Wow!!! What a Buoy 10 season it was!
It was pretty apparent right away on the Aug 1 opener the Chinook fishing was going to be a lot better than expected. My dad and my buddy Joe hit the river Aug 1 on kind of a recon mission and it was pretty much take downs and netting fish as fast as we could get rods out. That action stayed pretty hot and heavy for the next few days of the season and then there was bit of a lull as the tides grew but it was never bad fishing. There were always plenty of Chinook to keep clients happy.
Don’t let anyone tell you the big tides don’t fish well.
Some of the best days of the year were on the big tides when people tend to think fishing will suck. Ha! Truth is the windows of opportunity on the giant tides are shorter, but the fish really move at once and some of those shorter windows were red hot! The only problem with Astoria is one day you’re in the right spot at the exact right point of the tide and the next day you think you have them totally figured out and then bam, they’re not there! That’s when the going get though and the tough get trolling.
I felt like I learned more and more every day this season. Some days were as easy and knowing out my clients Chinook in the first area I started. Other days we had to roam around a little and really hunt for them. But I hear people say it all the time… “That’s why they call it fishing instead of catching.” That’s kind of a lame excuse for guys not catching fish. This year if you worked for them, you usually got them. And when you didn’t crush them right away, you knew you’d pound them tomorrow!
Buoy 10 Chook Astoria season next year will be even better than it was this year….. I can’t wait!!!