I fished with guide friend Dennis Hull today, about half way between where the hottest bites have occured so far; between Cathlamet on the very lower river and the Bonneville dealine area. We saw only 4 fish caught out of over 100 boats today and we weren't lucky , and it was reported to be better yesterday. How was it in other places today? (don't have to hide a good bite if there were any besides Bonny.

RT

same story here rt.fished the clifton channel all day caught 1 marked fish seen about 5 others caught between 40 or so boats pretty tough fishing took at at 3 went up to the mouth of the lewis fished till dark saw 1 fished hooked,the guys there said they saw 3 0r 4 hooked all day.here today gone tommorrow i guess. scott

I know you have heard this a million times before but this time it's all true. you should of been at the ammo dump just below stella today. We had 9 take downs and landed 7 fish with 5 being cliped. That was the first time all year we got more cliped fish than nates. Sure wish it wasn't closed tomarrow . Drano & Wind river here I come!!!!

I plunked below the dam the last three days. Left the boat at home after fishing that area on the 9th and getting skunked and having to watch the plunkers kill them. I released 3 natives and kept 2 hatchery fish. The bank fisherman did not do as well as I remembered. There was a hogline just up from me that did very well all three days. Not sure how many were caught but there seemed to be fish on almost all the time. They had their slow times but there was times like today when 2,3, and 4 boats had fish on at once. The boats out toward the center of the river seemed to be doing the best but all boats in the line hooked fish. This was my first time plunking for anything but sturgeon. It was fun just talking to the people and watching the boats. Today there was a large bayliner that made an attempt to anchor in the hogline above me. He almost ended up on top of another boat. Then when he went to pull his anchor he angled across their anchor lines. They yelled at him to go straight up and he paniced and started to go across the anchor lines on the other side. By then every boat out there was yelling at him. He finally got his anchored pull up which looked to be a sand anchor. After that he had the guts to make a second attempt but everyone on the hogline started yelling at him and he finally left. It was funny to watch from the shore but was a very dangerous cituation and luckily he did not catch any anchors. Please do some research before attempting to fish that type of water. Also Monday I saw a 12-14 aluminum boat leave their anchored to fight a fish and lose it because their bouy was to small. They must have spent 1-2 hours trying to grab it with a landing net. Hopefully they reopen the season on a limited bases.

[ 04-17-2001: Message edited by: FishCatcher ]

I got a late start on Tuesday, so I headed for the hog-line at the down river end of Sand Island just as the tide started out. I have a small boat and was able to squeeze into the inside without affecting anyone.

Unfortunately I only saw 1 fish caught in 5 hours. No one in our line caught anything,and the wind played havoc with boat positions which kept everyone busy. Atleast we were't bored.

After I left Sand Island my motor was acting up on me, so I headed back to Ridgefield and saw a guy come in with his first springer. He said he was getting ready to leave when it hit. I'm glad he got it before those test nets go in.

Tuesday we went one fish for six on so not at all good. We fish the Port of the Kalama. Sea Lions all around the hog line so it was a waist of time. Only saw Two others hook.

[ 04-18-2001: Message edited by: drift boat ]

Well I fished the combat fishing zone at the dam yesterday. Fish on everywhere you looked, two, three, four, six at a time. I will say that I have fished in some combat zones before (Blue Creek, Cowlitz Clay Banks, Pt. Defiance) but those places paled in comparison to what we fished in yesterday. The guides were just spanking em'. We saw well over a hundred fish hooked. Some of the private boats were doing well also. I fished with the Gizmo Man and my Dad. Giz was the only one in our boat to hook a fish, a nate that he let my Dad play to the boat (thanks Giz!!!) and was released. To put it in Giz's words we felt pretty humbled by the end of the day. But that's fishing!!!
For me personaly in four trips I caught one nate and one jack. First Springer season on the Columbia for me. If we get to do it again I think I will fair a little bit better. Next up is the Wind River zoo in a few weeks, hope to see some of you there!!!
Good luck and tight lines, Jeff

I just have to say: nice subject line there RT. Are you really writing a book?

Hi Phish. Yes, I have finally finished all the book material. But I am finding that the re-writes to book standards are taking almost as long as all the material. I talked again with Nick Amato about it on Monday and he says it sounds like it will be too long a read (should go over 300 pages, close to 400). His recommendation is to pare it down to the most pertinent info, mostly the advanced stuff- and leave in the funny fishing stories. It's still gonna be awhile, but it will get there. Thanks. - Steve

Hey Jeff. If they decide to re-open it to sportfishing for a few days, or next season, let's take my sled up there to Bonny and get into the fray and dial in on the hot fishing. I didn't even go up there because I don't enjoy fishing in huge crowds much, but for a few springers on occassion I will endure. - Steve

Hey RT
I new it would happen Talked to one guy today that fished the bonneville thing yesterday and they had a total of 18 fish to the boat with about 2/3 being natives. Do you believe it or is that one of those fisherman things that we were talking about.

Biteme,
As I said in My earlier post, those aint no fish stories that people were telling you about. One guide we spoke with had boated 8 by noon and had only kept one. Saw lots of multiple fish on at the same time!!!! Must have been over a hundred fish hooked yesterday.
RT,
I'll take you up on the invite if they reopen it. Now that I've been there once and seen what's up I think that I'd fair a little better. It was a zoo, but for some springers I'd do it again. One more note, unlike Hoh's post on the keeping of nates there was a lot of fish going back in the water. They were all being released by keeping them in the water too.
Good luck and tight lines, Jeff