PacNW Salmon & Steelhead Fishing

[ronbo613]

Originally Posted by Chuck D

Very cool videos, thanks for sharing. Just curious what general area on the Columbia are you fishing and what is the best time of year to fish up there? Great job!

I live in White Salmon, WA and fish mainly from the Bonneville to The Dalles Dam. Sometimes I fish above the John Day dam and at the Deschutes Rivermouth area. The fall steelhead/salmon runs are usually the best, it starts in September and, like this year, can last into December. There are also winter steelhead and spring salmon runs. You can average 10-20 hours per fish trying to catch the winter and spring fish, in the fall, you might get lucky and get six in four hours.

Spring and summer has great smallmouth bass fishing. The Columbia and John Day Rivers are world class smallmouth bass fisheries and perfect for kayak fishing. There is trout and largemouth bass in the area's lakes.

Ocean fishing for salmon in the fall is good and when not fishing for salmon, there are rockfish, halibut and ling cod. Aside from the salmon, you would be disappointed in the ocean fishing if you are used to La Jolla and the conditions are much more severe; cold water, strong tides and wind.

Coming from SoCal, the thing you might find most attractive, aside from the Portland and Seattle metro areas and holiday weekends, this area has very little traffic, no crowds at the boat launches and it is entirely possible that you may have a prime fishing spot all to yourself. Salmon fishing is pretty much a zoo, but other than that, launching into a PacNW river or lake and not seeing anyone else all day is not that unusual. You can head into the backcountry, fish for trout in a mountain lake, camp for free anywhere you want, shoot guns and drink beer. The snow may not clear until July and bring mosquito repellent.

Much like SoCal was back in the late 70's and 1980's, a lot of people are moving here and it gets more crowded every year, so get while the gettin's good.