Cohos and Crappie (video)

Only one NWKA member, Slime, took my offer up to go fish the Columbia River on Wednesday. We trolled spinners from Austin Pt up to the lower reaches of Bachelor Island on the Washington side. I was really eager to use my new kayak salmon rod/reel setup I picked up at Fish-Field's anniversary sale.  I went with a 7' Shimano Trevala jigging rod and a Tekota 500 LC reel.

Not long into the upstream troll I got drilled but lost the fish after 5-10 seconds. The wind started to pickup as we swung back downstream. About halfway back to Austin Point my rod slam down again and this time it stuck. The shorter rod made netting the fish so unbelievably easy compared to my old 8'6" rod. It was a nice sized coho but wasn't clipped so returned to the water. Unfortunately it had basically inhaled the spinner and buried two of the trebles in the gills and was a goner. There is nothing that angers me more than having to waste a fish because the law requires me to. I almost felt like keeping it and arguing it in court if I got busted. Not sure whether I should cry or celebrate I drank a beer instead. Shortly after dropping my gear my rod got hit again and was wiggling strangely. I pulled up to find a brand new K15 plug hooked on my spinner! Sweet!

We continued the troll down to Austin Pt and swung back upstream to the green can again. On our last swing downhill to the cars my rod got slammed again. I caught glimpses of a clipped coho and stupidly chased him tail first with my net. The fish momentarily got caught up in the mirage drive so I had to push him out from under the boat with net which he didn't like. After a quick turn of his head I netted the fish and it popped off the gear in the net! Whew!

Slime didn't catch any fish that day which goes to prove that salmon are a lot like girls I pursued in high school (when I WAS a nice guy). They seem to prefer a$$holes over nice guys! I tried to send him home with my fish but he wouldn't have it. A really cool milestone is that last coho was my 25th salmon landed from my kayak this year. Catching so many salmon this year has really helped me to get my kayak, gear, and technique dialed in a way that I actually feel more confident salmon fishing from a kayak than I do in a powerboat. Its strange but more than once I have found myself sitting in a friend's powerboat not catching anything wishing I was in my kayak.



The next day I rotated out the salmon gear for ultralight panfish gear and headed north to Silver Lake. I still needed White Crappie for my Cascadia Big Fishing Year. I worked the canals near Silver Cover RV Resort. At first I caught a couple Bluegill and Yellow Perch but then saw River Otter sitting on a log chowing on a big White Crappie so I stole his fishing spot. First cast with my trout magnet about 18" under a bobber and I landed a 9" White Crappie which was my 77th species for year. Over the next four hours I caught approximately 400 White and Black Crappie although the Black were the dominant species while the White averaged larger (8-9"). It was pretty cool seeing over 400 bobber downs in one day! I know it wasn't salmon or steelhead but I still get a kick out of it. I finished the day jigging deeper water and picked up another 100 small Yellow Perch and two dozen Bluegill. A great way to spend the last sunny day we are going to have for a while.

Great reports. I don't know about the "last sunny day" part, though...