Northwest Sportsman – August 2019

52 Northwest Sportsman AUGUST 2019 | nwsportsmanmag.com

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the river will remain open for coho until

the end of 2019. And while a limit of two

hatchery fin-clipped coho is currently in

effect, that could be increased to three

if all goes as predicted, so keep an eye

out for rule changes that might allow a

more generous bag.

JUST AS WITH chasing Chinook, you will

need to pay attention to ocean tides when

planning a trip to Buoy 10 for coho. Not

wanting to work any harder than neces-

sary, coho will accumulate low in the es-

tuary when the tide is out and allow the

flooding ocean (incoming tide) to push

them upriver. The bigger the tide, the far-

ther it will push fish into the estuary, all the

way to or past the Astoria-Megler Bridge.

This means you should plan to be fish-

ing low in the bay, perhaps even near the

red navigation marker with the number

10 stenciled on it, at low tide or just after,

and move near or above the bridge at the

top of the tide (high tide). With this many

coho returning fishing should be good al-

most no matter what you do, but if all else

fails the best bite of the day will likely be

during the last half of the flood and first

half of the outgoing tide near or above the

bridge. As the flood tide begins to ebb,

the fish will all face into the current and

you will encounter more by trolling into

them, that is, downstream, the opposite

way they are facing.

Although coho can be found at all

depths, they will often accumulate in

shallow water, less than 25 feet deep.

And while many fish will hug the bottom

in 20 or 25 feet of water, especially when

currents are strong, there are times when

they will suspend at various depths above

bottom. Don’t be afraid to try your luck

trolling on or near Desdemona Sands,

the big island in the middle of the river

that extends above and below the bridge

and separates the north (false) and south

(shipping) channels. I’ve even caught

coho trolling up on the sands in 8 to 12

feet of water during high tide and through

the first few hours of the outgoing.

SILVERS ARE AGGRESSIVE biters, making

them fairly easy to catch compared to

kings. For this reason spinners are popular

when trolling and might put more fish in

the box than bait. Don’t misunderstand,

there is no doubt that bait will yield more

bites but when it comes to actually land-

ing fish, spinners might get the job done a

lot quicker than bait.

And while many anglers will drop down

to medium-sized trolling spinners, like a

size 5 Toman or 5^1 / 2 Mulkey when target-

ing coho, most guides and anglers would

agree that for targeting larger ones, the

standard 6^1 / 2 spinner sizes work just fine.

Just about any spinner color will work

at times, but coho have a fondness for

pink. Some of my favorite spinner colors

include candy wrapper, pearl/red dot,

chartreuse/green dot, Mexican flag, and

red and white. I rig mine in combination

with a pink squid. After all, coho love pink.

If you are stuck on using bait, there is

nothing better than an anchovy caught

fresh from the estuary. What many anglers

do is jig their own using a Sabiki rig, which

is a multihooked string of small jigging

hooks that look like small fish or shrimp.

Pretied rigs can be purchased at special-

ty tackle stores. All you need do is attach

the end of your fishing line to the Sabiki

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It’s all yet to be determined, but

there’s a chance that the bag limit on

hatchery coho could be boosted from

two to three a day if enough of the

feisty, tasty salmon actually return.

(BILL MONROE OUTDOORS)

Spinners might be the best bet for coho at the

mouth of the big river, as author Buzz Ramsey

says they result in more landed fish, but running

an anchovy isn’t a bad idea either. Just make sure

to give them a curve; guide Bill Monroe runs an

extra-long toothpick through the bait’s body and

rigs it whole on a mooching setup, leaving the

trailing hook dangling. (BILL MONROE OUTDOORS)