoring out in a strong current I use enough weight to hold the bait in place. That might be 4,6,8,10,12 or 16oz. I rarely fish where I need more than 10oz.
Biggest thing in sturgeon fishing is to move if you are not getting bit. It does not matter if you were slaying them yesterday in a given spot. GIve a spot ~20minutes (I usually re-cast every 5 minutes or so). If you do not sense any activity (bites or line rubs) then move. This is the hardest thing, especially when fishing on anchor. Spending 5 to 10 minutes pulling anchor after fishing for only 20 or 30 minutes. Don't ever feel like you deserve to catch a fish in a given spot just because you put effort into anchoring on it.
Last bit of advice is to pay attention to the tides. The bite out in the current is often only there on the outgoing. You may be on a great spot, but the fish are not feeding because there is no current. In the harbor that is not an issue and I see very little dependence on the harbor bite with respect to the current.
I would love to hear what others do but the above is my standard fishing procedure.
For bait I pretty much always use 1/2 an anchovy. I can't remember the last time I used anything else. I like the size that has 10 or 12 to a pack. One half of that size matches well to the 5/0 Gamakatsu. I often add some Sticky Liquid Sturgeon Fesast and/of Ultra Clam to the bag. I cut up the bait the night before and put the scent in the bag with the bait the night before. Minnowmagnet pretty much alwasy uses 1/2 a herring. We do about the same. Neither of us is a big believer that a change in bait makes any difference.
For leader I use dacron braid of about 100lb test. It is a good strong leader that is easy to grab and control the fish at the kayak.
For weight, you have to match the current. I used to use a 2oz weight in the harbor but the last few years I never go below 4oz. It is easier to keep that in place when I am fishing without anchoring and holding myself in place with my paddle. I have my weight on the normal sturgeon slider (tube with a snap in the middle). When anchoring out in a strong current I use enough weight to hold the bait in place. That might be 4,6,8,10,12 or 16oz. I rarely fish where I need more than 10oz.
Biggest thing in sturgeon fishing is to move if you are not getting bit. It does not matter if you were slaying them yesterday in a given spot. GIve a spot ~20minutes (I usually re-cast every 5 minutes or so). If you do not sense any activity (bites or line rubs) then move. This is the hardest thing, especially when fishing on anchor. Spending 5 to 10 minutes pulling anchor after fishing for only 20 or 30 minutes. Don't ever feel like you deserve to catch a fish in a given spot just because you put effort into anchoring on it.
Last bit of advice is to pay attention to the tides. The bite out in the current is often only there on the outgoing. You may be on a great spot, but the fish are not feeding because there is no current. In the harbor that is not an issue and I see very little dependence on the harbor bite with respect to the current.
I would love to hear what others do but the above is my standard fishing procedure.
Admin
Well-known member
Thanks for the info!
305to503fishermen
Member
Thank you good sir.
bass
Most Featured
I tried to capture what I thought mattered. If anyone has a question please feel free to ask.
bass
Most Featured
I hit Swan Island (Jurassic Park) in search of sturgeon (dinos) again this past Sunday. It was the last day before break and so even though the weather looked a little dicey I decided to give it a go before heading back to work.
I got to the ramp around 8am or so and chatted with another kayaker. I told him about the schools I had found a few weeks back but that I those schools seemed to have moved out based upon my latest intel.
He said he was heading straight out to the dry docks but I told him that I wanted to search for the lost schools of Jurassic Park. I fish at the dry docks as a last resort (they do produce a lot of biters) but I find it more enjoyable if I can find biters out in the main harbor, or even better, out in the current.
About the time I launched the wind picked up and started gusting hard. I looked at the weather data later and it looks like the gusts were hitting 29mph. That is not a happy place!
The harbor has changed a lot since my last trip. I was marking millions of fish, but they were all suspended a short distance above the bottom and did not look like sturgeon on the sidescan. However, I have been wrong in the past, many times in the past, so I decided to fish the bigger concentrations.
I stopper perhaps a half dozen times as I worked my way out towards the mouth. As far as I could telll, given the fierce and gusty wind, I did not have a bite.
