Smelt dipping on the Sandy

[kidkillsaplenty]

Hey all, was wondering if anyone had suggestions of where to go on the Sandy for Smelt Dipping this year. Haven't fished the Sandy before, so not sure where to find parking or bank access. Nor do I know anything about the habits of smelt, so not even sure where to dip my net. Heck, don't even have a net yet (so if you know where to buy one, that would be useful too!). Thanks for any info you can provide!

 

[montym]

Good luck getting a net. My local sportsman's warehouse has none and expects none soon. No luck online also, belive it or not. If I do find a net I'd probably go to oxbow park, had lots of bank access. You can scope out using Google Earth.

Cheers
M

Ps.. I am looking for one with a looooong handle

 

[kidkillsaplenty]

Good luck getting a net. My local sportsman's warehouse has none and expects none soon. No luck online also, belive it or not. If I do find a net I'd probably go to oxbow park, had lots of bank access. You can scope out using Google Earth.

Cheers
M

Ps.. I am looking for one with a looooong handle

Thanks for the lead, M! The fellas shad fishing at bonneville use shower curtain rods, i think, to lengthen their net handles. Seems to work well since they can scoop angry mating shad out of the columbia. I'm assuming smelt don't fight as hard (though might be heavier per scoop if we're lucky).

 

[montym]

Thanks for the inputs folks, I stand corrected . Longview is a little too far off, so it looks like it will have to be a modified net for me. Called Dick's yesterday, no luck there also.

Cheers
M

 

[Irishrover]

The Sandy River will be open from 6 a.m. until noon on Saturday, March 7, and again Sunday, March 15. But check with ODF&W because these things change. That's a total of 12 hours of smelt dipping. Best area for dipping is down by Lewis and Clark Park and Troutdale. This is all dependent on the smelt showing up of course. I know they are in the Columbia but that doesn't guarantee any for the Sandy. If they come it will be a zoo out there.

 

[DrTheopolis]

I don't know if there's any smelt in the Sandy at present, but I took a walk at Kelley Point yesterday, and wow. Spawned out smelt all over the bank, everywhere, and some flopping their way to their death on the bank.

I hope they permanently ban the commercial harvest on the Columbia. That much biomass coming to the river can't be a bad thing, and with the problems the Lower Columbia sturgeon are having, making sure they're well fed (along with everything else that lives in there) surely must be a good thing.

And NO! I DID NOT pick up a few floppers from the edge of the water to use for bait-wraps on Kwiks, because that would be illegal.

 

[Irishrover]

Reports are that they smelt have arrived in the Sandy.

 

[kidkillsaplenty]

Thanks for all the feedback and tips! Just wanted to update folks... made it to Sandy this Saturday armed with a 16ft dipping net (had to buy on Amazon). Got there around 6:30AM and it was already packed at Glen Otto Park. No one was catching any. Met up with friends and we headed closer to the mouth of the river where we were able to spot a few live ones amongst the thousands of dead ones. Sounds like the big run happened about a week earlier and we had already missed it. We were able to get about 30 of them just by spotting them in the river and scooping them out individually, but nothing like what old pictures showed of past hauls. Pretty tasty fried with a simple flour and cajun seasoning dusting.

Curious if anyone knows whether we can expect a 2nd run of these fish or if they all spawn and die at the same time. There's still one more day open for smelting (next sunday), but not sure it's worth my time based on this apparent end of their run.

 

[Irishrover]

Next Saturday but I believe the run has done its thing. ODF&W picked those March dates before the fish were in. This is only the second year ODF&W has set dates. The way we used to fish them was to go get them when the word got out they were in the fiver. Folks would start watching for the fish in February. When they would show up in the river the word would spread and folks would hit the river. Those days are gone and ODF&W is under the constraints of the ESA and the Feds. It really is one of those fisheries that you have to be there when the fish are in. When I heard the fish were in the river I was worried the run would be over before the dipping dates. I don't blame ODF&W, it got to be hard to pick a date and hope the fish are there.