Thread for coast salmon 2012

[rogerdodger]

Friday Slaw report: more big fish for sure but we marked just a few spread out groups. we hit some big fish right out of the launch and down through the bridge, then we marked several more large fish down through the Red marker wing dams, but later in the afternoon that water was empty, no new fish coming up into it....we did not go upstream or down past the Rhody drive rocks (shore fishing area)....no action for us, fish being cleaned at the launch were from over the bar and we did not see any fish hook-ups in boats around us in the river....

still looks early in the run and those catching fish in the river are beating the odds.... I hope it heats up this weekend for those fishing....we will be hitting it hard next week (the 'king salmon' monkey on my back has overstayed his welcome, it is time for him to go)....cheers, roger

 

[eugene1]

Thanks for the intel, roger! We may try it this weekend but there is so much to do to get the house ready to sell. It never ends... I actually broke down yesterday and hired a gardener off of CL, needed the help bad. Those guys make bank.

Looks like it might be too rough for my sled in the ocean tomorrow for the coho, if that's true we'll hit either old town or salmon harbor/reedsport if we do go.

I wonder if those fish you're seeing with that side scanner are salmon, sturgeon, or other stuff? Have the fish you've been marking been increasing with the run timing? Just curious as my own fish finder is a piece of junk (I'm sure yours is not) that doesn't see fish that are there but does when there is a thermal break or weedline.

Another idea, are you using gloves to bait up? I'm really into minimizing human scent with the nooks. I put gloves on when doing the bait ups and then either throw them into the garbage bucket or take them off to reuse later. I don't glove up all day long since I'm handling rods, tiller arm of motor, food, etc that will cross contaminate the next bait if I leave them on. Same goes for the crew.


Best, and keep at it you're due..

 

[rogerdodger]

I wonder if those fish you're seeing with that side scanner are salmon, sturgeon, or other stuff? Have the fish you've been marking been increasing with the run timing? Just curious as my own fish finder is a piece of junk (I'm sure yours is not) that doesn't see fish that are there but does when there is a thermal break or weedline. .

eugene1- a great question that I have been expecting. in April, I finally tossed my 20 year old Eagle unit and intalled a high resolution sonar. Since then, I have been diligently observing fish response- lots of days fishing for planted trout in Lake Munsel, then a week at Green Peter fishing Kokes, and many crabbing trips in the Siuslaw since June...so the different arches from the trout (small and large) and schools of Kokes and even smaller bait fish are easy to identify thanks to the screen resolution. So in all the crabbing trips before salmon were in the river, I was able to get a good baseline for what to expect in the Slaw (plenty of smaller fish in places, but really no big fish seen), and then I waited to see what changed in late August when the first Kings came in, other than a longer arch, I wasn't sure what to expect.

the palette I use goes green-blue-yellow, so fish show as green arches, bottom weeds, heavy patches of seaweed, thermal break, these also show green, then river bottom goes blue and yellow. the fish that suddenly appeared in late August had longer, slightly thicker green arches but something more- a small yellow rectangle with blue line around it. I had not seen this in any fish before then, not in larger planted trout or any of the Kokes in GB or any fish in the Siuslaw earlier in the summer. I think that this stronger response must be the larger air bladder in the Kings, especially since I started seeing the yellow/blue spots the day I hooked up and lost one near the bridge...and also was seeing them 2 days later when we watched 2 Kings netted up river...and the fight I got on video, just below the bridge, we had been seeing a few of these big fish in that area....

what I also noticed is that I don't always get the entire long arch from the Kings, they are either moving into or out of the beam as we pass over, but if I see even a partial arch and it has that yellow/blue strong signal in it, most likey a King. Lastly, since we are going to pass over only a fraction of the big fish, marking just a few should mean there is a good group of fish in that part of the river, but on the other hand, marking zero of them, especially if we are covering the deeper channel areas they usually move through or hold in, I think seeing none would make it seem likely there are at most very few around...

next question: will the Coho coming in later also show this stronger center signal or just be long/thick green arches?

cheers, roger

 

[eugene1]

roger, you've convinced me that I need to upgrade! Nice use of the scientific method to test that thing out.

I suspect you're already marking coho that will look like the big fish. We caught them inside the jaws on the Umpqua about 3 weeks ago, so there are probably some inside the Siuslaw as well by now.

Thanks for the info,

ps. what model do you have?

 

[mikeredding]

We fished the Siuslaw saturday because the bar was closed all day. Marked a lot of coho but very few chinook. Saw one fish caught near Cushman and heard there was a bight there earlier in the day. Overall was a very slow day on the slaw for everyone.

 

[RunWithSasquatch]

We fished the Siuslaw saturday because the bar was closed all day. Marked a lot of coho but very few chinook. Saw one fish caught near Cushman and heard there was a bight there earlier in the day. Overall was a very slow day on the slaw for everyone.

Slow on other systems up the coast.... Weak tides.

 

[rogerdodger]

ps. what model do you have?

I went with the Lowrance HDS8 Gen2 with Insight USA mapping and LSS (Lowrance Structure Scan) add on.

