RT or others: I have a 20' boat mostly for saltwater fishing, with I/O and no anchoring system. Heading south to try springer fishing Thursday & Friday. Would you recommend Wind River, Drano lake or main stem Columbia below the dam? Thanks for any help you can give

For starters, read the Need help with springer fishing below Bonneville thread, and the one with Columbia tips in the thread title (I'll see if I can find it and bring it back toward the top of the BB again). ...

All 3 places will be crowded with both springers and fishermen! I would prefer to fish the more open, thus less conjested, Columbia. There are tons of springers up and down the whole river and you don't have to play 'bumper boats' like they do at the other 2 spots crowded places. Try those after the Col. closes at the end of April. But you will need an appropriate anchoring system, especially up in the Gorge just below Bonneville Dam deadline area where the river is faster (this can be a very dangerous place to anchor so make sure you have the right equipment and knowledge before ever attempting it - in fact I woudl recommend not doing that with a heavy deeper V hulled boat up there; fish further down river), or to anchor fish the outgoing tides downriver. And you will need a trolling motor to fish the incoming tides on the lower Columbia or at Wind/Drano.

[ 04-08-2001: Message edited by: RT ]