Buoy 10? The Ocean was the best bet!

Today started with rods going down quickly and the action didn't stop for hours. We had near constant bites for most of the morning which meant great fishing. Multiple doubles made for a mad scramble on the deck. The only problem was that the majority of the coho were of the "wild" variety without having a clipped adipose fin which meant they had to be released. We finished around 1PM with all of the fish (including 2 on my own tag) for a total of 5 keeper coho and 1 keeper Chinook. We had a total of 28 salmon to the boat with only a few lost. This was one of those days where the fishing was as good as the weather and both were spectacular. Astoria's Salmon fishing is really shining right now and I can't wait to do more.

There are just not words to describe how good the fishing is right now. The only thing that could have made it "better" is if we has a better ratio of keepers, however even that was debatable given how much fun these salmon are to reel in. All three members of the crew today were new to salmon fishing but they all managed to not only reel in limits for themselves but a bonus captains limit that they also got to take home. It's hard to believe that the main event for salmon in Astoria is still yet to come. This is turning out to be an epic season!

This time of year in Astoria is simply amazing. The August crowd's haven't arrived yet and quick limits are as regular as a Rolex. Today we left the dock at 6:30 to get across the Columbia River bar before the tide went out. My clients were a grandfather and grandson. The grandfather had fished the area quite a bit, however he retired, sold his boat, and moved to Arizona. He wanted to show his grandson what salmon fishing could be like. After a run out and getting the rods in the water I aimed for a current seam and fairly quickly a rod started shaking and pulling towards the water. The first hatchery coho, and the grandson's first ever salmon had made it to the boat. A quick debate on whether this was a "fish to keep or release" happened and we brought a 5 lb coho on board. That would be our smallest kept fish of the day. Throughout the morning we worked through several double and triple hookups and sorted through about 15 fish in 3 hours to choose our limit. We released 3 hatchery fish and significant number of wild spawned fish before finally tagging a nice for July 10 pounder to finish out the limits. A not so quick (and a bit wet) run across the bar during the ebb tide finished off the day. While grandpa and grandson retired to the motor home for some dry clothes I got to work filleting the fish. It's not just anywhere that you can go out before breakfast and have a boat limit (including me tagging two) of coho in time for lunch. I can't wait for the next trip!