Willamette is still putting out some kings

   I haven't done a write-up in a while and had a great day today, so here it is.
   Got some intel from another forum member that there was an okay bite out in the river yesterday so I went out to try out the two-rod deal for the first time on suspended fish. Always terribly afraid of the absolute goat-rope it would be to actually hook a hot chinook while trolling two rods, I finally realized that it was time to give it a try. Seemed like a good time anyway, it being June and all, and I usually hook the last of my Willy springers by the end of April, so as long as I was not going to catch anything anyway, why not?
Well this proved to be a good day to learn lots about two-rod management because I wasn't on the water for more that 30 minutes before the starboard rod went off and I had to do the kind of rapid thinking that my mind really isn't equipped to do anymore to get everything right. I got the spare rod up and the fish did submit after a good battle and I didn't look like a total clown out there and was grateful for that.
The next takedown occurred about an hour and a half later, this time on the port rod, which I was running a little different, and it was a slightly bigger fish. The bite occurred while I was completely and utterly spaced out and oblivious and thus had to be alerted by another boat that I had a fish on. This is the best way to get a thorough hook-set with both hooks buried all the way to the butt hole, and I recommend that everyone use this method while trolling for spring chinook. It was a really fun fight once I got my second rod all squared away and all the old dudes out there were stoked for me when I netted my second fish.
I came away from the experience loving the two-rod endorsement and really happy to get a limit of springers in June. It has been a weird year for the Willamette but don't forget that it isn't over yet.
Prawn spinners got both the fish. They were running about 20 feet down suspended.

BOOM! Well done as always Brian keep it up!

Amazing. Great job!

Nice minnows Brian!  Great report too.

Congrats, and great report. 

F'n minnowmagnet strikes again!  Good job Brian.

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Nice, Brian!  Congrats!  I haven't had the courage to try two rods at once.  Did you just leave the first one bouncing around while you reeled in the spare?

That's the minnowmagnet/crabwhisperer we all know and love. Great job man especially the part about not looking like a "total clown" keep up the good minnow hunting.

Spaced out and oblivious is why we go out to fish. It's the one time where it works to our advantage !

Great job!

Great job, 2 rods is a lot of fun!!

Excellent job and write up,MM. Glad to see a challenging year hasn't phased you one bit. Thanks for re stoking!

I have the same fears of fishing two rods for salmon as you.  But you just proved it can be done!  Nice work on the limit!

Just when I've given up on Springer fishing for the year you have to go and get me thinking about going again. Nice work!

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Nice, Brian!  Congrats!  I haven't had the courage to try two rods at once.  Did you just leave the first one bouncing around while you reeled in the spare?

Thanks ladies and gents for the congratulations!
to answer Yippie's question, no I tried to keep as much pressure on the fishy rod as possible while finding the time to reel in the non-fishy one before entanglement could ensue. This was made infinitely more doable because of the pedal-drive. I would not try to dissuade any paddlers from running two for salmon, but I could imagine it being a lot tougher. If anyone has pulled it off effectively, that is very pro. Come to think of it, I bet Spot does it all the time successfully.

I thought it might be a lost cause yesterday, but I put into the old Willamette for one final attempt at spring chinook yesterday with walleye gear in the car for backup and a plan to pick berries on Sauvie's in the afternoon. The walleye and berry plans quickly went south as I got on the springer troll for one last time and noticed a lot of fish being caught and I just knew from experience that with a decent bite like this I would soon be the lucky contestant. I had spinners on both rods, and had hooked fish recently this way, so I knew I was doing it right. This confidence drove me on and on for about seven and a half hours, with nets flying (periodically) on all sides and me beginning to question everything I was doing and finally even I got tired and instead of feeling discouraged to not have a single bite on either rod all day, I was excited, because there are fish in the river and I was coming back for extreme retribution today!
Today I switched tactics a little and believe it or not you can catch salmon on cut-plug herring in the Willamette River when it is 70 degrees and almost July. It took some work but it happened. I got beat up a little by the fish, but with several guide-boats watching and a not-too-lame net job with the second rod out of the way, it was priceless. After that, I was anti-spinner; hating everything spinner related and not partial to spinning in any way. Unfortunately, I was not geared to run two herring rods, so one rod out had to be compromised, with a stupid spinner behind a lame Pro-troll, with no chance of doing anything except spinning away in the water for nothing. Paying close attention to my herring, changing it often and tending to its roll for hours, and hours, made me very oblivious to the spinner rod until I heard the rod tip slapping against the side of the boat violently and disbelief evolved into skepticism pretty quickly and that was instantly turned into excitement when I got the rod out of the holder and knew for sure that a chance for another limit of Willamette spring chinook was a good possibility. Another great fight, this time with less pee-in-your-pants enthusiasm and more I'm-having-fun-and-I-love-salmon-fishing-out-of-a-kayak enthusiasm made my day really fantastic and that is why I would like to share it with you folks on the forum. Treble hooks can sometimes make for a sketchy hook-job, but when all three hooks are implanted in the skull, it is pretty sweet.
Anyway there are still springers in the Willamette and they are biting on a variety of things and that is something I would like to share with the forum members that live in our area. NWKA really helped me get stoked on kayak fishing in the first place and I want to thank everyone for that.