This article addresses the question of When is the best time of year for sturgeon fishing here on the Columbia River and Willamette Rivers?
Best time of year for sturgeon fishing?
White Sturgeon can be caught year around on both of these rivers but there are definitely certain periods of the year that are better than others. The Willamette fishes extremely well from late fall to early spring so this would generally be the November to April time frame. Keep in mind however that the season for retaining fish on this river is typically only a short window during January through March and ends when the quota of fish has been caught. The rest of the year is catch and release only. The best time to fish the Columbia season hands down is during late may through late July on the lower Columbia out of Astoria, Oregon in the Columbia River Estuary. July is a little better than June and it provides the best fishing, but the majority of this month is catch and release opportunity only and it is truly incredible! Every year is different but lately it seems that all of the other sturgeon fishing opportunity is marginal compared to what the above two seasons can provide.
This page has a great brine recipe that we use, however if you don’t want to do all of the mixing, Pautzke has a great pre-made brine that you can order below.
Brining herring is an invaluable technique when you’re salmon fishing, it toughens the bait, tends to make it shinier and allows you to add scent to the herring prior to using it. Here is our tried and true herring brine: 1. Gallon Ziploc bag 2. Mrs. Stewarts Laundry Bluing(brightens the bait) 3. 1 cup Rock Salt 4. Distilled water 5. Pure Anise Oil Take your Ziploc bag and put the 1 cup of Rock Salt in it. Give it 4 good squirts of Mrs. Stewarts Bluing.
Add 5 or 6 drops of pure Anise Oil (not the kind from your grocer’s baking section that has alcohol in it).
Fill the bag half full of distilled water. Seal the bag and shake it up so the salt gets as mixed with the water as it can. Open the bag and add 2 dozen thawed or mostly thawed herring. Put it on ice or in the refrigerator. I will often add a product made by Pro-Cure called Brine N’ Bite to my brine. Just take the cap off of the jar and fill the cap half full then dump it into the bag when you add your rock salt.
You can over brine green label herring if you use too much rock salt but I worry less about this then under brining them and having them be mushy and fall off the hook. If your herring are shriveling up, just pull them out of the brine before this happens and keep them in a ziploc bag on ice. This is the most important thing to remember, keep your herring cold for the whole fishing day by placing it in a cooler on ice and making sure you’re using the best looking herring you can find!
Additional help on the article was provided by expert fisherman William Tillman
The author, Kevin Newell, and his wife Lacey DeWeert are professional fishing guides in Oregon and Washington!
Does the Willamette River’s Multnomah Channel play a part in the lanes springers will be using to travel?
Yes a very large percentage of the Willamette River Spring Chinook will take the Multnomah Channel route to get up into the main-stem Willamette. The Channel comes in about 15 miles downstream of the Willamette Mouth so it is the first strong smell of the Willamette they get and it is apparently mighty alluring!
What are the preferred Willamette boat ramps to access the Willamette?
Starting from the mouth of the Willamette and working upstream, they are; Fred’s Marina, Cathedral Park, Swan Island, Willamette Park, Jefferson Street Boat Ramp, Oak Grove, Cedar Oak, Meldrum Bar, Clackamette Park, Sportcraft Marina, Bernert Landing. I’ve never launched above Willamette Park so I’m just quoting (http://www.oregon.gov/OSMB/library/d…Guide.pdf?ga=t) for the launches above there.
What are good stretches to troll herring downhill (other than follow the other 1,000 boats)?
Assuming you’re talking about the Willamette. Because the current tends to run much slower then the Columbia, it isn’t as important to troll with the current in this river, unless of course the current is running hard and you aren’t making any headway upstream. Most folks in the Willamette focus on a specific area (such as the Sellwood Bridge) and troll up and down working the different ledges. In the harbor (downstream from downtown Portland) folks troll pretty randomly until they find fish and then they work the fishy areas hard.
If herring does not seem to be the trick, would you switch up to a bright spinner while trolling or try to play the anchor and kwikfish type of game?
If folks are catching fish around you on herring then I would stay with herring. If fish aren’t being caught at all then it isn’t because of the herring it’s because the fish aren’t in that location or the tide is wrong. The best time to catch spring chinook is an hour before and an hour after the tide change, so if I wasn’t catching fish or seeing them caught, I would head downriver toward the tide change. Once the bite stopped there, I would head upriver toward the tide change (it’s much harder to chase the tide change upriver than to find it downriver, it happens pretty fast as it moves upstream.) I don’t anchor fish for Springers, it just isn’t as effective for me as trolling herring or prawns.
When fishing Drano Lake, I notice quite a few guides start out early in the morning trolling wrapped Kwikfish, what’s the best way to ensure your offering is getting down to where the fish are?
