Today was the official start of the Buoy 10 Fall Salmon Season in the river. I managed to pry Bobby out of bed at 4:30 this morning. After a stop at the mini-mart for breakfast burritos, it was off to the West Mooring Basin Marina. It’s been a busy few days so we prepped gear and our experimental setups before leaving. I like to have everything ready the night before. Since today was a “just father and son” outing, I let Bobby practice getting gear ready. I also let him drive the boat after I maneuvered it out of the marina. My initial plan was to start at trestle bay, check water temperature, and then start working lower. Like all plans, contact with reality didn’t oblige. We marked a few fish on the sonar and had a couple of strikes, but nothing stuck. Bobby’s patience reserves were already running low. It was time to abandon the river, head for the ocean, and chase some quick coho bites. As we ran around Clatsop Spit, past Ilwaco, and out towards the ocean, I kept looking for “the fleet”. There is usually a mass of boats at certain areas, however the Church Hole was nearly empty. The same went for Chinook, and Ilwaco. The firing line only had a handful of boats on it. We crossed the bar and headed out to the 50′ mark off of the Cape Disappointment lighthouse. In life, there are many times when you think you’re being original but you really aren’t. This was one of those times. Nearly the entire fleet dotted the ocean between Long Beach and the CR Buoy. All I could think of was the speed at which this year’s ocean coho quota would disappear. We swapped out anything with a treble hook and put our gear down. Herring and a triangle for me and my experimental homemade spinner and Salmon fly combo behind a 360 for Bobby. I started trolling for the nearest seam. The slack tide didn’t help with finding them, but I spotted a potential spot with a few birds. The bait rising was a good sign. Bobby’s rod was the first to go down, but the fish popped off before it got to the boat. We had another couple of quick takedowns and then a pause for about 10 minutes. The patience reserve started running down. Bobby, started teasing me. “How about you get us on the fish”. Before I could reply, I saw my herring rod take a dive and then lift back up again. As soon as my rod bounced back, Bobby’s rod buried itself in the rod holder. Just as Bobby was yelling “I have a fish”, my rod tip pointed towards the water and started peeling drag. Double! I did my best to get my fish in quickly and netted it. A wild coho was on the other end. I rushed to get the hooks out and the fish released before Bobby could get his to the boat. WIth the wild fish safely released and darting away, I turned towards the other side of the boat. I slipped the net under a nice 7 lb hatchery silver with the salmon fly dangling from it’s mouth. Bobby had his first keeper. The tide shifted and the seam started to develop more. The sonar read nearly 60 feet but was marking fish off to the side. A couple of other boats were near us. We passed one that I had fished next to for summer Chinook upriver earlier this season. His brother is another fishing guide. We passed them on the same seam while they slowed down to get a fish in the boat. My rod went down again and another wild ended up being released. One more take and I finally was on the board with a 5 lb hatchery coho. A few minutes later, Bobby’s rod went down and he was limited out with two coho. Each one was around 7 lbs. I eyed a cluster of boats that was further west, probably trolling over 100 feet of water. I knew there were Chinook there, and we hadn’t seen one all day. I also didn’t want to leave a spot that had fish and almost no other boats. Before I made up my own mind, the decision was made for me. I had let about 30 feet on the line counter on my bait rod. The line counter was passing 45 and the rod was folded over. The fish dove deep and I thought “King!” I did my best to hold the tip low and reel. This fish was giving me no mercy. The fish took three long runs before coming to the surface. I adjusted the drag and started working it closer to the boat. Bobby slowed down the trolling motor. He turned the boat towards the fish like I taught him. This maneuver makes it easier to keep the fish on the side of the boat rather than near the props. The fish saw through our move and dove for the back of the boat anyways. I wrestled the fish back out to the side, reeled down to the bead and lifted. The fish was exhausted and Bobby slipped the net under it. What I thought was a king turned out to be an 11 lb hatchery Coho. Limiting out on the biggest fish of the day always feels good, and today was no exception. The ocean remained relatively calm with just a bit of ebb chop going over the bar. I had another opportunity to teach Bobby about bar crossings. He drove the boat all the way to the marina entrance. He practiced managing the throttle in swells, and navigating using the chart plotter wh

We had a great time with Bill and his brother Hugh going down to TIllamook Head lighthouse. It was a bit of a long run but once we got into the fish they were biting, including a quadruple hookup! We had multiple people get their first crack at a Copper rockfish so a lot of people got their "new species" card today! Total count was 13 black rockfish, 5 coppers, one canary, and one greenling. Everyone went home with a bunch of fillets and some awesome memories!

Snuck out during a good ocean day and chased some coho and chinook with my son. Hooked up on two chinook fairly quickly near some big bait balls and then picked off some nice coho. These guys love to fight hard and it's always great to catch them in the salt where they're dime bright and full of fight!