Last weekend I attended a workshop hosted by the Association of Northwest Steelheaders (https://nwsteelheaders.org/) focused on bank fishing for salmon. I moved to Oregon in 2017 and have caught a handful of salmon, but always because of kind offers from people with boats. Being able to fish for salmon without needing to rely on their generosity was appealing. The workshop covered the basics - fortunately I had almost everything I needed already, just needed to pick up some barbless hooks, a spin-n-glow, and a few chunks of lead. There were maybe 50 people in attendance at the workshop and 2 fish were caught. The tides that day were supposedly not ideal for fishing, but it was a useful day to learn the technique.
The following weekend the tides were supposed to be great. I got a late start, headed out to the river, and settled in for a cold morning. As an ODFW officer was checking in with everyone who was fishing, one of the guys down the shore got a bite. He fought it for a few seconds and it got off. That was the only bite I'd seen all day, including from the swarm of boats just off shore.
A while later, I'm starting to gather my things together, giving myself about another 15 minutes before I head in. The bells on the rod start jingling. I figured that I'd picked up some weeds (again) or a gust of wind just hit the rod. I pick it up to reel in and check, and to my surprise there's a fish on the other end. I fight it for a couple minutes, and some other fishermen down the bank come over to help me land it. I get the fish close to the shore, where it then realizes something is up and darts back out into the river. This happens a few times and I'm worried about losing it with the required barbless hooks. The guys that came over to help get it close, confirm that it is a legal-to-keep hatchery fish, and get it up on the bank.
I know some guys spend weeks fishing for these and never get one. I got a good dose of beginner's luck to get one after only 3 or 4 hours. Thankful for the help of my fellow fishermen in landing it.
I don't have a fish scale so we didn't get a fresh weight, but we weighed ~8 lbs of meat from the fish, so we're guessing it was in the 11-ish pound range, 28" long.
The season on the Columbia closed yesterday but I've already got my eyes out for other spots that I can go around Portland. This fish was caught only a 35 minute drive away from my apartment, on a public Wildlife Management Area that I also spent 10+ days duck hunting last fall. There are a lot of things I miss about Montana, but this is a pretty good consolation.
The following weekend the tides were supposed to be great. I got a late start, headed out to the river, and settled in for a cold morning. As an ODFW officer was checking in with everyone who was fishing, one of the guys down the shore got a bite. He fought it for a few seconds and it got off. That was the only bite I'd seen all day, including from the swarm of boats just off shore.
A while later, I'm starting to gather my things together, giving myself about another 15 minutes before I head in. The bells on the rod start jingling. I figured that I'd picked up some weeds (again) or a gust of wind just hit the rod. I pick it up to reel in and check, and to my surprise there's a fish on the other end. I fight it for a couple minutes, and some other fishermen down the bank come over to help me land it. I get the fish close to the shore, where it then realizes something is up and darts back out into the river. This happens a few times and I'm worried about losing it with the required barbless hooks. The guys that came over to help get it close, confirm that it is a legal-to-keep hatchery fish, and get it up on the bank.
I know some guys spend weeks fishing for these and never get one. I got a good dose of beginner's luck to get one after only 3 or 4 hours. Thankful for the help of my fellow fishermen in landing it.
I don't have a fish scale so we didn't get a fresh weight, but we weighed ~8 lbs of meat from the fish, so we're guessing it was in the 11-ish pound range, 28" long.
The season on the Columbia closed yesterday but I've already got my eyes out for other spots that I can go around Portland. This fish was caught only a 35 minute drive away from my apartment, on a public Wildlife Management Area that I also spent 10+ days duck hunting last fall. There are a lot of things I miss about Montana, but this is a pretty good consolation.
Congrats!
