The term “Christmas in July” was written for this time of year in Astoria. In just 5 days the boat has seen limits of rockfish, lingcod, and salmon come on board. Massive sturgeon have also come alongside with literal “out of breath” action. As if things couldn’t get even better, we even got to see endangered Southern Resident Orcas and a gray whale just outside of the Columbia. There will be an entire section of this post just for the wildlife!
Bottom Fishing
I had been working with my clients to get a bottom fishing day set for a while. Either the ocean wasn’t going to work, or their schedules wouldn’t. We had finally decided to do Sturgeon on Sunday, July 6th, but when the weather forecast for Friday came it, it was go time for the ocean. These guys quickly changed up their schedules and hoofed it down from Portland for a 6:30 AM departure. Bobby came along to help out and we headed down river and out across the bar. The outgoing tide made things a little sporty but once we got to the ocean it was smooth water. We turned south, and I pointed the boat towards Tillamook Head lighthouse.
Somewhere off of Seaside everyone started waving and pointing so I slowed the boat down and then quickly put it into neutral. About 150 yards away there was a set of tall, skinny black fins breaking the surface in a current seam. These weren’t fish, it was a pod of orca hunting salmon. By my estimation, we spotted at least one full adult, a juvenile male, and one that appeared to be born this year.
The shape of the dorsal fins plus the fact that they seemed to be hunting salmon pointed towards these being critically endangered Southern Resident orca. After watching a little longer we noticed a much smaller dorsal fin rising out next to a larger one. There was a baby in the group! This was likely not just any group, but the family group of L-130, this year’s newest orca calf and the next best hope of the species. This wasn’t just a rare treat, this was a special moment that will be hard to repeat.
Tillamook Head lighthouse was awesome for rockfish as usual. The limits came quickly again even though I spent most of the time targeting ling cod. We found ourselves releasing several smaller black rockfish along with a massive quillback that the regulations wouldn’t let us keep. With just a couple of ling cod on the boat we headed back north to the Columbia River jetties.
The trip back was fairly smooth and we even spotted a gray whale feeding on bait just off of Hammond. With the rocks of the jetty in sight it was time to get serious about ling cod. I switched up the gear and it didn’t take long before we first ran into a single hookup and then a double hookup of keeper ling cod. We managed to pull 8 lings for the day before the tide got too rough and the clock started to run out. The full fillet table and smiles told me that the day had gone well.
Ocean Coho Wouldn’t Quit
Two days later it was time for ocean coho. This time the group was a father, son, and future son-in-law. We ran out the mouth of the Columbia in a bit rougher water this time. The Good Ju Ju handled it much better than the future son in law did!
I offered some ginger gum and his stomach started settling down. The fish on the other hand did not. Just as I put the first rod in the rod holder it started peeling line with a fish on. A nice hatchery coho made for a quick start to the morning.
I shifted the troll over to a nearby seam and we were back into non-stop action. Within an hour we were on the way back to the dock with a full limit of coho, although this time my clients didn’t ask me to tag any. They weren’t even going to be able to keep all of the fish themselves! Another full fillet table with Salmon this time is a sign that as the song says “These are the good old days!”
An Urgin’ for Some Sturgeon..and more!
Another two days later and it was time for sturgeon. This crew was on a motorcycle tour from Wyoming and had no way to bring fish with them. Sturgeon was a perfect choice. Instead of a bar crossing we headed upriver to the flats around Tongue Point. Smooth water along with harbor seals, eagles, ospreys, and pelicans helped to make the journey quick.
My favorite bait for sturgeon is live sand shrimp and I had ordered 10 dozen of them from Big Game Fishing in Hammond. Sturgeon can’t seem to leave these guys alone. I took advantage of the lack of wind to set up the boat in a slower water area along a shoal and we waited about 15 minutes for the first bite.
Once the first fish started to eat the bait, I gently lifted the rod out of the holder, pushed my thumb down on the spool and pulled back as hard as I could. The hook buried and the fight was on. A solid 5 1/2 footer cleared the water just as I handed the rod to one of my clients. Several 50 foot or better runs later and the fight settled into a steady tug of war. The first battle lasted about 10 minutes, which was just about long enough for another fish to bite.
We stayed in that spot until a particularly large fish forced us to pull up the anchor and start chasing it. That one took about a half hour to get to the boat using everything that a heavy rod and 85lb test line could handle. I reset the anchor where we were at since the wind and chop started to build. We caught a couple more and then moved up behind an island to get out of the wind.
We didn’t wait long for more bites. The action stayed near constant until the tide slackened, which was fine since it was time to head back to the dock anyways. We ended with between 13 and 14 fish to the boat. The largest was easily a 150lb 7 1/2 foot monster that pulled us all over the river. Our grand finale fish wasn’t quite that large but had enough fight to warrant pulling the anchor and chasing it.
At this point I’m not sure how I beat that week, but there’s still most of July, all of August, September, and October to go before I pull the boat out and pack things up for the winter. There are also plenty of seats just waiting for someone to share in the fun!