Skunked Again Fishing for Salmon on the Willamette River, Oregon

My buddy John went out salmon fishing a couple times last week and caught fish, so we decided to brave the crowds and fish on Saturday morning. We launched at the Swan Island ramp on the Willamette River near downtown Portland. We were at the ramp just after 5 AM (running on only an hour or two of sleep) and there were already a couple dozen trailers in the parking lot. The three of us (John, Andy, and I) set off in John's North River boat hoping for a successful day of Spring Chinook fishing. The weather was overcast and calm with a temperature in the upper 40's F.

We back-trolled herring behind flashers with 10 ounces of lead at 20 feet out for about five hours. Unfortunately we didn't get a single bite. I am beginning to think I may be the culprit of all our unlucky salmon fishing trips. Whenever I am present, we don't catch anything.

We still had fun as always. The sun peaked out periodically, making it quite pleasant at times. There was also a little breeze that came up, but that was much less desirable than the sun. We observed a bald eagle flying by early in the morning and nearly ran over a sea lion dining on a springer later in the day.

   

We spoke to several other fisherman who had the same bad luck as us. But we did find one boat who landed a fish. It was his son's first salmon ever, so that was cool. We also witnessed another boat with a bite, but they quickly lost it when the guy picked his rod out of the holder too soon. Live and learn. At least he got a bite.