See that’s the key … you don’t need to get down to where they are, they aren’t deep. The fish are shallow really early in the morning and standard Kwikfish and Super Flatfish work great during that time. Folks troll them 50′ to 60′ back which is plenty of line to get them down. Well why wouldn’t prawns work that early in the morning? They would but if you run them shallow i.e 10 to 14 feet down, the boat spooks the fish and they don’t see your offering which is right below the boat. If you found a way to get the prawns back that far and still shallow they would probably work equally well. If you want to get your Kwikfish deeper run a bead chain or two on your line or even a small sinker. Kwikfish really seem to work at Drano during cold water years and early in the seaon before the water has warmed up. Obviously the best place to use them is in the main lake where you can let that much line out and not interfere with other anglers. Kwikfish also target those shallow fish that most anglers don’t target because most anglers fish directly below the boat which is a must when you’re in close quarters, but when your out in the lake you can fish the whole water column.
We all know the popular spots on the Columbia River for Spring Chinook, but the fish have to move between them and I can’t believe they cannot be caught in those places also?
The popular spots are popular and tend to be productive for one or two of the following reasons; they hold fish, and/or they are easy to fish. The best and seemingly most popular are where both of these reasons happen in the same spot. Fish move from holding location to holding location during the early to mid part of the season, after that the majority of them are blasting through. They can be caught in the in-between areas but like you and I discussed on the phone the other day … do you really want to devote the limited amount of hours in the day to the in-between areas where even if they are there they may or may not be willing to bite? Or do you want to get the heck upstream or downstream to where you know the next holding area or tide change is going to be happening? Spring Chinook fishing isn’t easy and I want to spend my time in the most productive water possible. The key difference between Tillamook tide water and the lower 146 miles of the Columbia River is that in Tillamook those fish are only a few miles and days/weeks from spawning and their spawning grounds. Spring Chinook are in a different part of their life cycle and hundreds of miles and at least a month or even months away from spawning. So what I’m saying is that they aren’t holding in the Columbia like they would in the Wilson, when these fish move they don’t move to the next hole around the corner, they move 15 miles upstream, as the water warms, some don’t even stop. The exception to this rule would be the gigantic amount of fish that hold behind Bonneville Dam, but we don’t get much fishing time up there anymore. The correlation that you we’re drawing would be more likely to occur in the Willamette where the fish do hold for a much longer period of time before heading over the falls. There is always a certain stretch during May where you can pretty much expect to catch a springer behind every rock!
How deep does the water have to be before Spring Salmon will suspend? When they do suspend, will they split the difference between the top and bottom or do they favor a bit deeper vs a bit more shallow?
A certain percentage of the fish are always going to suspend and when this is a small percentage I find that I’m wasting my time fishing for them especially if the greater percentage is hugging the bottom. I would only target those suspended fish if the bottom was so snaggy that fishing very close to it proved to be a nightmare (i.e. so much time spent retying that I’m not being effective). More likely I would go to a location where the bottom suited the technique. I want to spend the bulk of my time in the zone, and the zone is defined as where the bulk of the fish are located AND where they are willing to bite AND where the pattern for harvesting them can be duplicated time and time again. I don’t find that the majority of the biting fish suspend in the Columbia. Just ask anyone who fished that deep water from the rail road bridge downstream to above Davis Bar last year. They may have caught a few fish (a very few fish) but most caught nothing in that deep water. How deep does the water have to be? Not trying to be elusive here, but that depends on the conditions. Last year we were catching fish on the bottom in 40 to 50 feet of water on the Columbia. However it was a unique year and I attribute that to the low flows that we were experiencing. I remember years past (2004) when I caught fish at Laurel Beach on anchor using Kwikfish in 35 to 40 feet of water. So what I am about to tell you is just a rule of thumb and the fish don’t often consult me so they don’t always know these rules. I believe they favor shallower water and they tend to move deeper as the day gets longer. “Spring Chinook will suspend between 16′ and 24′ when the water is deeper than 40′.” This is something we mostly focus on in the Willamette where we KNOW we are fishing on suspended salmon that are kind of holding or not really moving too fast. If you see a large number of them running shallower than this, I would venture to say that it is later in the (Columbia) season and that what you’re actually seeing is steelhead.
Is there a need to brine herring or sardines before you wrap the Kwikfish?
No I don’t believe there is a need to this before hand.
Is there a need to add any scents after wrapping the plugs for a better scent trail, what do you guys do?
You can juice them up with sardine oil and all kinds of other scents but I typically just fish them as fresh wraps and then after 20 to 30 minutes I will pull them in and juice them up really well with Sardine Oil and put them back out for another 20 minutes. After that I pull them in and put on new bait wraps.
If you’re in the Columbia River estuary, i.e. the lower 25 miles of the Columbia River near Astoria, then there is no best time, the sturgeon are always on the bite (during June and July) but the incoming tide may definitely have an advantage over the outgoing tide. When fishing outside of the estuary you will find that sturgeon show a strong preference toward feeding heavily in the morning and then tapering off significantly after late morning to early afternoon. Most days the bite will drop off sometime between 10:30 and 1:00. What do you do now? You can stay in the spot where you’ve been catching them because you know you’re in a good location, you will definitely catch an occasional fish, or you can move to another good location where you know the fish haven’t been bothered that day. If it’s this late in the day and you’re in a good spot, catching fish (albeit a reduced number since the morning) and you don’t have a “go-to” spot in mind, then I would stay put and not go prospecting. Moving around during the afternoon can be pretty fruitless because the sturgeon are already full and they don’t bite well. However if you weren’t into the fish in the morning, you don’t have anything to loose and you better get moving!
