In praise of practice fish + A hotspot

One of the great things about the kayak fishing community is the collective desire to help people new to the sport get hooked into their first fish. 

I think of situations and species that are ideal for folks to have a high degree of success with and call them "practice fish".  Learning on fish that are easy to hook, play and land, and are available in large quantities make ideal practice fish. 

Allowing a new kayak fisher to work out the kinks on easy to come by fish will help prepare them through repetition for the physical and mental process of landing a fish.  It might sound silly to the veteran but the choreographed landing of a fish can be a jumble of what goes where to the inexperienced.

Have you ever seen someone hook up for the first time and have a look of "now what do I do?" on their face.  Spending time refining their skills with put n take 8"ers will help increase their odds of sucess the first time they hook into a 20" crainbow.

Practice fish aren't only for newbies.  When I change to a new kayak layout, new photo or new fishing gear, I test it out on practice fish to make sure no unintended problems occur.

Hotspot for practice fish!

You know what they say about chasing reports, "should of been here yesterday", so take this report from Friday with that understanding.  The Columbia, right above Bonneville, at the mouth of Eagle creek is fishing very well.  I caught 5 chinook in 1.5 hours.  They weren't big (low teens) and they weren't bright (Danner comes to mind) but they would make ideal practice fish before next years springers and urbs.

The location is ideal for the newb.  You launch from a sand bar under I-84.  The fish are a 100yrd paddle downsteam of the guys bobber fishing the sandbar.  Current isn't too strong this time of year and there isn't enough fetch for wind to develop large waves.  Trolled spinners or plugs will do the trick, they aren't picky.

Hazzards?  Not much, one of the reasons it's a great spot for new kayak fishers.

Keep an eye out for barges leaving and entering the nav lock.  You should be fishing out of the channel on the Oregon side but a large barge passing close to a new fisher might make them nervous.

Respect gets respect.  Take a moment before you launch to figure out the range and area the bobber guys are fishing.  Stay outside this zone.

Don't be tempted to park on the sandbar North of 84.  Dam opps can quickly raise the pool level leaving you with a flooded vehicle.

I hope this can help someone get their first chinook.  Good luck.

Thanks man this is actually great advice

2nd that!  Thanks for the information.  Where do you park to access the launch area near Eagle creek.  And can you paddle there easily from the boat launch at cascade locks?

I was really hoping for one more more salmon, bright or not, before the winter months. 

Thanks again.

2nd that!  Thanks for the information.  Where do you park to access the launch area near Eagle creek.  And can you paddle there easily from the boat launch at cascade locks?

I was really hoping for one more more salmon, bright or not, before the winter months. 

Thanks again.

Just go check out the Eagle Creek spot and you'll see plenty of places where you can park.  This spot is about as easy as it gets for launch/parking/distance to the fishing.  Either park right under the bridge along the road or past the bridges and up the hill at the turn around.  No need to launch all the way up at Cascade Locks.  You don't want to deal with that current either.

Awesome info, Snopro! 

Ha!  I'd been hoarding this spot to myself but I guess it's about time people knew.   

Good on ya Snopro!

-Spot-

This is a great post.  For the Alaska contingency, I would rate this current Homer fishery (IF you can catch a good weather day) to be a GREAT "practice spot" BUT with the added bonus of having the chance to land a nice KING!

The pollock will keep you busy sifting through your trolling gear.  You con't need a downrigger. Very simple gear but you learn the basics of leader length between planer flasher and bait.  The practice is trasnferable to the spring king/halibut fishery.  The netting process if you so choose to net pollock.  The fishery can be executed within 100 yards of shore.  Fishing in front of Homer's largest hotel, there are always eyes on you so its safe.  Launch is SUPER easy.  Super Steep beach slope means it can be crashing 6 foot surf a few miles down the spit, but here, its seems like its ALWAYS launchable.

A good mix of tidal and wind influences but nothing overwhelming like say Deep Creek.    The most daangerous thing as always...the drive down.

C'mon!!!!!  Let's fish!!!!!  I'm up for getting a group to get hauled over to the Islands where it is more protected and giving it a go.  It'd be fun if we could set up 4 to 6 folks!

+1 cool post

Not so much this time of year, but this thread points to almost the exact type of outing that we look to build our HOW events around.

Keep them coming,