Early Fishing on the Columbia River
I did a little bit of fishing this week on the Columbia River. It is just smoking. It's just cruising at minor flood stage right now. It's amazing. We've got a lot of water this year, and I don't think, in the end, anybody is going to complain.
This Columbia River season is going to get stretched out. We're going to have some opportunities, but my guess is we'll be into the middle of the month with our quota with the amount of water we've got.
That's what has happened in the past. We'll hit the 6th. There will be a little delay, and then we'll probably get another season the following week. That's my guess. I think it'd be good. I don't think it's a bad thing. We may not even use our impacts and maybe get a late mop up fishery for the sports. I know that's usually a word used for the commercials, but maybe we get a late mop up fishery for the sports.
We've had a couple of those over the years. Those can be productive. I've caught some fish in the mop up fisheries. It just depends. Last year, we were thinking we were going to get some water. We had decent snow pack. Then, all the sudden, it got warm. Everything fell out of the mountains in about two weeks. It was crazy how the whole thing went down.
This year feels a little different. It feels wetter. It feels like the momentum is on the wet side. It may rain until July 4. It just may do that on us. It just feels wet this year, and it's felt wet the whole year. I'm not trying to act like Bob the weather cat or anything. When you've lived here for awhile, you can feel the trend. I think anybody can right now. It's crazy wet.
We get a little bit of sunshine, and everybody freaks out. It's awesome. It just feels good. It's good to get that vitamin D. I've been eating vitamin D now for months, and it's time to get the good stuff. It feels amazing.
Here's the thing: We've got lots of water right now. We've got rain right now, and we've got more water coming. Really, things have warmed up. I think the snow melt process is started. I don't think anybody would disagree with that. But we've got a lot more to come. I don't even think it's totally rocking yet.
As I look back, things got progressively higher and the flows got progressively bigger as we move into March. I can remember a couple years back, we were at like 415-420,000 CFS. Right now, we're at minor flood stage. This could be something else by the time we get to the end of March or early April.It could be cooking like it's never cooked before. I think the Corp of Engineers is doing everything it can to get water down the river, but it's going to be interesting.
Visibility is not so great right now. I was surprised when I was out, I was looking at about 16-17 inches of visibility. It's not muddy. I wouldn't call it muddy. There’s just lots of sediment in the water.
You're not going to be able to catch fish in some of the areas we're accustomed to fishing, especially when it's off-colored a little bit. We do a lot better when we get some light down into the bottom of the river. Where I was fishing, it was going to be difficult to do that. I think it's going to be difficult to do that in even 20 feet of water this year, if this thing doesn't clean up a little bit.
There was tons of debris in the river. Sticks and logs and stuff like that. You can tell they're really flushing these dams and with that, turbidity that you're really not accustomed to seeing on the Columbia above the Willamette River is coming. Typically, it's green water and it looks beautiful. That's not what I saw this week.
I do know some fish are being caught though. Don't think you can't go out and catch a fish. Number one, it's early. Number two, there is some turbidity, but some fish are caught. Some fish are caught on the hook. Getting in a little bit shallower and doing that program where you're running sardine wrap plugs or anchoring herring - you're going to be able to catch some fish doing that this year.
The bankies up at Bonneville are going to freaking whack them. If that water clears up, the bank fishermen up there are going to just smoke them this year because everything is going to be in tight. A lot of those fish are going to be running right along the shoreline, and those guys who are fishing up there off the bank are going to do really well. You might want to bring your own rock because there's going to be a lot of guys there.
They're going to have a good year, and you know what? We're going to catch some fish, too. Us guys rolling around in the boats, the guides and the sport anglers out there in their Willie Boats, are going to catch some fish, too.
It's going to take a little bit of time to figure out the trends as these things are rolling in. It'll be a little while as we go, "Okay, where are these fish? Where are they slowing down? Where are they traveling?" It'll take time to get water clarity to where we can figure these things out and start getting some numbers going.
We don't have a big run to begin with, and it's going to take some help from the conditions. Early on, I just don't know that we're going to get it. I'm not really booked to fish with customers or do any guided fishing for another couple weeks. I do that on purpose. I'm not a big March guy, the way it stands. If we had 400,000, I'd be a March guy.
With the fewer numbers of fish, I'm looking at starting the first week of April. I think I'm going to be good. I'm going to steelhead fish, if I can even get on the water there. At least, that's my intention.
Shout Out to Steven’s Marine
It was good to get the Willie Boat out and get on the water for a little bit. The first trip getting the boat out takes a lot of effort. Getting everything right and making sure everything is cool. The 1174 IMX G. Loomis rods are all strung and the Tekotas strapped on and working as they always do. Getting new top shots and everything that goes into it. It's a lot of work.
I have to give a shout out to Steven’s Marine. They do this every year for me. I bring my Willie Boat into Steven's Marine, and Tom goes through my carburetor every year.
Even if it's a year old motor, go through the carburetor. The way the jets are now in the Mercs and the Yamahas, I just do it from the beginning. No, I do not run ethanol in my Mercurys. I do not at all. I run E0. I've got E0 in two locations right here in Lake Oswego. I'm pretty fortunate.
But the jets are so small that to aspirate the fuel the way they do these days with all the fuel emission standards, they've got to be absolutely perfect in order to run the way I want my kicker to run and the way it should run.
So, I bring it into Steven's Marine. Tom goes through my motors. Then, I have my boat totally cleaned. They did a fabulous job. They don't pay me to say anything. They don't. The guys there have served my boats, whether it was an Alumaweld or a Willie Boat, for many years. For a long time, they've served all the boats I've had. Daniel and all those guys, they do a great job. I have to say thanks because I do appreciate it. It's nice to have a beautiful, clean boat. They clean boats. I love that! It's fabulous.
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