I decided to skip past the dry docks, which already had the other kayaker and another boat fishing them, and try at the edge of the current. Often this is a dynamite spot. It was kind of fun being tucked behind a huge barge, that acted as a windscreen, and casting out into and just watching a churning and malevolent Willamette.
As fun and interesting as that was, it really was not interesting enough for me to overlook the fact that I still was not getting bit. It was around noon and I had spent about 4 hours on the water and I was still fishing with my first, completely unblemished bait.
I should also add that with the blowing gale there were occasional bouts of horizontal rain. It may sound odd but it makes me feel truly alive when I am out in that kind of weather in my kayak.
I hunker down and lean forward and let mother nature have her way with me. The key is not to struggle and just ride it out until she tires and rolls over for a nap
I finally caved and headed over to the dry docks. There were a few boats there when I got there so I tied off a long cast away from the boats. On my first cast I caught a small shaker. That may not sound like much to you all, but after not even having a bite for the 7 hours on my previous Hagg trip and being another 4 to 4 and a half hours up to that point on this trip that fish was a godsend! The other miracle was that the rain had subsided and it had actually gotten sunny. In fact things were really looking up!
I remembered to turn my camera back on catch another shaker. I was feeling pretty good but that couldn't last on a day like this.
On the next cast, I was sitting there not paying enough attention to what was going on around me. I was riveted to my rod tip. All of a sudden my line took off, but if felt weird. I looked up and saw that the boat closest to me was hooked up on a good fish. I noticed that every time he pulled that I could feel it.
I felt like a total moron for not paying better attention to what was going on around me. I turned off my camera and I pedaled over close to them and told them I was tangled with them and tried my best to keep slack out of my line but put no tension on it. They were great sports about it and told me not to worry about. They landed the fish without further incident and were able to free my line.
A short time later one of the anglers on the boat opened the windshield and haled me over. He told me that they were on their last casts (they were really killing it) and that I should take their spot when they left. He told me to stay close and fish under the front of their boat (they were casting out the back). I did that and soon thereafter the lifted anchor and went their way.
I slid into their spot and started fishing. At first I was not getting bit while the bassboats around me were hammering them like crazy. Nothing more fun than being the only one catching fish, but nothing compares to the pain of being the only one NOT catching fish.
I took a breath and decided to observe. I noticed that they were doing a great job of casting really close to the docks. I also noticed that their boats moved around a bit I assume that dragged their baits a bit.
I made another cast, close to the dry dock, and once my bait hit bottom I lifted it and dropped it a few times to make sure it had not sunk down into the mud. That made a ton of difference for me. At that point I started catching fish on every cast.
After catching a couple of keeper sized and a couple of shakers I noticed clouds down river and what looked like a fog rolling in. Joke was on me. It was not fog but instead it was a pretty brutal hail storm. THe hail was about pea sized and the wind was howling and gusting. I reeled up, doubled over and waiting as the waves, wind and hail pounded on me.
Once again, when she is in a mood, it is best just to go along with mother nature and let her pretend you are enjoying it. I kept thinking I should leave but I was a little afraid to even try. Waves pounded into the side of my kayak with about a 1 second period. Every 10 seconds one that was big enough to wash over the side. In moments like that I think of the penguins from the Madagascar movies, "just smile and wave boys, just smile and wave".
After the insanity stopped I cast back out and I felt a gentle tap on my bait. I tightened up and it felt like a good fish. It swam towards me as I reeled, then it went straight past me and kept going. I am not even sure if the fish new that it was hooked, I do know that it did not care. I was twisted around like a pretzel as I struggled to unhook myself from the dry dock.
Once free I got myself directly over the fish and lifted for all I was worth. The rod tip did not move an inch, all I did was bend my rod to the breaking point. You know it is a good one when it feels like you are hooked up to something so big and strong that you can't budge it at all.
At that point all you can do is try and fail, try and fail to move the fish. Again and again, the fish would take off and tow me for a while. I would wait for it to stop, get over top of it and fail to budge it.
