Need help with tides on Columbia!

I am planning a trip out of St. Helens boat ramp with a neighbor who has little experience fishing for Salmon, not that I'm a great salmon fisherman, but he wants me to show him how to rig his rod and show him some techniques. I can do that but won't bet on our chances of bringing home fish. We will be anchored up with "Wobblers" in 30-50 feet of water just up river from Warrior Rock Light. That way we can keep Chinooks, clipped Coho or clipped Steelhead.

My question is when do we need to get there for the best time of the bite? Is that going to be just as the tide head out and the flow increases or is the river so low the tides won't change the flow? The tide charts show that high tide will be about 2PM on Thursday for St. Helens.

GD

IMHO you guys should be trolling in the morning on the flood and slack tides while the fish are more likely to be staying put, then once the tide starts flowing out anchor up while the fish are on the move. I caught an 11 lb lil' hen Saturday trolling a wobbler on the slacktide near the airport.

The hen!

The hen!

On 15# braid, that was fun!
I just hijacked the thread didn't I? Very sorry....

I know in the portland area even though tidally influenced the river is always flowing downstream just more on outgoing. Im a troller so can't help with hog lines. I would just suggest fishing at first light. chinook seem to be dark biters best. but there is alays a turn on for the bit. seems like that can be just about anything sometimes. good luck

Thanks for the info, guys. I'm really trying to limit the time on the water for this first trip with my neighbor since I don't know him that well yet. I also am a little reluctant to troll for too long with my bum arm and hands. Not that I'm lazy, just don't want to over stress an already stressed appendage.

How fast do you troll with a wobbler? I have my handheld GPS so I can tell how fast the river flow is and use that to calculate my trolling speed. With my troll plate down I'm anywhere from 0.5 to 2.5 MPH and with it up it is 3+ MPH.

I don't have anyway to tell how fast I'm trolling I just try and go a little faster than the current. You want the wobbler to be going in a side to side action, if it's spinning you're going to fast. If you're anchored make sure your weight is staying on the bottom and the wobbler is wobbling! You may need to play with the bend in it a little, bend it if it's not wobbling enough or straighten it if it's wobbling too much, mosty depending on the current. Good luck! I hope the netters didn't clean things out too bad I want to be out there again this weekend!

Form what I've heard/learned from a couple of the kayak guys that are picking up fish in the area, the best time in that area will be the outgoing tide. If you're on anchor at the slack tide there probably won't be enough flow to keep the wobbler going. I'd suggest getting on the water at high tide, anchoring and fishing from 2:00 to as late as you want to be on the water. I would think you would have better luck then. Another thing to consider is that the gillnets are in this week. However, they're being pulled at 6 am on Wednesday and I would think the more time you give them out the better. Here is the schedule for the week. I would think you should have a pretty good shot tomorrow.

Sunday 9PM to Monday 6 AM
Monday 8 PM to Tuesday 6 AM
Tuesday 8 PM to Wednesday 6 AM
Thursday 8 PM to Friday 6 AM

I'm not familar with the Warrior Rock area but if you want to fish off the airport the gleason boat ramp is a really easy launch and you can fish 100 yards off the ramp. You can also anchor below the main hogline 200-300 yards and still do very well. It's nice to have a little breathing room.

If you do troll, you want to troll up river at 1-3 mph or as slow as you can. Keep bouncing the bottom to make sure you're on the bottom. Good luck!

Thanks, I'll post the results tomorrow evening when I get back.

GD

Any fish? It was dead for us. I'm heading out again Saturday after the nets have been out a bit longer. Hope you got a couple!

Nothing for me either and only saw a couple fish caught out of about 30 boats! It was a beautiful day on the water but muggy as H*&& when we were at the take out. I'll try again next week.

GD

I'm heading on Saturday morning early and will let you know how we do.

As will I!

SO?

Backtrolled all day, saw a couple caught and a couple rolling but no bites for me.

I sat on hook below the hog line by the airport and didn't see or hear of a single fish caught. No bites for us.

Man it's been rough out there... makes me feel a little better about not having time to get the boat out. You Portland guys should let me know next time you're going out... maybe we can anchor near each other and watch each other not catch fish.

paulages said:

Man it's been rough out there... makes me feel a little better about not having time to get the boat out. You Portland guys should let me know next time you're going out... maybe we can anchor near each other and watch each other not catch fish.

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Beer helps. I might be moving my salmon chasing to the coast.