NorthWest Kayak Anglers
Regional Discussions => Oregon Kayak Fishing => Topic started by: Nibbyak on September 10, 2021, 03:37:26 PM
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I've been assured by the human female creature that live in the same dwelling as me that i am free to do as I will tomorrow. So...I want to feesh.
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I'll be launching out of Pacific City around 7:30. Looks like a nice window in the A.M.
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I'll be fishing the Warrior Rock deadline on the Columbia tomorrow.
Bite was smoking hot Sunday...Without doubt the best action I have ever seen on the Columbia in this section of the river....From what I heard Monday was even better so I regret not going Monday as well. One "but": There were tons and tons of boats out....I am sure that will be the same again tomorrow. Launch at first light.
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Heading out of Depoe if I can find parking, otherwise it will be North Fogarty.
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I'll be fishing the Warrior Rock deadline on the Columbia tomorrow.
Bite was smoking hot Sunday...Without doubt the best action I have ever seen on the Columbia in this section of the river....From what I heard Monday was even better so I regret not going Monday as well. One "but": There were tons and tons of boats out....I am sure that will be the same again tomorrow. Launch at first light.
Looking forward to the report. Can't make it tomorrow, but planning on launching at Blurock Sunday early. Maybe they moved up a mile or two :)
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I’ve never kayak fished the Columbia and want to get out tomorrow. Where do you launch for Warrior Rock?
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I’ve never kayak fished the Columbia and want to get out tomorrow. Where do you launch for Warrior Rock?
Austin Point. This is immediately downstream of the mouth of the Lewis on the WA side. Google Maps will get you there. A dirt road on the left (south) side of the West Coast Training grounds (used for crane and heavy machinery operation) will lead you to the river and you can drive onto the beach. So it is very easy access to get your kayak on the water. Note that access to Austin Point has been reduced quite a bit in recent years but for kayak launching that is not really a problem. If there is space on the beach you can park there (but keep in mind that the river has tidal influences....make sure to park above the high water line!) or, what i always do, drive the car a bit back up and park a bit further away from the water.
There is a few things you should know about this area as it is not the most easy spot to kayak from on the Columbia:
1 - The tidal influence is quite a bit stronger than in the Portland area. When trolling during the outgoing current you typically go 3-4 mph downstream and only 0.5 mph upstream. So that is SLOW. During the incoming tide the trolling speeds are much more equal. So based on this incoming tide is preferred.
2 - The river runs from south to north here. Wind is often coming from the north. Surely with outgoing tide and wind "colliding" with the current, choppy to very choppy conditions can be created. One day it was so bad that i got off the water after 15 minutes and called it a day.....
3 - Wind in this area is often stronger than you'd expect based on the forecast (I always look at St Helens and Woodland as a reference).
4 - Right in front of Austin Point (and the mouth of the Lewis) are very good fishing spots. Unfortunately closed now:-(
5 - During outgoing tide many power boats anchor up, and you'll see hog line after hogline (making it a little tricky for trollers to find their way around). Those anchor folks drop their anchors in the fish travel lanes....
it is about a 1.5 mile upstream paddle to the Warrior Rock deadline.
The reason that i want to launch early in the am tomorrow is that the tide is then still incoming (until 8.30 am), so it will be a lot easier to travel this distance, trolling will be easier and no boats will be anchored up (yet). Also wind forecast for tomorrow morning looks very good.
The fishing grounds near warrior rock are around 40 ft deep. Most folks use a protroll and spinner, 12-16 oz of lead and 50-60 ft on the line counter.
Almost forgot: Access/parking is free at Austin Point!
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That’s a ton of good info.
Many thanks, sir!
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Is that area even open?
From what I could glean from the regs, it closed on Sep 4th.
Or maybe I’m missing something...
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Thanks! As stated above that is a huge help and very detailed! I’ll get there at first light and fish the incoming tide. I’m in a blue Hobie Compass.
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I was initially looking at launching at Warrior Rock Lighthouse Trailhead beach. Any thoughts? It’s upstream of the deadline on Sauvie Island
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thanks for the info Stinger Hook. I spied that location yesterday on google map but I did know if it was open.I plan do go there on Sunday as it should give me an extra hour of incoming tide.
