JavaScript is disabled
Our website requires JavaScript to function properly. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser settings before proceeding.
New to Salmon/Steelhead Fishing
- Thread Starter un4given1
- Start date
- Messages
- 14,046
- Reactions
- 42,959
Hook goes on line.
Fish goes on hook.
That's really all I know (I'm new to fishing) but I am sure plenty of folks can give some actual help though
Good luck!
Fish goes on hook.
That's really all I know (I'm new to fishing) but I am sure plenty of folks can give some actual help though
Good luck!
According the ODFW, there aren't many fish up those rivers yet. The coming rainfall should change that dramatically. Lately the fish have been stacked up in the upper bay and estuaries.
Check out the info in this thread: Fishing tillamook bay...
According to many members, salmon fishing isn't what it used to be. Factory boats near Alaska have devastated much. So, the Willamette isn't what it used to be, along with many of the coastal rivers. But the ODFW report for Wilson looked encouraging.
I guess that's both hatchery and wild?
40 years ago, I knew a guy who was a Washington State fish biologist.
He was an inspector doing research for his Masters degree on a Russian drag net boat off the coast of Washington and British Columbia.
He told me that when he asked for a couple of salmon to take samples of from the catch that was just dumped out of the huge net, a deck hand would wade into the pile of fish and select a pair of the largest fish.
He complained to the foreman about the selection bias, but was told that's what he was going to get and to shut up.
It was obvious that the Russian way was to state that every fish was huge and the fishery was abundant, but the sizes were shrinking every year.
He was an inspector doing research for his Masters degree on a Russian drag net boat off the coast of Washington and British Columbia.
He told me that when he asked for a couple of salmon to take samples of from the catch that was just dumped out of the huge net, a deck hand would wade into the pile of fish and select a pair of the largest fish.
He complained to the foreman about the selection bias, but was told that's what he was going to get and to shut up.
It was obvious that the Russian way was to state that every fish was huge and the fishery was abundant, but the sizes were shrinking every year.
They all swim in the same ocean...
If you mean the fish report for the Wilson, I don't remember if any of the info specified the catch rate other than they were having a lot of success.
- Messages
- 4,164
- Reactions
- 19,351
Best of luck. 
I myself have given up (I DO seem to be very successful at "herding salmon" though...everyone around me catches them)
For me...There's plenty to be found in the fresh meat department or even canned at the local supermarket.
.... Bonus... I don't need to worry about whether it's in season, which bend of a river it's from, or if I am allowed keep it.
and, here's a fun-fact, I'm told that because store-bought salmon is caught by the millions, in huge nets, by massive factory-ships, I have the assurance of various and many, of our highly paid fishery officials that those salmon were not at all "endangered"...
...unlike those few salmon that get caught by actual people, one at a time, in a river are.
I myself have given up (I DO seem to be very successful at "herding salmon" though...everyone around me catches them)
For me...There's plenty to be found in the fresh meat department or even canned at the local supermarket.
.... Bonus... I don't need to worry about whether it's in season, which bend of a river it's from, or if I am allowed keep it.
and, here's a fun-fact, I'm told that because store-bought salmon is caught by the millions, in huge nets, by massive factory-ships, I have the assurance of various and many, of our highly paid fishery officials that those salmon were not at all "endangered"......unlike those few salmon that get caught by actual people, one at a time, in a river are.
Last Edited:
The key to catching fish is really just being at the right place at the right time, once you figure out how to chase runs you can worry about gear. For the most part a bass rod will handle most runs of salmon now days, as long as you aren't getting into 20lb plus chinook... watch some youtube videos and learn to read water. That is probably the biggest advantage of learning to fly fish, reading water is essential.
Some of the best advice I ever got was that you can do everything right and still not catch fish, and you can do everything wrong and still catch something, but you won't catch anything if you aren't on the water.
Some of the best advice I ever got was that you can do everything right and still not catch fish, and you can do everything wrong and still catch something, but you won't catch anything if you aren't on the water.
In my experience, salmon water is mostly the opposite of steelhead water, ie, like my ex, they like it deep and slow.
- Messages
- 9,118
- Reactions
- 16,644
Forget Summer Steelhead if you are going coastal....Winter Steelhead will be starting in December.
Instead, focus on Chinook.
OK, it's the first part of October, so your timing is good for Chinook.
As stated above, we are now at the cusp of the Fall Rains.
Once the rain starts in earnest, the fish will move out of the Bay and the information below will kick in.
Pick a place, watch and learn.
I recommend learning to fish eggs under a sliding float.
Learn what good eggs are.
Watch how others are doing it.
I'm going to pick your place for you to learn inside and out this fall for float fishing for Fall Chinook.
Kilchis River
Logger Bridge Hole
It's a few miles up Kilchis River Road.
Concrete bridge that crosses the river.
Hole is on the upstream side.
It gets busy at times.
Get there early.
Be friendly.
Catch your first Fall Chinook.
The end.
- Thread Starter
- #14
- Thread Starter
- #15
Thanks man, I appricate the advice and the location. I will head there tomorrow to watch and learn from others.
