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To  many anglers Spring Chinook is one of the best tasting fish the North  West has to offer. Anglers each year head to the Columbia to try their  luck in hooking these amazing fish. Typically you’ll find that the  Willamette will start producing fish before the Columbia. This is because  smolts are released from the Willamette a little sooner than the rest  are released.
A relaxing, fun and successful way to catch these fish is anchor fishing.  This can be done on any river that is tide affected but found most popular  on the Columbia River and Willamette. The first thing you must always  be aware of is your tide. The only way to properly fish on anchor is  to fish an out going tide. This will keep your boat straight on anchor  and give your plugs the action they need to work in the water. The best  way to get started is venturing out and exploring holes with a fish  finder. You want to find water anywhere from 18-30ft. You can find fish  in other water as well but these depths are more common to hold fish  this time of year. Using your fish finder you want to find holes that  provide shelves or drop offs. Often times these salmon will just lay  behind these shelves looking for slower water to rest in before continuing  their journey upriver. Once you find shelves the best thing to do is  mark your location on your GPS either on your fish finder or a hand  held. If you don’t have either you can still manage it just may take  longer to locate the shelf next time you go out. The best thing to do  if you don’t have a GPS is try and memorize something along the shore  directly across so next time when you come back you can line yourself  back up and come close to getting in the same spot. Once on anchor you’ll  want to start getting your gear ready to go. I prefer to fish a braided  line either 50lb power pro or tuff line when fishing plugs or spinners.  This is because there is no stretch in your line which increases your  hook sets because fish will often hook them selves before you even grab  your rod. From my braided line I run it to a spreader which looks just  like heavy gauged wire bent in a 90 degree angle with swivels on the  ends. Three way swivels will work as well but you’ll find the spreaders  prevent tangles and frustration. From there you’ll want to tie an  18”-24” 15lb mono dropper line down from your spreader. This is  the line that connects down to your weight. Weight size may vary depending  on the current but for the most part 8-10oz will work. The reason I  run a lighter monofilament line for my dropper is because if your weight  snags on the bottom you want your weight to break loose first. This  will hopefully save you from having to re-rig a whole set up and also  save money. All that’s left to do now is tie on your plug. I like  running Luhr Jensen Kwikfish in a size K14 or K15. Colors will always  vary but there are few that seem to be winners each year. One of my  favorite is one many refer to as the “Double Trouble” it’s a chrome  body with Chartreuse on each end. The most key part to this whole setup  is making sure your plug is properly tuned. To do this put your plug  in the water and pull it upstream and watch the action. A properly tuned  plug will always stay straight inline and not pull to one side. If your  plug does run to one side you’ll want to tune it by adjusting the  eyelet your line connects to. If your plug pulls to the left turn the  eyelet to the right and vise versa if it pulls to the right. Now that  the plug is properly tuned wrapping your Kwikfish with bait will greatly  increase your catch rate. You’ll find the majority of everyone fishing  will be using Sardine fillets which you can buy filleted already or  take whole sardines and fillet them yourself either is fine. The reason  sardine is chosen over many other baits is because of its oil content.  Being that’s it’s a very oily fish it leaves a stronger scent in  the water attracting more fish to your plug. Wrapping your plugs is  easy I start by cutting fillets down to about 1” X 2” fillets. You’ll  want to place your fillet on the belly of you plug. So in order to do  that cut a slit about half way up the fillet. Using that slit you can  now slide it around the hook on the belly of the plug. Magic thread  or miracle thread is a couple threads out there you can use to wrap  your plug. I like to start at the back of the plug and work my way to  the front of the plug then wrap back towards the back making a total  of about 20-30 wraps. To finish it off just make several half hitch  knots and this will keep your bait secure. Now you’re ready to put  your lines in the water. Make sure to check your drags ahead of time.  You want a drag that is snug but not tight and not too loose. If a fish  hits you want them to be able to take line. You’ll find more fish  will hold the plug longer with a looser drag which equals more hook  ups. Hopefully some of these tips will help bring more fish to the boat  this year good luck!

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