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Is that area even open?
From what I could glean from the regs, it closed on Sep 4th.
Or maybe I’m missing something...
Austin Point itself is indeed CLOSED for fishing. River is open for fishing from the 1.5 miles upstream Warrior Rock deadline and above.
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Another decent option that seems to be less busy is launching at Blurock Landing that is very near Vancouver Lake and just upstream from Frenchman's bar and puts you right at the mouth of the Willamette. Short walk to the water from the parking lot. Soft sand so beach tires are a help. Plan on being there first thing tomorrow.
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I'll be fishing the Warrior Rock deadline on the Columbia tomorrow.
Bite was smoking hot Sunday...Without doubt the best action I have ever seen on the Columbia in this section of the river....From what I heard Monday was even better so I regret not going Monday as well. One "but": There were tons and tons of boats out....I am sure that will be the same again tomorrow. Launch at first light.
Looking forward to the report. Can't make it tomorrow, but planning on launching at Blurock Sunday early. Maybe they moved up a mile or two :)
OK, so here's the report.
Got to Austin Point around 6 am.
There were some very deep potholes when driving down to the beach. I did not see them in the dark, which probably was a good thing otherwise I would not have driven down to the beach. Someone had a bad start of the day as he backed too for when launching a boat and got his car stuck in the river. He got pulled out but had some car damage. Hopefully not too bad and hope that it did not kill their fishing day before it evens started. Pushed by the incoming tide I paddled at 4.5 mph upstream so travel to the fishing deadline was about 15-20 min. It was BUSY. Fish were consistently being caught, but not at a rate as I saw last week. No love for me initially so I was getting a little frustrated. After two hours of trolling with nothing to show for I changed gear to a 11 inch protroll and 3.5 spinner (that also was producing for me last week). Five minutes later it was FISH ON.
As I was the only (!!) kayaker in the crowd of >100 power boats, i had a lot of eyes on me when I had the fish on. Luckily i made no mistakes. Nice chinook. As I'd left the cooler in the car and did not want the fish go to waste i decided to call it a day and not go after a clipped coho. The tide meanwhile had turned so I again did 4.5 mph on the paddle back.
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wow! that looks like a hawg you caught. thank you for the heads up in the park.I hope I can find some success also.
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so here is my report;
thanks again for the ramp warning I parked above and carted down to the water I had to carry my kayak back up as the sand was too deep and steep for my cart.
I am a complete rookie ,my report is not as favorable as yours , Anyway, I set out in the dark about 6:15.I t was light by the time I got the warrior line.plenty of boats everywhere already.Not knowing what I was doing I started trolling on the edge of the group.After a couple passes I got more comfortable and started to mix in the trolling lines.
I did not see any sign of fish for probably two hours. It was quiet. Eventually some fish were being caught and moving toward the end of the tide there was definitely a flurry of activity.for nearly an hour but no luck for me. Then It kind of tapered back to a random fish here and there.
By around 10 the wind was picking up and It was getting nasty, its my understanding that this is common, so I headed back.The wind was more influence than both the tide and current combined so it was not as easy a trip back as I had hoped.But I made it . Crossing the Lewis was interesting.
I am glad I made the trip. I have fished the Columbia twice before but That was much tamer waters.Its been fun finding new places. I don't know if I would do this same trip again. I might go there when it is open below the Lewis.
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Thanks for the report Builderbri.
Too bad you didn't get into fish and that the wind picked up later in the morning (the more favorable wind forecast was the reason I went Saturday). If you did not see any action around you for the first two hours then it was definitely slower than Saturday. Hopefully they'll reopen the rest of the river soon again.
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Five kayaks launched out of Blurock Landing Sunday early. I got on the water at 6:15. One nice thing about Blurock is you are fishing as soon as you hit depth. Trolled upstream to the barges and as soon as I got there I saw two PBs land fish. One Kayak got on fairly early but things slowed a good bit. Around 10 it picked up and I landed a small chinook and I think at least 4 of the 5 kayaks had at least one fish. Another good thing is that area is a bit less impacted by the wind. I was at Austin Pt a few weeks ago and the mouth of the Lewis can get downright nasty.
Too bad work is in the way the rest of the week.