My son and I headed for Cathlamet late Tuesday morning. We arrived at Elochman Slough Marina around 4:00 and the boat was wet by 4:30 (actually it was already wet but now with river water in addition to the rain). The wind was blowing and it was raining, but not pouring so out we went. The river was way off color and the visibility was less than a foot. My game plan was to fish Clifton Channel on the Oregon side of Tenasillahe Island. While in route I was metering a number of fish in an area about ½ mile from the upstream end of Tenasillahe island and on the Washington Side. Over the side went two rods rigged with brined herring, one blue and one chartreuse. Shortly there after the blue rod goes bendo and I thought that we had number 1 in the boat. Wrong…in fact we went 4 for 0 in a couple hours of fishing Tuesday afternoon.

Wednesday morning we were on the water by 6:30 but this time sticking with my original game plan of fishing Clifton Channel. Unfortunately it was a repeat of Tuesday afternoon, both weather and our inability to actually hook and land a fish. We tried herring, herring with Cone Zone flashers and pulled wrapped QuickFish with varied success. The water depth ran between 12’ and about 50’ and hovered around 44 degrees. We pulled out of the water at noon and headed home. Final score zippo but we had a great time and I am looking forward to my next opportunity to head south.

A couple things to note; Sharon’s Pizza which is about a 5 minute walk from the marina has wonderful pizza. The marina facility is very nice with a great 3 lane protected launch ramp and lots of dock space. There are restroom and shower facilities. You can camp in the boat trailer parking for a fee or there are a number of cabins, yurts, camp sites with hookups and also pull through RV sites available.

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