If you are planning a trip on the CR down around St Helens...Beware

[Swamp Puppy]

The crap is thick out there. I was down by the river just below sand island off of Columbia City and the logs and rafts of junk were almost thick enough to walk half way to washington.

it looks like most of the junk was on the inside of sand island (between the island and the city docks) and the WA side of the channel was certainly in a lot better shape.

Just an FYI for those that might be heading over and don't have the benefit of looking at the water before hookin' up the trailer.

 

[Swamp Puppy]

went down and took a gaze at the river yesterday (6/11) with some thoughts of maybe tossing the boat in and doin' a little fishing. Ended up spending the day mowing the yard and weeding the garden. Still loads of junk coming down the river and the water was high, fast, and dirty.

 

[SNDSLGR]

Thanks for the post. Saved me the trip from Aloha. You have any good shad info for that area? Need to get some in the freezer but this flood has ruined the prime part of the season I am affraid.

 

[Swamp Puppy]

all i know about the shad fishing is from the few reports i have gotten from my buddies. It has been slooooooow. They manage a couple each trip, but nothing to get excited about. from what they have been saying, there is so much crap coming down the river that they can't keep the lines in the water long enough to fish. just drop them down..then reel them up and clean the crud off of them.

a couple more days of nice weather and things should be a whole lot better. I know there are fish in the river...the conditions are still just a bit too dicey to really get after them.

my guess is that by tuesday/wed it should be a whole lot better.

 

[Swamp Puppy]

river is still high, but most of the large debris has cleared. still a lot of grass and crap coming down to make life miserable from a fishing standpoint. there are no "tides" to speak of...incoming still has a pretty strong outgoing rip and the outgoing is just that plus. took 24oz of lead to keep a small spinner down in 30ft of water at high "slack".

hoping that this week's worth of good weather settles things down.

 

[Swamp Puppy]

Things are shaping up down here....finally. was out saturday and the river was still running a bit fast and never truley slacked out. still lots of grass and weeds in the water, but not too much in the way of large debris.