The LSS adds a second downscanning beam/frequency plus side beams angled to the left and right...so in addition to seeing the details on the bottom, the normal downscan image is enhanced. Plus, you can record the bottom structure scan, save it on SDRAM card (one card will hold like 8 days of scan time) and it will show up on the Chart/Map image when you pass over that location again, basically it lets you see what is on the bottom ahead of you...

Cheers, roger

ps- herring in brine (clear, chartr., blue) for tomorrow and gloves on the boat already

 

[rogerdodger]

Slaw Tue and Wed: slow slow slow.

there are more fish for sure and starting to see more jumping. there are lots of boats. we fished both days from 7am to 2pm (incoming and through high tide...). We covered, several times over, from CG to Railroad bridge.

as all boat fishermen know, there are always have several boats (sometimes lots of boats) within view, and you always know if someone has a fish-on/fight/netting, it is just obvious by the activity and change in boat direction, and both days, 7 hours each day, we did not see a single bit of action on any boat, including ours...if I was seeing other boats catching fish, I would be concerned about our method, but that isn't the case.

there is a lot of seaweed in the river, perhaps the low flow/lack of rain has contributed, but it is very hard to keep lines clean. we ran whole herring (large and smaller) on one pole all the time, the other pole rotated through: plug cut herring, plug cut behind a spinner body, a few big apexs (usually good for Jacks)...and I was keeping things clean and trying several popular scent products.

coming in yesterday, a nice 28# being cleaned that was caught up the river. the experienced folks we are talking to keep saying wait another week or two...so I think the second half of September is when it will catch fire!

dry weather and strong tides coming through the weekend and into next week, we are heading out again Monday after resting a few days, hoping for good luck and good reports from those fishing over the weekend. Cheers, roger

 

[mikeredding]

Thanks for the update Roger. We hope to get out on the ocean and chase coho saturday if mother nature cooporates.

 

[rogerdodger]

Thanks for the update Roger. We hope to get out on the ocean and chase coho saturday if mother nature cooporates.

I hope the weather cooperates and the bar is open. (...you don't need any luck with the fishing)

 

[eugene1]

Great info roger, We might be able to go this weekend. The bite has to turn on sometime right?

Best,

 

[mikeredding]

Bars are looking good today. Brought the boat with me to work and am leaving early to get in half a day on the pond.

 

[mikeredding]

Bars are looking good today. Brought the boat with me to work and am leaving early to get in half a day on the pond.

Managed to get 4 silvers this evening. Water was calm with 3-5' swells fog was thicker than pea soup.
Early up in the morning to do it all again.

 

[eugene1]

Managed to get 4 silvers this evening. Water was calm with 3-5' swells fog was thicker than pea soup.
Early up in the morning to do it all again.

You're a killer! Great to hear the new boat is keeping up with your passion! We'll hit the slaw or ump on Sunday, too much stuff to do with the house for a whole weekend trip for me.

Thanks for reports everybody and best of luck!

 

[rogerdodger]

Managed to get 4 silvers this evening. Water was calm with 3-5' swells fog was thicker than pea soup.
Early up in the morning to do it all again.

nice job, you earned them, but I sure hope at least a few of the silvers escape your lines and make it up the river soon, it sure would be nice to catch one or two...

 

[mikeredding]

My wifes first chinook!

My wifes first chinook!

So the grand total for the weekend was 4 coho in the ocean Friday night (released one small one) and 3 chinook out by the Siuslaw jaws on Saturday.
Handed off the first one to my wife for her first chinook. Ended up being a 23# chromer. The other two were 18# and 15#.
Lost 2 others with one being a monster that spooled me after a 400yrd run without ever slowing down. I have caught a lot of fish and have never felt anything like that before.

 

[mikeredding]

nice job, you earned them, but I sure hope at least a few of the silvers escape your lines and make it up the river soon, it sure would be nice to catch one or two...

I marked tons of coho in between the jaws and the barge this weekend but I was fishing the bottom to stay away from them. If you run a green label in the middle of the water column you should not have any trouble picking some up.

 

[mikeredding]

Started off with the fog:

Great report, glad you guys go into one. It was SLOW today. The fog was at zero visibility going west to the bar. Had to use GPS all the way at 3mph. Took an hour just to get to the jetty.

 

[plumb2fish]

I killed me one o them greenbacked fishes on the flats below 101 on the Umpqua on Saturday. They sure are fun when they hop 3-4' out of the river and break a 30lb leader and land in the net....almost jumped right in the boat.

 

[eugene1]

Took an hour just to get to the jetty.

Another reason I prefer to fish Salmon harbor; it's closer to the jaws.

But anyway, thanks mike for support over there! It was a grind for us. We had given up hope (well my crew did anyway) on catching anything today. But we stuck with it and took one home. About 24 solid rod hours for the one fish. There was a decent high tide bite at the jaws for the dozen or so boats there. Saw two nice nooks taken and we got our coho just around high tide at CG station. I think it'll be an awesome week coming up for roger and into next weekend for the rest of us. Just hope I am there for the big bite day like I saw on the Ump with my dad awhile back. I'd give almost anything to predict when the fish are hungry.

I hate the fog! Used the gps to troll for too long this morning and the temp lights on the sled are always sketchy. Arghh with some of the boats that don't have lights at all.

Best,