- Messages
- 9,118
- Reactions
- 16,644
There will not be enough water in it yet.
Note comment above on "when Fall rains start".
You will get to see the detail and the layout of the hole however, under low water conditions.
For quality fishing right now you need to be in tidewater areas.
Maybe the Trask River "Hospital Hole" is open ? (pay to fish private land).
Ask around.
These rivers will be on a "rise and fall schedule" soon. Study it, learn it, live it.
Prime water is when they start to drop and clear.....you don't really want clear water at all.
You want them dropping and "starting" to clear....you want that magic gray-green color where the fish feel protected, hidden and safe.
"Low and Clear" = spooky fish = lousy fishing conditions.
On the Kilchis (and elsewhere) you want that "grayish-green" colored water.
And on the Kilchis, this is sometimes a one day event because it drops and clears quickly.
Hooking a Steelhead has been described as "The Fish of a Thousand Casts."
I had a friend that lived on the Sandy River and was an expert in fishing for Steelhead. He would take me up into his favorite hole and proceed to try and teach me the basics. I was used to fishing in a boat on the Columbia River set up in a hog line.
The Salmon come to you and try and yank the rod out of the pole holder, not so when drifting bait with Steelhead.
He would watch me cast out the bait and drift through the spot he directed me to.
He would then ask me why I didn't set the hook on a fish, and after watching me miss a few, he would then take the pole away from me and proceed to hook one, all the while trying to explain what he was doing.
I never got the hang of it as most bites are subtle when drifting eggs along the bottom.
I had a friend that lived on the Sandy River and was an expert in fishing for Steelhead. He would take me up into his favorite hole and proceed to try and teach me the basics. I was used to fishing in a boat on the Columbia River set up in a hog line.
The Salmon come to you and try and yank the rod out of the pole holder, not so when drifting bait with Steelhead.
He would watch me cast out the bait and drift through the spot he directed me to.
He would then ask me why I didn't set the hook on a fish, and after watching me miss a few, he would then take the pole away from me and proceed to hook one, all the while trying to explain what he was doing.
I never got the hang of it as most bites are subtle when drifting eggs along the bottom.
Last Edited:
- Messages
- 9,118
- Reactions
- 16,644
The first big blast of rain pulls the fish out of tidewater, but a ton of leaves and debris will be getting flushed out as well (read lots of debris on your line).
Usually it's on the Second big blast of rain when the Chinook river fishing gets up and running.
Rule of Thumb (sort of).
There is no river gauge on the Kilchis to tell us what the River Level is.
Often (not always) when the Wilson is "blown out" (too high) and running at 8+ feet (or so) on the gauge, the Kilchis will be running prime.
Learn your favorite river levels using this link : (example, perfect Wilson River level (for many) = 5ft on the gauge)
There are other sources for river levels, but the above is the fastest to bring up and read.
Usually it's on the Second big blast of rain when the Chinook river fishing gets up and running.
Rule of Thumb (sort of).
There is no river gauge on the Kilchis to tell us what the River Level is.
Often (not always) when the Wilson is "blown out" (too high) and running at 8+ feet (or so) on the gauge, the Kilchis will be running prime.
Learn your favorite river levels using this link : (example, perfect Wilson River level (for many) = 5ft on the gauge)
Oregon levels
levels.wkcc.org
There are other sources for river levels, but the above is the fastest to bring up and read.
Last Edited:
- Messages
- 9,118
- Reactions
- 16,644
Driftfishing is an acquired skill.
Even some boat-fishing guides cannot do it.
The bite can be subtle but the cadence is different than the thump-thump of the bottom.
Using a Slinky instead of pencil lead helped me learn...the bite often feels "sharper" when using a Slinky.
My friend would add a bit of solid pencil lead to the bottom of the slinky, so I could feel the tap tap tap, then a pause as the fish picked up the bait.
He would trim off a little bit at a time to get it to drift just right.
I still sucked at it, so he gave up and fixed up a blue colored spoon to cast with.
I did teach him how to hog line fish and one summer I found a spot on the Columbia River right above the mouth of the Sandy River that was a hot spot for upriver Steelhead.
One afternoon he anchored up in his own boat before I got there and when I told him he was one boat width from my secrete spot, he said that I was full of it, so when I dropped my line to the bottom and started to bounce back a ways, I hooked a nice fish on the bounce.
His wife got some great pictures of me as I drifted away fighting the Steelhead and of him flipping me off.
He would trim off a little bit at a time to get it to drift just right.
I still sucked at it, so he gave up and fixed up a blue colored spoon to cast with.
I did teach him how to hog line fish and one summer I found a spot on the Columbia River right above the mouth of the Sandy River that was a hot spot for upriver Steelhead.
One afternoon he anchored up in his own boat before I got there and when I told him he was one boat width from my secrete spot, he said that I was full of it, so when I dropped my line to the bottom and started to bounce back a ways, I hooked a nice fish on the bounce.
His wife got some great pictures of me as I drifted away fighting the Steelhead and of him flipping me off.
