Northwest Reel Life April 2023 Volume 2 Issue 9 - Flipbook - Page 14
Only one can be a chinook,
and all coho must be clipped.
The coast of Ocean Shores
is a popular area to fish in
Marine Area 2. You can use
the hotels as a marker on
where to fish. The casino
is a well-known landmark
where anglers will fish in
60 feet of water and make
their way out deeper from
there. Another good spot is
south of the jetty, where you
can intercept fish making
their way to Willapa Bay
and the Columbia River.
One of the reasons why
Marine Area 2 is such a good
fishery is because anglers
are targeting fish heading
to Grays Harbor, and as they
near the entrance they tend
to hang out in the saltwater
just offshore. Add in the fish
migrating further south to
Willapa Bay, the Columbia
River, and even Oregon rivers,
and it makes for a highway of
salmon to intercept.
Marine Area 1 out of Ilwaco is
for the serious salmon angler.
The season is set to open
June 24th with a two salmon
per day limit, but only one
can be a chinook and all
coho must be clipped. Ilwaco
is a protected port with a
long jetty that protrudes out
into the Columbia, and it can
mislead the novice angler
into thinking everything is
good to go. Be sure to know
how and when to cross the
Columbia River bar safely.
This is the deadliest bar in
the world and there is a
reason why the U.S. Coast
Guard trains their rescue
14 | NWFISHING.net
swimmers here. But if you
can make it out to the ocean
then you will get your first
chance at the 554,000 fall
chinook or the 595,300 coho
making their way back to the
Columbia River.
When it comes to salmon
fishing in the ocean, nothing
beats fishing fresh bait. I use
brined herring that has sat
overnight in Pro-Cure’s Brinen-Brite and been toughened
with some Bait Spice, an
infused rock salt with bluing
agents and scents. Learning
to plug cut herring can
be tricky but once you get
the perfect cut down, it is
one of the most productive
ways to fish. But if you find
yourself in a school of crazed
coho where most will not
be clipped and before you
know it bait is running low,
then there are a few things
you can do to increase your
catch rate when the bait runs
out. There are many spinning
plugs on the market now,
including the SpinFish by
Yakima Bait Company, the
Cut Plug by Brad’s, and now
the Simon Spin Dawg and
Simon Cut Plug. The first
two have a hollow cavity to
place scents, herring strips
or canned tuna, but the
products by Simon are solid
and have a scent cavity. One
benefit of the solid bait is
that it won’t come apart
when a chinook grabs hold.
The other lures, though,
offer more scent-holding
capabilities. All of them
work on the same wounded
baitfish principle and work
great when the real bait runs
low or you don’t want to
mess with brining and plug
cutting. Old Goat Lures also
makes a hollow one-piece
wounded baitfish lure and
they make it out of plastics
that glow for those lowlight days or early morning
fisheries. With each of these
lures, it is best to use a super
sticky scent such as those by
Pro-Cure in their Bait Sauce
line.
To rig up the spinning plug
lures, there are two primary
ways to fish them when
trolling in the ocean. The first
is behind a 360-flasher such
as a Mack’s Lure UV Paddle
ScentFlash, which can be
filled with even more scent.
Use a long leader from 42
to 56 inches to the lure, and
then use the downrigger
to get it to the depth of
choice. The other way to rig
it is just like how one would