Jon’s Outdoors Fishing & Hunting News

May, 2008 Archive

May Newsletter

Saturday, May 10th, 2008

Hey Everyone,

How is everyone doing? You guys here in the Northwest, did you get in on any of the spring salmon fishing on the Columbia River? It was pretty good but very short lived. We were told by the F&G that there was going to be this record spring salmon run on the Columbia River but I don’t think we have had as many salmon over Bonneville Dam as we did last year at this same time. I think it would be a good bet on which one is more reliable, a weatherman or a fish run prediction by the F&G. Anyway; my boat did all right on the salmon. As a matter of fact, the last Saturday and Sunday that salmon was open we limited both salmon and sturgeon. Those were a couple of good days. I think we limited on salmon most of the days in April. Spring salmon is sure a good table fair. My wife and I even got to get out one evening and get a couple nice ones. Now, since the salmon closure I have been hard and heavy after the keeper sturgeon. It has been a very good sturgeon bite. We have seen a lot of big keepers in the 50-inch bracket. Here on the Columbia River we can only keep sturgeon on Thursdays through Sundays and they have to be between 42” and 60 “. The way the keeper sturgeon came in so late I am sure that the bite will continue to be a good one through May. If you have not got your keeper sturgeon in the freezer yet, give me a call. I have 3 good dates left. May 15, 16 and 22 is what I have left to book. Today we were done with our keepers by 10:00 am. The end of May the keeper-size sturgeon will head down river to the estuary and gorge themselves on anchovies and sand shrimp. While they head down river the big trophy sturgeon are heading up river and a lot of them are here already. We hooked up 4 oversize sturgeon last week and they are fresh ones. The big breeder sturgeon follow the shad up and then spawn below Bonneville Dam. Shad season will open on May 16th. Those shad are a real fun fish to catch. The American Shad average about 2-4 pounds each and they really put up a fight. They come up river by the thousands so mid May through the first part of July you can catch these all day. It makes a great kids fishery because there is never a dull moment and all the kids on my boat are experts when I’m done with them. We have a great time. I book a lot of half-day trips for kids on these shad trips. When we start on the trophy sturgeon we catch shad in the morning and us that for the bait on the big sturgeon. Using a bait that is about 4 pounds is awesome. Fighting these big sturgeon make for some good videos. When you see a 400-pound fish tail-walk right behind the boat with your hook in his mouth, now that is an adrenaline rush. If you haven’t done this with me yet, come on out this June and let’s get you some bragging rights on one of these monster fish. Here is what I have available for dates:
Keeper Sturgeon – May 15th, 16th, and 22nd
Trophy Sturgeon – May 20, 21, 22, 27, 28, June 2, 4, 5, 16, 17, 19, 24, 25,
26 and 27

I sure got a lot of emails and comments about my last newsletter talking about my first deer. Thanks to you all. I have so many goofy stories about my buddies and I learning to hunt and fish together. If you have fished with me you have probably heard some of them. To think back on the things we did are just about embarrassing. I do mean it when I say thanks. At least I know some of you are reading this newsletter. Just kidding. Here is another story of my first steelhead trip.
I was about 12-years-old. I had my little $9.99 rod and reel and a can full of night crawlers and headed for the river. Now, at this point in my life I had no idea what a steelhead or salmon was. I knew what trout were. I knew what catfish were. I knew what other pan fish were but had no idea of what a steelhead or salmon was. I just couldn’t wait to get down to the Cowlitz River and see how the trout fishing was. So, I walked across the Toledo Bridge and hiked down behind this farmer’s house to see if I couldn’t get my 12 trout limit. The water was very clear so I could see my worm sinking below my bobber when I cast my line out right to the edge where the fast river and the back eddy met. As the night crawler was sinking I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. These giant “trout” came over and ate my night crawler. The fight was on but my line broke. Frantically, I tied on another hook, weight and bobber and cast out again and again another big “trout” grabbed the worm and broke my line again. This went on several times. Now, the smaller trout I could catch but the bigger ones kept taking off across the river and breaking my line. I was down to just a couple hooks left but finally I got my 12th trout. These were the biggest trout I have ever seen in my young little life. The smallest one was probably over 24”. Well, I cut a branch off a near by tree and started sliding these trout down the stick. After I finally got all 12 fish on that stick I could not believe how heavy it was so I had to drag them. So off I went down the gravel road and back across the Toledo Bridge. While on the bridge a log truck was coming across so I stopped on the edge of the bridge and so did he. The driver pulled up beside me, rolled down his window and said. “Boy, it looks like you got more then your limit”. I told him “nope. There’s twelve there” and kept walking. When I got home the neighbor straighten me right out and I found out that those “trout” were summer steelhead. I bet that log truck driver laughed all the way home about that. Oh well, I was introduced to steelhead fishing and have been addicted to it ever since.

If we can help with any of you summer fishing plans please give Stacy or I a call. We would love to talk with you and maybe get a day or two of fishing with you. Talk to you soon.

Posted in Fishing News | Comments Off

Oregon Sturgeon and Salmon Fishing in the Columbia River Gorge

May, 2008 Archive

May Newsletter

Archives

Categories