Lower Willy 7/19- some advice sought

[paulages]

Hey folks-

I live in North Portland, so while I realize that the mouth of the Clackamas or one of the Columbia tributaries might be a better spot for Salmon right now, the Swan Island and Cathedral Park boat ramps are minutes from my house. When I have little time, that's where I launch.

Anyway, I've trolled all spring with not a bite. Along the bank between Swan Island and St Johns where I see all the other boats trolling, in the Channel a bit... with herring and imitation plugs most spring, but I've recently switched to hardware. Yesterday a few of us went out in the boat, trolling from St. Johns to the Multnomah Channel, anchoring there for a bit. My logic was this: any fish- salmon or steelhead- that takes a turn up the Channel instead of the main stem Willy is going to pass through that narrow mouth. No bites. We motored around to just south of Kelly point park, where we were seeing salmon jumping all around us... no bites.

I was running two spreaders- the bottom one with a wobbler (5' leader) and the top one with a kwikfish (similar leader), with 6-10 oz of lead beneath on 18" or so of line. The other guys were using similar setups without the double spreader. No bait. They were casting around and retrieving, I was mostly lowering mine and letting the weight hold it on the bottom.

I'm new to this, and could really use some advice. I want to catch some fish! Anybody have some tips, criticism, advice? Should we be using bait still? Spin n glos with prawns? Magic?

Paul

 

[beaverfan]

Unfortunately with the water being 67 degrees at the falls it's gonna be tough to get any of the Salmon in the lower Willy to bite. They prefer a little cooler water. From the research I've done a lot of guys switch from bait to hardware when the water hits about 60. Out of curiosity how much distance do you have between spreaders? With the Kwik on top doesn't it just dive down towards the wobbler? I was right by Kelly Point Park a couple days ago and there were lots of fish jumping but they were Carp not Salmon, are you sure the fish you saw jump weren't Carp? My advice would be hit the Sandy or the Clack and go get yourself some fish! Good luck!

 

[paulages]

You're right that the jumpers might have been carp. Regarding my setup- yeah, I thought the Kwikfish on top might dive into the wobbler, but I didn't have any hangups, and when I lowered everything into the water, the kwikfish didn't seem to dive very much. We running hardware based on the water temp, but I've been hearing reports of people still catching on bait. One was at SS beach, plunking with spin n glos tipped with a prawn, and the other was a boat coming into my regular launch, who caught an 18 pounder on chartreuse herring. That one was a couple weeks ago, but the water temp was similar then.

I think we'll try the Sandy next. Thanks!

 

[Ripplerider]

I was in Oregon City and no bites last night!!!

 

[paulages]

We hit the Columbia at the mouth of the Sandy today, with no bites on the salmon or steelhead rigs. I tried a wobbler, spin n glos, kwikfish with sardine wrap.. nothing worked. We decided to rig for sturgeon and got a few bites, but no hook ups.

Where are you guys going at the Sandy? I tried to find the rift at the confluence, but most boats were in the 8-9 ft area just downstream of the Sandy, close to the bank. Not much current, but definitely some Sandy water.

Any advice, people?