It is going to get better. Soon.

Speaking of the Saginaw stretch. I just found an old picture in a box at my house (built in 1907) that is a wide angle panorama of the Saginaw mill setup when it was going full bore. Very interesting picture.

We caught the low slack this morning in the South Channel. Managed to catch a chrome hatchery Coho but the encouraging part was that we saw five jumpers. Three earlier trips have been less productive.

Best I can figure out is few Coho are moving but they are with the tide but always seem to be going up. At low they will show up at the house and few.

Chinook on the other hand are moving with the normal 2 hrs before dusk / dawn and two hrs after. Seem to be consistent and I know of a good size Jack and two that ran away from home this morning.

What is different is this. The Nookers hid for about 4 days with the rain but now are showing and the Coho seem to be hanging back with them. What is different in the reach here is the bloody Chinook are feeding. Run a herring out just like your out on the salt, they slap it and come back and grab it at about 100 mph plus and just keep on truck-in. Two Coho I had a grip on pretty much did the same thing other than the slap bit. They seem to be hunting the bait as you run through rather than oh hey this looks good. I had that Coho come across the water and hit my spinner as I had just got it off a snag and was reeling across the top and that thing screamed from over 40 ft away, hit and never slowed down. Which means I came up empty one more morning.

Got a 12# hatchery buck today about 11:00. Fought good for a hatchery fish, jumping and shaking it's head. That circle hook held really well. Saw 7 others caught just above and below the bridge. FIsh was bright and green, soft scale so super fresh. Saw a lot of fish moving but only in spurts about every 15-20 minutes or so. Did see a big Nook role but it had some color to it.

Had some slaps as rivrguy is talking about, not a solid hit but a solid thump and then gone. Fish seemed to be moving back and forth in close and out in the channel.

Another week and fishing will be more catching than fishing.

Francis pull up the extended forecast. Maybe some showers but going through the 1st week of Oct no more rain / mid to upper 60's. So the Upper Chehalis water takes 4 days to get here so the flows should be going to stable, water temp down, DO is wayyyyyyyyyyyy up, and the weather looks like it might go dry first part of October. You just might get your wish.

Although it has been suggested on behalf the inland guys we tape feathers to our ass, dress in animal skins, and do a rain dance.

No rain dances for a couple weeks,please.I'm callin Romulas and Johnas right now to tell'em it's bout 3 o'clock and to lay off the bottle and rain dancin for a bit.Good luck,
SZ

So question! I know nothing on this fishery but have abuddy with a place in Westport. If I launch at Westport can I find the troops looking for the ho's? Is it a long run over to the fishing zone? Might be a fun weekend combining ho's and clams. Crap what did I just write? Thanks.

bankie,

People with large boats launch out of Westport and run into the harbor to fish. It's only a few miles on the water. I can "see" Westport from where I've fished.

Sg

check out:

http://www.sschapterpsa.com/ramblings/GH_JohnsRiver_chinook.htm

nice little map there too.

gud luk

I was behind Wally World about an hour ago and talked to two guys who had fish (one jack, one adult), and they have been watching them jump. That's better than my last couple of trys in the same place this week

Fished today,target greys harbor,launched at Westport dock tied up by a gillnetter who couldn't get it off cause it was low slack.It brought an internal smile as I watched that semi-truck backing to and fro,slippin and a sliding up and down the ramp,they gave up and assuming they will have to wait till the tide runs in a little more.N 5-10 turning W in tne afternoon,NOT. Ran out to mid channel short of the plant,sloppy NNE 10-13 on a flood,ran up river to the tower saw 3-4 boats nothing so I ran back in front of the cell tower,the sun peeked out and the wind kicked down a hair 2hours before high slack,fish on,#10 buck.Feeling pretty good and lucky maybe 7 boats on the water saw nothing,15-20 minutes later,slammm thought it was a king but they don't dance like this buck,man you gotta love a crazy coho,same size empty stomachs and full sacs,good luk to you guys this weekend gotta work.

So, for you guys that do the Grays Harbor fishery, I have a question. Is the area where people fish affected by ocean waves and swells? With relatively big winds predicted this weekend, I'm wondering if my 15' Arima is enough boat?

From the Airport up river it might be enough if we have high winds and big waves. Really depends on the water. I have seen people fish up here above the bridge and at 28th street with little 15 aluminum boats. I have also seen it so bad that 20 foot v-hulls were getting thrashed and fishing was tough out of any boat. I don't know the details on Arima boats so can't help any more specific than that. But the upper river rarely gets so bad that a good boat can't be fished out of. The bay is a whole other story.

As for the bay and how far you have to go to fish, I could row there in a pontoon boat from the Westport boat launch. Pretty much anywhere from outside the boat basin will yield fish, I have seen them troll the boat basin too but I have heard it is frowned on.

have 18' glaspar all open great hull but I do get wet,Arima's have a cabin and my experience can handle quite a bit,if you launch at the John ramp your right in front of the fishery if it were to get a little snotty for you,your right there.I prefer to launch at Westport since I fish with my daughter bout 3 mile run.Like anywhere keep up on the tides and weather,good luck

Thanks for the input. This weekend definitely looks iffy. Maybe the Johns River launch for me.

I'm often with my kids, so I really play it safe... and they get sick pretty easy, so we tend to err on the side of caution. Forecast for the ocean is:

SAT
S WIND 15 TO 25 KT. WIND WAVES 2 TO 4 FT. W SWELL 6 FT
BUILDING TO 8 FT IN THE EVENING.

SUN
SE WIND 20 TO 30 KT. WIND WAVES 3 TO 5 FT. W SWELL 11 FT
BUILDING TO 14 FT.

there's no dock so if you got a buddy bring him or make sure you bring your waders,it's not bad if it's not windy there's quite a bit of bank access so you can beach then trailer up,With a forecast like that I'd stay home with the kids and rent a movie or come on down to the So Paw in Tumwater and i'll buy you a beer got a great band playing this weekend

that's a great offer! I kinda promised them we'd try for something. Maybe we'll go chase some south Sound net pen coho.

9/22/2010

Finally.....Adults moved on by.....no real hits, 2 of us...3 hours...then ran to the "fast water"....sea liced silver jacks.....lot's of them!!!!!

Well, not to throw cold water on you fisherpersons, but remember this is the year that Coho should be returning if they survived the Dec 07 flood. Is there any possibillity we will not be seeing many Coho show this year, especially from the upper river ??

At one of the ad hoc meetings this spring in Monte, I asked WDFW bios what reduction in the Coho returns that they forercast for this year. The answer was "we don't see any change over normal runs as those fish had already spawned before the flood." Let me tell you that the silt left in the streambeds, surely had the oportunity to smother many eggs that were not deeply buried. Even today upriver here at Chehalis when we get 1/2" of rain, the river gets muddy. This tells me that the silt is still there.

I hope that with all their wisdom that they are right & I am wrong. We will see.

Game is on. Three in boat, all scales not set and gun metal bright. Saw two others on a stringer and they released a Chin. The Coho have to be moving fast to hit Friends Landing with the scales loose.