I was fishing the very start of the Columbia River spring chinook run with guide Lance Fisher. The commercial fleet had been hammering the run for seven days, during which recreational anglers could do little more than buy a fish. Oregon Dept. of Fish and Wildlife made them take a couple of days off so there was a possibility of seeing reasonable numbers of salmon.

After a thankfully short run up Multnomah Channel we arrived at Gilbert River area on the north end of Sauvie Island. For a wet and windy Wednesday morning, to see an armada of at least a hundred boats slowly trolling a mile or so of channel was a bit of a surprise. This stretch of the Columbia, running downriver from the confluence of the Wilamette north about twenty miles, is flanked by a maze of lakes, creeks, small rivers and densely wooded islands.

The Columbia's spring run king salmon have the reputation of being the region's best tasting salmon of the year. The close proximity to Portland could explain the numbers of anglers, but the concentration anglers on one spot had me puzzled. Lance explained it was common knowledge where fish could hold but the salmon's holes of choice changed season to season. The prime water for this run had not yet been determined. "A few fish were caught here yesterday, guess the news traveled fast," Lance said.

The first flush of fish in the spring run are the biggest salmon the river will see until the fall run arrives. Although a twenty-five pound fish is considered a monster, catching a trophy had to be one of the motivating factors capable of enticing hundreds of anglers to brave truly nasty weather for a shot at a fish. When the bulk of the run shows up, the catch rates improve as the size of the fish decreases. Today a fish to the boat would be considered a good day, two fish extraordinary!

...It's the Motion

Lance turned off the main motor and began cutting and rigging semi-frozen herring. As one of the "most experienced" guides slowly trolled by Lance told me, "That man can do more things with a herring than a monkey can do with a coconut." He then explained the "herring wrap" and the "herring roll."

The herring is prepared by cutting off the bait's head on an angle where the top of the bait's head is the longest point. The bait is attached to the hook or hooks. This day Lance was attaching the bait to 4/0 and a 3/0 hooks in tandem a few inches apart. A third trailer 2/0 hook was a few inches behind the bait. How the bait is attached to the hook and leader is known as the "wrap." The angle cut on the bait makes it roll through the water, pivoting from the leader swivel or a flasher, when trolled. The steeper the angle of the cut the bigger the roll. An experienced guide may have a repertoire of over fifty wraps!

Like most of us, Columbia River guides have their preferred species and their preferred method of catching it. There are sturgeon guides, steelhead guides and salmon guides, even though most fish all three species. There is a subgroup, "the herring guys", who specialize in fishing salmon with plug-cut herring. "Over the years I've learned who likes to do what," Lance told me. "When one of them starts catching fish, you know what wrap to use," he added. Since we had only seen a couple of fish caught by 9AM, the wrap was still a matter for unscientific experimentation.

Forgiving Rods...

Over the course of trolling for a couple hours, we had passed closely by most of the boats in the armada. I have never seen so many antique rods in my life! I noticed many were mated to very new high-end reels, Calcuttas etc. "What's up with the antique rods?" I asked.

He responded, "The herring is a large bait. The chinook needs to chew on it. If you have a stiff fast-action rod, the rod is going to pull the bait out of the fishes mouth while he's having lunch."

Lance's rod of choice is the Lamiglas 864 Certified Pro Fiberglas. I had also noticed Lance was a Lamiglas pro. He explained, "The arc of a glass rod under stress goes from the rod tip clear back to the butt making the action slow and soft. Graphite rods are largely designed to bend at the tip to create the fast action. The soft glass rods keep the bait in the fishes mouth."

My rod tip took three exaggerated dips toward the water. No mistaking this for anything other than a fish. Stasi, Lance's German Shepard, saw the rod bouncing and started barking. Earlier Lance had told me not to take the rod out of the holder until he told me to. I looked at him, he nodded his head and I gently removed the rod from the holder and started reeling like crazy.

Nothing! While I'm thinking you certainly (expletive deleted) this one up, I glanced over at Lance and asked. "OK what did I do wrong?" "Absolutely nothing," he replied. It never ceases to amaze me how a fish can escape multiple hooks.

Flashing Fish...

The recent rains had reduced water visibility in Multnomah Channel to around fifteen feet. Flashers were definitely the order of the day to have any chance of a Chinook seeing your bait. Lance uses Big Al's flashers because he can order them without any applied reflective tape. This allows him to fashion his own designs. He has a number of color combinations he will use depending on such factors as location, weather, water clarity and time of year. Lance also uses "out of the box" flashers from other manufacturers in certain conditions. Today's color was chartreuse with red trim.

Keep it on the bottom...

The channel depth runs from twenty to thirty feet. The key to success is keeping your bait three to four feet off the bottom. Downriggers are not an option due to the number of boats in very close proximity to each other. Hooked fish would be breaking off on the downrigger cables. Lance uses a depth finder and line counter reels. Keeping the bait at the preferred depth requires frequent adjustment but the method insures accurate bait placement at all times!

My rod started bouncing wildly toward the water. Before I could get the rod out of the holder the chinook was taking out 20lb line. The fish was strong but the fight was short. With fish so hard to come by, neither Lance or myself wanted a long battle. The salmon swam toward the boat, saw us and made a spectacular leap a few feet in front of us. Stasi was barking excitedly. After a short run the fish again swam toward the boat. Lance was ready with the net and we boated the eighteen-pound hatchery buck.

What bite there was totally died around noon. We braved the weather for a while but, with the wet and cold finally getting through the rain gear and not a fish to be had, we called it a day. A hundred boats and few hundred anglers managed to bring in six fish. A little luck and a lot of skill made for a successful day's fishing, for us.

The salmon, my first Columbia springer, was as tasty as I was told it would be. When I arrived home, my wife made Former Alaska Governor Tony Knowles' Salmon Strudel. It was awesome, as good as any salmon I've ever had the pleasure of eating!

Lance guides for salmon, steelhead and sturgeon in the Portland area and is host of the Northwest Outdoor Show Saturdays from 6-8 AM on Sports Radio 1080.

If you would like to fish with Lance, you can contact him through his website, www.oregonangling.com, or call him at 503.936.4774

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