Columbia River fishing

[KokeKiller]

Just got a mail from a good friend in Portland Or and he had this to say about the fishing at the mouth of the Columbia River::[#0000ff][size 2]

Fishing at the mouth of Nehalem bay this weekend was unbelievable. Daily limits for our boat should have been the rule. Friday, after six in the boat, we were letting keeper silvers go on the hope of a Chinook. Finally had to keep two more, for our limit. We ran out of bait Saturday after our seventh fish. Should have thrown out some hardware, but we were ready to go home. Sunday we thought we'd take a break and try fishing at Wheeler with Chinook gear. Wasn't much going on, but we still hooked and released two silvers. Then we went back to the mouth of the bay and landed five more keeper silvers.

Overall, we were probably landing less than half of the bites, and just under half of the silvers we got to the boat we had to let go. We even had more than a couple follow bait to the back of the boat, one followed my bare hooks. One just showed up behind the boat and I had my rig in so I flipped it and got him to hit it right behind the boat. Ended up with 26 silvers and two kings in the boat in four days of fishing (my cousin's boat and he was there Thurs-Sun with four in the boat each day, I was there Fri-Sun).

Also had three boats flip over when they got in the wrong spots. This was in the jaws at the mouth of the bay. Mostly dumb mistakes: too small a boat where no boat should have been. One was an older man out by himself. Another boat, about an 18 footer, tried to help him but realized they shouldn't be there either. They had to juice it over three curlers to get out and the boat came completely out of the water with each wave. Without doing that, I think the breakers would have swamped them too. Pretty impressive to see that size a boat go almost vertical. Sunday was a small boat outside about 300 yards. Three older persons that were totally unprepared and where they shouldn't have been, and in a boat that couldn't have been hardly 14 feet long. That one attracted the Coast Guard, the sheriff, and two wave runner rescue teams. The wave runners were in dry suits and helmets and were going fast and they got a lot of air over each wave. Fishermen had them in a boat and another dragging the overturned boat in before any of the rescue people arrived.[/size][/#0000ff][size 2][/size]
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[Lundman]

I have been watching the salmon fishing reports from the Oregon Coast and they have shown pictures of the three boats and said they are were swamped on the North jetty of the Jaws at Nehalem bay. All were rescued and all said that PFD's saved their lifes. They are called "Life Jackets" for a reason.

The cohos are coming on strong and the kings will start in about 1 to 2 weeks. I'm heading to the Columbia River the second week in September for the Up River Brights - the kings.

Think outside the Utah Fishing Hole - there is alot of fishing within a day's drive. Columbia River fishing - 8 to 10 hours. Oregon Coast - 13 hours.

Have a great day...
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[TheJensenKid15]

I was just wondering, hearing that you released keeper coho, if you knew that every single coho released will die? They emit a compound into them selves when they fight, and even if they wern't dead when you released them, they are now. That is something, isn't it? You can manhandle a chinook, and he'll do fine, but the slightest disruption to a coho, and he's dead.
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[martymcfly]

I am just wondering from what scientific source you are getting your data. I have done much research on coho and survival rates for catch and release coho are average for a species of this size. see [url "http://www.bcadventure.com/adventure/angling/protalk/thornton/catchrelease.phtml"]http://www.bcadventure.com/adventure/angling/protalk/thornton/catchrelease.phtml[/url]

This is not one of the more scientific documents that I have read on the subject but the all states along the west cost and British Columbia have published reports on mortality research for catch and release on coho and king salmon along with steelhead. I would be very interested in the information you could provide on long-term mortality because with the coho salmon being a on again off again fish I think marine biologists would be very interested.
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[TheJensenKid15]

That report is well and all, but it is put out by a british colombia resurcher, and is very pro catch and release. The information that I have is from a 1960's report, brought to light by my favorite sea captain ken(Barbra-k, Prowler charters). He told me about it. A few scientists decided back then to conduct an experiment about the survival rate of pacific salmon. They caught them on barbles hooks, and put them into tanks. 90% of the coho had died by the time that the study was over, whereas 90% of the chinook caught survived. They concluded, with tox-screens done and all, that the coho, once hooked, emitted a chemical compound into themselves and that is the reason that they died. Now, also because this report you have was from a site that earned money, don't you think that they may have phonied up that report to get more business? I personally know ken to be one of the most knowledgeable captians and the coast. He has been doing this for 30+ years, and since that report has argued till he was blue in the face with the Or. Department of Fish and game, and they too know that returning a coho to the water will inevitably kill it. I will also say, that no matter who says what, I WILL belive what ken says.


Jerry Jensen, the kid.

[martymcfly]

Again I am open minded. If you can get a copy of that report I would be much less skeptical. But as I said earlier this is only one report of many that I have read. Yes there are some that say catch and release mortality rates are as high as 25% depending on where they are caught (Fresh or Salt water) and with what type gear they are caught on. My real concern with the report you gave is that without specific data it turns in to a "I heard from this one guy" instead of "This particular organization did a study and this is where you can look at the results of this study" If indeed the mortality rate for line caught Coho's was 100% I can gaurantee that many of the salmon fisheries would be closed to ALL recreational fishing. I hate to say it but the commercial fisherman have much bigger clout than the recreational charter fleet and they would do anything needed to protect their jobs. They make much more on the chinooks than they do on Coho. One problem with that study that you mentioned is that they put the fish in "TANKS" as you called them. The fish and game in most areas have limited this practice in recent years because they found that the mortality rate from putting fish in tanks causes mortality in itself. Again, I am not trying to be a jerk but I believe that people should have good information rather than word of mouth representation.
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[Kayote]

The chemical in the blood you are reffering to is lactic acid. It is a by product of the break down of adrenaline and occurs in all fish. Just like in humans, adrenaline is released in the panic to survive. It is a fear response. If too much lactic acid is produced, it overwhelms the fishes ability to process it and it dies. Pike and musky are particularly prone to a build up of lactic acid. I personally would be skeptical of a study done in the 1960's. Fisheries science has come a long way since then. Surely there is more up to date research on such an important issue. I would tend to believe research conducted by the Oregon Department of Fish and Game or NOAA (National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration). They do not have financial gain at stake and tend to provide unbiased research. Just my $.02. By the way, a most excellent fishing report. Thank you for sharing. I love the exotic reports.

Good Fishing, Kayote
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[TheJensenKid15]

I did some more research today, but couldn't find Ken's study he was talking about. Also, just so you know, it was either put the coho back, or quit fishing for salmon, direct from the Or. fish and game. The study that I found, were slightly better odds of coho being in good health and survived after release.

http://www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fraserriver...rstudy.htm



Jerry Jensen, the kid.
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