Longview, Washington is where the Cowlitz River enters the Columbia. Below this confluence is a great location to anchor for fall Chinook salmon. To access this water, a boater can launch from Rainier, Oregon; Gearhart Gardens on the Cowlitz (very shallow water); from the town of Kalama, Washington and run downstream to Longview; or from Willow Grove Boat Launch which is several miles downstream. Steelhead are also caught in good numbers from within the mouth of the Cowlitz River as well as off of local Columbia River beaches. The beaches at Willow Grove, County Line Park, and Kalama Bar are all productive bank steelhead locations. Sturgeon can be caught in this area as well.
Keep your bait fresh, don’t try to make your herring, prawns etc last too long. When in doubt change it out! 45 minutes or less is a about right for herring. 45-60 minutes for prawns but you want to inject them with scent half way through. Use lead for trolling on a short 12? dropper, and forget about divers. Use a three hook rig for trolling bait (check your regulations). Anchor fishing with wobblers; tune your wobblers to get the desired action. Don’t just assume that the action they come out of the package with is the only action they are capable of. Bend them to change the action. Slather lots of scent on them too. Run line counter reels so you can duplicate success, and so you can add measurable variation to your spread of rods. Get a really good digital combo gps/fish finder. Wait for the fish to take it! The rod should be doubled over hard and line coming off the reel before you grab it. Way too many anglers grab the rod too fast and either don’t hook the fish or lose him on the way to the boat. Stop fighting the fish so hard. Just keep the line tight and let them run against a moderate drag. Pump up and reel down to get him in. When he pulls give to him. Remember … they aren’t always hooked well! When they are well hooked they won’t come off and you don’t need to horse them, when they aren’t well hooked you will appreciate having not pressured them too much.
Read on if you want to find out about the best baits for sturgeon fishing.
I don’t know of any “secret” sturgeon bait, but I’m sure there are some guys out there that think they have some. Guys the secret to catching sturgeon isn’t by having a gimmick like secret bait or scent, it’s by knowing the fundamentals, spending a lot of time on the water, having a variety of baits, keeping the bait fresh and having a system that eliminates where the fish are and where they aren’t.
Anchovies for sturgeon bait
I will put my smelt, sand shrimp (ghost shrimp, mud shrimp), and anchovies, up against anyone’s “secret bait”.
The best sturgeon bait on the Columbia and Willamette Rivers outside of the estuary (lower 25 miles) is smelt, with sand shrimp coming in second.
In the estuary the best baits are going to be fresh anchovies and sand shrimp. You want to have both with you because in some locations and on certain days the sturgeon show a preference for one over the other.
If trash fish such as sculpins, Pike Minnows, a few crabs, etc were a big problem I would use squid, smelt, or anchovies wrapped with mesh and stretchy string. I don’t like using squid for bait and I also don’t like wrapping my bait with mesh. I prefer to go to a location where there are biting sturgeon and no trash fish, but on rare occasions this isn’t an option.
In places like San Francisco Bay and the San Joaquin River, salmon roe is very popular. Sturgeon would shurely eat salmon roe in just about any water, but if you are in an area where you are going to be catching 20 – 30 sturgeon or more per day, then you might find salmon eggs to be an expensive bait. Especially when you could be using it for salmon or steelhead fishing!
Back to the first sentence of this post … nothing beats time on the water, there are no shortcuts to sucess. Work hard and then work harder, you will eventually get your just reward!
Best Sturgeon Hooks
We’ve had extremely good luck on the Columbia and Willamette Rivers with Gamakatsu 7/0 and 8/0 Circle Hooks.
Advantages of Circle Hooks for sturgeon fishing.
1. Hooks consistently in the lip or the corner of the mouth reducing damage to the fish from being gut hooked after completely swallowing the bait.
2. You will loose fewer fish. Many location require sturgeon anglers to use barbless hooks. Circle Hooks hold better, especially when the fish is jumping. There is nothing worse then seeing your big sturgeon throw the hook on the jump!
3. The hooks stay sharper longer than standard j-hooks, especially on the 8/0 size.
4. Larger size hook doesn’t bend out as easy as smaller hooks.
Disadvantages of Circle Hooks
1. Harder to find
2. You need to wait for the fish to be pulling on the rod before you set the hook. Don’t just try to swing on him and set the hook at any little twitch, circle hooks don’t work that way.
Circle Hooks for sturgeon fishing have been an amazing discovery for us and we couldn’t be happier with their performance! We’ve been using them exclusively for three years now and have no intentions of going back to standard J-hooks. Plain and simple … we land more fish because of Circle Hooks.
Yes, regular fluorocarbon line can be used as leader. Fluorocarbon line is obviously intended to be used as your main line, this is why you will notice that it’s very limp compared to fluorocarbon leader material. The resins used to make the leader and the line are often different, so you will see differences in stiffness (leader is stiffer) and abrasion resistance (leader is generally more abrasion resistant).