That fish had some amazing stamina. That went on for about 20 minutes when I finally got that first glimmer of hope. I pulled with all my might and it felt like I move the fish a few inches!
Of course the beastie responded by taking off like a train. However, when I got on top of it I could again move it, maybe this time a couple of feet. This was repeated but each time I could move the fish more before it would take off.
Finally, I hit that part in the fight that just feels amazing. I could tell I had broken its spirit. Now when I lifted I moved it steadily, then bubbles, then it was over. They big fights seem to alway end this way. It goes from impossible to over in a minute or two. My arms ached, my back ached, I was trembling but finally I was victorious.
I got my tape measure out and it looked to be 79". A really nice fat and healthy fish. As I went to release it I turned my camera down so I could film it swimming away. After I get it go I looked at my camera and noticed that it was not on.
What a moron I was. I had turned it off when I crossed lines and had never turned it back on. The best part is how I adjusted the camera angle (the off camera) again and again during the fight. That was kind of par for the course for the day.
By then it was getting late and I was exhausted. I tied back up and just rested a bit before I turned my camera back on and cast back out. I got a keeper and a shaker on camera before I hooked another good fish that broke me off.
I decided that I was done at that point. I was exhausted from fighting the weather and those big strong fish. I slowly pedaled back to the ramp with a smile on my face.
Here is footage of just a few fish:
I got to the ramp around 8am or so and chatted with another kayaker. I told him about the schools I had found a few weeks back but that I those schools seemed to have moved out based upon my latest intel.
He said he was heading straight out to the dry docks but I told him that I wanted to search for the lost schools of Jurassic Park. I fish at the dry docks as a last resort (they do produce a lot of biters) but I find it more enjoyable if I can find biters out in the main harbor, or even better, out in the current.
About the time I launched the wind picked up and started gusting hard. I looked at the weather data later and it looks like the gusts were hitting 29mph. That is not a happy place!
The harbor has changed a lot since my last trip. I was marking millions of fish, but they were all suspended a short distance above the bottom and did not look like sturgeon on the sidescan. However, I have been wrong in the past, many times in the past, so I decided to fish the bigger concentrations.
I stopper perhaps a half dozen times as I worked my way out towards the mouth. As far as I could telll, given the fierce and gusty wind, I did not have a bite.
I decided to skip past the dry docks, which already had the other kayaker and another boat fishing them, and try at the edge of the current. Often this is a dynamite spot. It was kind of fun being tucked behind a huge barge, that acted as a windscreen, and casting out into and just watching a churning and malevolent Willamette.
As fun and interesting as that was, it really was not interesting enough for me to overlook the fact that I still was not getting bit. It was around noon and I had spent about 4 hours on the water and I was still fishing with my first, completely unblemished bait.
I should also add that with the blowing gale there were occasional bouts of horizontal rain. It may sound odd but it makes me feel truly alive when I am out in that kind of weather in my kayak.
I hunker down and lean forward and let mother nature have her way with me. The key is not to struggle and just ride it out until she tires and rolls over for a nap
I finally caved and headed over to the dry docks. There were a few boats there when I got there so I tied off a long cast away from the boats. On my first cast I caught a small shaker. That may not sound like much to you all, but after not even having a bite for the 7 hours on my previous Hagg trip and being another 4 to 4 and a half hours up to that point on this trip that fish was a godsend! The other miracle was that the rain had subsided and it had actually gotten sunny. In fact things were really looking up!
I remembered to turn my camera back on catch another shaker. I was feeling pretty good but that couldn't last on a day like this.
On the next cast, I was sitting there not paying enough attention to what was going on around me. I was riveted to my rod tip. All of a sudden my line took off, but if felt weird. I looked up and saw that the boat closest to me was hooked up on a good fish. I noticed that every time he pulled that I could feel it.
I felt like a total moron for not paying better attention to what was going on around me. I turned off my camera and I pedaled over close to them and told them I was tangled with them and tried my best to keep slack out of my line but put no tension on it. They were great sports about it and told me not to worry about. They landed the fish without further incident and were able to free my line.
