First Blood

Picked up my first springer of the season out of Fred’s Marina on Thursday, March 25th. 
After an hour or so of probing the “deeper” parts of the Multnomah channel, I hit the mainstem Willamette, and kind of hugged the pilings along the west side, just south of the channel entrance. 
I started marking fish right away, and within 5 minutes I was hooked up. 
I got him up to the kayak pretty easily, but things kind of lit up after that.
After wearing him down for a bit, I missed my first netting attempt, and almost got my flasher. 
I let him make another couple of runs, and finally slid him into the net.
When I first got a look at him, I thought he was a native, due his size.
He ended up being a hatchery male that measured 33”, and weighed 18 pounds!
I was using a cut plug herring, brined with chartreuse Pro Cure, a 48” leader, a triangle flasher, and an 8 ounce cannonball on a 12” dropper, about 2’ off the bottom in about 17’ of water. 
The timing was a couple of hours after low slack tide, when there wasn’t  much, if any current flowing.
I tried again today, but couldn’t get my herring to roll right, and got snagged up a lot.
Water temp was ~49 degrees, and clarity was “fair”. 

Nice fish and a great report.

Nice work!!

That’s how you do it! Congratulations man.

Excellent.

Nice fish. Love seeing dead salmon in kayaks.

Nice!
Struck out today at Sellwood....

Awesome report, great job and beautiful fish

Awesome! Where did you find the herring?

Nice work!  That's a brute.

Been working on chores the last couple of weekends.  Hopefully my season will start next weekend.

-Mark-

I been having good luck finding herring at the Tigard Fisherman’s Marine and Outdoor Supply.
There’s a limit of 2 packs per day, but I somehow have about 6 packs in my freezer at present.
It’s amazing how fast I can burn through a pack of them working 2 rods (and also how much gear I can lose trying to manage those 2 rods), but I feel it’s tilting the odds in my favor. 
I’m really looking forward to when the water temperature gets into the mid-fifties, and I can start fishing suspended, and watch YouTube videos, instead of micromanaging my rigs, trying to avoid getting snagged. 

Nice job. No luck for me just yet...

Congrats!  Nice detailed report.

Awesome fish!  Well done!

This  is an excellent report, lighting the fire that some may need to get on the water and details that can make it or break it. Thanks for sharing the stoke and cheers to many more! This is already a great start to salmon fishing 2021.
Hugh