Salmon vs. Elk

[kwyeewyk]

Here in Washington, the two species that seem to make everybody crazy are elk and salmon, and I'm not sure which makes them more crazy. Normally the Columbia River opens July 1 in my area, but last year the run was low so they cancelled the season to start with. They ended up opening it up July 16 for a limited section of the river that happened to include the area I usually fish to start out the season. I just have a 12 foot boat with electric trolling motor, so the Columbia is a bit of a challenge, especially the swift sections. There are "hot spots" all up the river where everybody tends to cluster where the fishing is the best. Many of these areas are too swift for me or just about all my boat can take. There is one spot that is nice and calm though and not bad fishing early on, a little hit and miss, but usually on a busy day there'd be 10-12 boats and on a slow day I'd be by myself. I usually start out there to work out the kinks and get back in practice running two downriggers and navigating the currents before I'd go fish the crowded areas so I'm not crashing into everybody trying to set my line up.

Last year when they opened the limited section, everybody had to crowd into one section of river and the busy spots were overrun with boats, so my sleepy little spot got "discovered" and suddenly there were 30 boats fishing it everyday. With the late start to the season and my limited time to fish last year I never fished there, just headed upriver to start. But I noticed it was getting fished regularly into the fall, when normally people would stop fishing there by August or so. I crossed my fingers that it would be a passing phase and would quiet down once the seasons got back to normal.

This year the run is low again, and they didn't set the season anticipating low numbers, but on July 1 announced that most of the normal sections would open July 4th. I saw people fishing on the 3rd, they must not actually read the regulations. I couldn't make it out on the 4th due to previous commitments, but made it out this morning, to find my fears come true and a line of trucks at the launch. The launch seems to be where people are the most uptight, as they rush to join the cluster, clearly just following the pack and not hammering any of my favorite spots fortunately. I counted close to 40 boats, saw 1 fish caught and had one quick bump that knocked my line loose but was gone by the time I grabbed the rod. I've seen more fish caught there when there were 5 boats. Kinda like the elk areas, it's surprising how well everybody ends up getting along as they rub elbows all day, but not my idea of fun. So I guess I may as well head upriver to the better, slightly more crowded area and join the cluster! Time to charge my batteries and figure out when I can get back out and hopefully put some fish in the boat.

Anybody else fishing the Upper Columbia?

 

[wa_archer]

Luckily i'm a little farther up in Wenatchee and it isn't that many boats but some of the eddy's below the dams are pretty small. Been hammering the sockeye last two days, haven't tried kings yet hard to leave the action. Typically always seems like the majority of the guys are smart and respect others lines. Then every once in a while you get a guy that doesnt get the message and tries to cut in line or go the wrong direction and everyone is trying to scatter to avoid.

 

[kwyeewyk]

Luckily i'm a little farther up in Wenatchee and it isn't that many boats but some of the eddy's below the dams are pretty small. Been hammering the sockeye last two days, haven't tried kings yet hard to leave the action. Typically always seems like the majority of the guys are smart and respect others lines. Then every once in a while you get a guy that doesnt get the message and tries to cut in line or go the wrong direction and everyone is trying to scatter to avoid.

I need to spend more time targeting sockeye and hope for a king, I usually target kings early on figuring I'll have lots of time for sockeye later, but with low king and high sockeye numbers thinking I need to switch it up this year. The eddies below dams seem to be the best spots, wish my boat could do it, Covid is going to mess up my chances of hopping in the boat with friends. People seem to get along well in the trolling line, it's amazing with all the people there aren't more collisions, I saw one pretty good collision at Brewster one year, but that's all.