A short time later one of the anglers on the boat opened the windshield and haled me over. He told me that they were on their last casts (they were really killing it) and that I should take their spot when they left. He told me to stay close and fish under the front of their boat (they were casting out the back). I did that and soon thereafter the lifted anchor and went their way.
I slid into their spot and started fishing. At first I was not getting bit while the bassboats around me were hammering them like crazy. Nothing more fun than being the only one catching fish, but nothing compares to the pain of being the only one NOT catching fish.
I took a breath and decided to observe. I noticed that they were doing a great job of casting really close to the docks. I also noticed that their boats moved around a bit I assume that dragged their baits a bit.
I made another cast, close to the dry dock, and once my bait hit bottom I lifted it and dropped it a few times to make sure it had not sunk down into the mud. That made a ton of difference for me. At that point I started catching fish on every cast.
After catching a couple of keeper sized and a couple of shakers I noticed clouds down river and what looked like a fog rolling in. Joke was on me. It was not fog but instead it was a pretty brutal hail storm. THe hail was about pea sized and the wind was howling and gusting. I reeled up, doubled over and waiting as the waves, wind and hail pounded on me.
Once again, when she is in a mood, it is best just to go along with mother nature and let her pretend you are enjoying it. I kept thinking I should leave but I was a little afraid to even try. Waves pounded into the side of my kayak with about a 1 second period. Every 10 seconds one that was big enough to wash over the side. In moments like that I think of the penguins from the Madagascar movies, "just smile and wave boys, just smile and wave".
After the insanity stopped I cast back out and I felt a gentle tap on my bait. I tightened up and it felt like a good fish. It swam towards me as I reeled, then it went straight past me and kept going. I am not even sure if the fish new that it was hooked, I do know that it did not care. I was twisted around like a pretzel as I struggled to unhook myself from the dry dock.
Once free I got myself directly over the fish and lifted for all I was worth. The rod tip did not move an inch, all I did was bend my rod to the breaking point. You know it is a good one when it feels like you are hooked up to something so big and strong that you can't budge it at all.
At that point all you can do is try and fail, try and fail to move the fish. Again and again, the fish would take off and tow me for a while. I would wait for it to stop, get over top of it and fail to budge it.
That fish had some amazing stamina. That went on for about 20 minutes when I finally got that first glimmer of hope. I pulled with all my might and it felt like I move the fish a few inches!
Of course the beastie responded by taking off like a train. However, when I got on top of it I could again move it, maybe this time a couple of feet. This was repeated but each time I could move the fish more before it would take off.
Finally, I hit that part in the fight that just feels amazing. I could tell I had broken its spirit. Now when I lifted I moved it steadily, then bubbles, then it was over. They big fights seem to alway end this way. It goes from impossible to over in a minute or two. My arms ached, my back ached, I was trembling but finally I was victorious.
I got my tape measure out and it looked to be 79". A really nice fat and healthy fish. As I went to release it I turned my camera down so I could film it swimming away. After I get it go I looked at my camera and noticed that it was not on.
What a moron I was. I had turned it off when I crossed lines and had never turned it back on. The best part is how I adjusted the camera angle (the off camera) again and again during the fight. That was kind of par for the course for the day.
By then it was getting late and I was exhausted. I tied back up and just rested a bit before I turned my camera back on and cast back out. I got a keeper and a shaker on camera before I hooked another good fish that broke me off.
I decided that I was done at that point. I was exhausted from fighting the weather and those big strong fish. I slowly pedaled back to the ramp with a smile on my face.
Here is footage of just a few fish:
Casting Call
Active member
thanks john
bass
Most Featured
Casting Call said:
The harbor fishing is really slowing down now. It seems like there is a large group of fish that hangs under the dry docks due to the hot water release but that the rest of the harbor empties out. I am not sure if the fish go out to the Columbia or if the fish may already beginning some early upstream migration for spawning. I need to get in an upstream trip to see if that might be the case. I certainly know that in years past there seemed to be fish upriver all winter long.
What do you think Tony?
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