Open Invite: Cathedral & Sellwood Park (6/04 & 6/05)

360

I launched out of Fred’s yesterday around 1:00 p.m., in order to fish the afternoon flood tide. 
There had apparently been a great bite around noon between the mouth of the channel and the red buoy.  One boat angler thought he counted 13 being caught.
Around 3:00 p.m., I caught a 20+ pound wild chinook.  He was hooked really hard, and it was a struggle to keep him in the water, and free the treble hook that was completely buried in the corner of his mouth.  He needed a few minutes of resuscitation, but eventually swam away.
I was bummed that he wasn’t fin-clipped, but it was a great experience. 
I was using a bright green spinner behind a 360 flasher, with 12 ounces of weight and 27 feet on the line counter. 
Going to meet up with Helium Head and try for shad in Oregon City today.  Will probably drop a “plunking” rig for salmon with a 2nd rod as well. 

Sweet! Sorry it wasn't hatchery!

Glad to hear about the successes (and too bad about the wild one). I’ll likely head back out there tomorrow.

Launched from Fred's around 0445 this morning. It wasn't until I was in the water that I realized I left my net at home  . So naturally I hook into my first ever chinook after 44 combined hours of fishing. If I had my wits about me I would have asked for help. Instead I tired the fish out pretty good and tried to grab it by the gills. I ended up knocking the hook out and had to watch as my first chinook VERY slowly swam away and disappeared into the depths. It was a beautiful 10-12 pound hatchery fish.

Could have netted him 3-5 times very easily. Heck, I touched his head with my hand 3 times. It was a heartbreaker but a BLAST fighting it on the kayak.

HOC, 22ft on the LC, Brad's Kokanee Cut Plug behind a chrome 360.

Dude! That is tragic. Just playing that scene in my head is painful. Calling for help would have been a good call, but in the heat of the moment . . .

HOC? I know I will feel like a putz when you tell me but . .

Head of channel.

It was tragic to lose it but awesome to hook and fight it. It was a confidence builder. There's no doubt in my mind it would be on the grill right now IF I had brought my net haha. Lesson learned.

That brings back painful memories...