by The Troutist, August 30, 2013

In my last article I had mentioned that I had to hit the rack so I could be on the road by 1:30am. This was a salmon trip with friends, Bruce & Dionne Warren, and my old friend Steve Buckner. We were meeting up at the Deep River Boat Launch at 0-dark thirty, reason being is that the parking area is very limited and it is just a short run to the Astoria Bridge.

This is one of those rare trips for me that is not business but for fun, to actually not worry too much about the photos that go with my columns. But old habits die hard and I just have to get some great shots and share them with everyone. We had put together quite the picnic lunch, fried chicken, potato salad, chips, beans, and of course plenty of soda. Not your usual lunch you would pack for a day of angling and a whole lot better than your run of the mill sandwiches.
I haven’t worked this fishery since the early 90’s so for me this was going to be very enjoyable. It was funny as we sat there in the dark that I found my mind wandering clear back to the early 70’s working this water with my grandfather. Yes that was about 45 years ago; I think it was the smell of the air and the view of the horizon at first light that brought all of this back to me. My grandparents had a little summer cabin in Ocean Park and every year we would either cross the Columbia River Bar out into the salt or work the Buoy 10 salmon fishery.
We would wake up at 0-dark thirty and my Grandmother would already have pancakes, eggs, & sausages on the table waiting for us. We would get dressed and gobble our breakfast down while she made our lunches and then out the door we went. Gramps wanted to get to the launch before it became a circus, funny how things don’t change over the years. I learned a great deal on these outings not just about catching salmon, tying up our own rigs, and learning different tactics, but also about safety and boating etiquette.

My personal best was a 28lb King and to tell you the truth the memories mean a lot more to me that how big the fish were. Those were some of the best days of my life, for those of you with kids and grandkids take them out with you and share this experience. Trust me when I tell you they will remember it for the rest of their lives.

Bruce had the boat in the water by 4am and we waited in the darkness for daybreak so we could make that quick rundown the Deep River and into the Columbia. We discussed what we were going to use, traded a few stories, and also got the reports from the day before, seems Dionne landed a 30lb’er. Yes she had photos to back up her story, and I will add that it was a nice looking river monster.

At daybreak we were headed to start working the downriver side of the Astoria Bridge. What I found amazing was that in the matter of an hour about a 100 boats had massed in the same area and as the day wore on the numbers increased. The equipment we were using was a Lamiglas XCC934 rod, a Shimano Dakota 500 line counting reel, 65lb Power Pro braided main line, Kone Zone Flashers, 30lb leaders, 16oz dropper weight, cut plug herring, anchovies, and spinners.

We started out trolling in the pack during the tide change and slack tide noticing there was only a few hook-ups in the sea of boats surrounding us, in other words nothing to significant. Around 9am I had the first hook-up of the day as I got it boat side we seen that it was a Jack-Chinook and it was released without handling it. After noticing such little action going on around us I figured that was going to be my only shot for the day. I was proven wrong as the day wore on.

After a few hours we started working the water on the upriver side of the bridge out of the pack on the Washington side of the river. I had another opportunity and missed him, damn the luck. The afternoon bite picked up and it seemed like this day was going to be the Steve Buckner Show. Steve brought the first keeper to the boat a nice bright 6lb Chinook. A few minutes later Steve had another hook-up only to have him spit the hook. We had an occasional drive by, what I mean by that is the fish hit it just enough to take the bait. More than likely it was a tail slap to stun the bait knocking the bait off the hooks.

Around 2pm Steve had another hook-up this time it stuck and Steve brought a hatchery Coho to the net, another salmon to add to his punch card this one weighing about the same as the Chinook. The day was slipping by quickly it was 2:30pm the afternoon wind was picking up and Bruce announced we would give it another 15-minutes and call it a day. I couldn’t blame him with all the cleaning up after a day of fishing that is involved. My thoughts were I was going home empty handed. With a few minutes left my rod took the dip, I set the hook, the line started peeling off the reel, and I hung on and knew this was the one I had been waiting for.

He made several runs would pause and I would reel up and gain ground on him. Finally I had a glimpse of him as he was just out of reach when Bruce said get ready he is going to make a run under the boat. He was right, I had the tip of the rod in the water hoping he wouldn’t break off or get caught in the prop. There is only one thing worse in my book than not landing one and that is seeing the one that got away.
After maneuvering him from side to side and around the motors he was finally in the net, all I could do was admire him. This bad boy was a 25lb hatchery Chinook, yep that was definitely worth the wait. What a great feeling to finally get the one you were looking for and the chance to do battle with such a great fighting salmon. For me personally I had a great time regardless if I had put one in the boat or not, but adding a hog to your punch card is always a great feeling.
Bruce and Dionne spent their week’s vacation chasing these bad boys and informed me that this wasn’t the best day of fishing that they had, but it was good enough for me. Yes being on the road at 1:30am with very little sleep was well worth it. My long time partner Steve Buckner had a great time and added a few more fish tale’s to his arsenal. Since our outing on the 19th, there have been a few regulation changes you might want to check out on the WDFW website and also an announcement of the closing of the ramp we used for a few days to get some needed repairs accomplished. I would like to thank Bruce and Dionne for having us along we enjoyed it immensely.

As always I have posted the pictures of this adventure on my face book page.

So until next time may your next trout be your trophy mount.
The Troutist-“Uncle Wes” Malmberg.




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