2019 Springer Fishing on the Columbia River

This years run of spring kings on the Columbia River had me seriously questioning whether it was worth the time and effort to drive 2.5 hours, fish a new part of the river and chase a run predicted to be worse than most recent previous years. Here’s the deal though: One, just one Columbia River Springer is enough to make it worth the effort. The meat quality is better than any other salmon or steelhead (fish?) you can angle for in the Pacific Northwest.

1. Water temperature
2. Fish counts above Bonneville and Willamette Dams

For water temperature, you can look at the USGS site which has river flows and temperatures all around Washington

In general the rule is the bite really gets going above 45 degrees, but fish are obviously going to be caught below that as well. Fish are cold blooded so, their aggressiveness and likelihood to bite comes down to water temperature. This is true for any run of fish in any body of water. There are optimal temperature ranges to look for. The Columbia River is hugely influenced by the temperatures in Eastern Washington. And while we had an amazing March weather wise, February was also quite cold, so it took a little while get above 45 degrees this year. Things really get going above 50 degrees in terms of bite aggressiveness.

In general the thing with columbia river springer fishing, is that it gets better the further into the season you go. But wait too long, the quota will be reached, and the season will end, sometimes even prematurely. As the season progresses, the temperatures increase, and the numbers of fish increase. If you are trying to plan your life around when the best time to go, it can be tough. There have been years where it’s unfishable until late April due to water temps and turbidity and other years where the season is over by April 1st due to the quota being reached due to the fishing being so good by the end of March.

The other important data to watch is fish counts above the dams. In this case, there were not many fish when we went on April 1-2. It would be great to see >100 per day heading above Bonneville to let you know the run is in full swing. And it’s likely that this year the season will re-open again after the April 10th closure if we get those numbers. It’s also possible the run is simply not good this year, even worse than predicted.

We launched our boat just below Warrior Rock at the Saint Helens Marina. We also camped on Sand Island Marine Park, which was an awesome experience I referred to an my earlier blog post. The river was only open above Warrior Rock this year. I had heard some good reports about fish being caught off of Caterpillar Island and further upriver, so that was kind of my destination. However, after passing by the boats fishing the Washington side just above Warrior Rock, it was kind of like “Why burn more fuel, when the fish have to pass this spot before they ever get to Caterpillar Island?”

We started our troll just below the wing dam in 30-40 ft of water, which quickly became 15-25 ft about a hundred yards down. This was a nice troll all the way down to almost Warrior Rock. There were a few boats hog lining closer to shore, but most were trolling. We were trolling cut plug herring (green label) dyed blue with Mike’s Brite N Tight and also some dyed green, but we only got bit on the blue.

During our 4th pass, my wife decided to come out of the sheltered part of the boat and help out with keeping the weights just above bottom. The process of finding bottom, reeling up slightly and adjusting as we go through the troll. She wasn’t on the fishing deck for more than a few minutes when she started shouting “Fish, fish!”. The port side rod was bucking with the tell tale sign of a fish shaking its head to try to free itself from the hooks. This was our first springer hooked of the day, season, year…Total chaos ensued as our crew scrambled to reel up the other rods. Here’s the thing as well: The fish came right to boat without much of a fight and I kind thought it was something small. After it came to the boat though, the fish revealed itself as a 20+ lb beast of a spring king that then acted as though it had been shot out of a cannon as it took off away from us, peeling line with impunity as it made one of several strong runs.

Now, the smart thing to do would have been to calm down, patiently fight the fish, let it run, etc. But what did we do? Tried to get it onto the boat as fast as possible! Springer fever had fully set in. Here’s how we lost this beautiful (likely wild, right? right?!) fish: The fish was directly beneath the port side of the boat, so I had her step back and lift to bring it to the surface. I then attempted to stab the water with the net below the fish in that brief second it appeared within view. Because, the fish was big, hot and not near ready to be brought in, as soon as it appeared, it bolted to the stern of the boat. The big beautiful, magnificent fish (I swear I saw a fin!) was half way in the net, and just escaped by an inch of leverage it had on me.

If you’ve ever lost a king salmon on the Columbia fishing the typical way with cannonball lead on a dropper line, you can probably guess how we lost it. The lead got stuck in the net, and before we could free it, the fish had broken my leader. My wife was pissed! We assured her it was a wild fish that we would have had to release anyways 🙂 *sigh*

A few passes later as the current was just starting to slow down, we hooked our 2nd fish of the day and this time landed it with ease. A nice fat hatchery hen.

This fish tasted so good, according to our friends who were with us and took home one of the fillets (and cooked it up immediately!), that even someone who strongly dislikes almost all seafood, absolutely loved it. If you’ve never had Springer and specifically Columbia River Springer, you are completely missing out. It’s a total grease fire on the BBQ. Picture a cross between salmon and bacon. The fat content is off the charts! Just one springer is worth it.

Day two we only made 4 passes total in the morning before heading back to camp to pack up and head home, but on our 2nd pass we got another awesome fish. This time my Son was on the reel, and although it too came immediately to the boat, I loosened the drag on his reel just enough for the fish to take off and tire itself out. We had time to get the deck clear of the other lines and get in the best position to net this fish and get it onto the boat without much drama.

Our entire two days on the water, we only saw one other fish caught (a wild that had to be released), so we felt really good about our success. The fish checker we met on our way out said that no other fish had been checked the previous day, so again we were absolutely ecstatic with our fish we were taking home.

Also, take a look at our complete guide to springer fishing on the Columbia River.

You better believe that if the season is extended (or perhaps before it closes), and especially if the fish counts improve over the dams, we will be out there again looking for more of the best tasting salmon in the world. You can read more about fishing for salmon in our rivers of the great pacific northwest here.