Fishing Report: Double Springers! May 16th

Planned to get up at 5:00 a.m. and drive to WIllamette Park to fish for salmon in the Willamette River by Sellwood Bridge. Decided to “sleep in” and finally got about about 6:00 a.m., opened the garage door to a steady rain, then decided to go back inside and watch the news and drink a cup of coffee. The fishing has been very slow so I figured maybe not worth the effort. Then I remembered the very expensive, but great, SImms jacket and bibs I had…so a little rain!

Finally launched about 7:00 a.m. and started fishing about 7:30 with a pro troll and spinner, I was fishing alone. Wanted to try different positions for my rod, the angle, to make the action on the pro troll better. I though I had it looking pretty good. While letting my spinner down to 32’ on the line counter, the depth I like with pro trolls, I felt a sudden tug, then another, i engaged the drag, and after a few very exciting minutes had a hatchery springer in the boat, I was ecstatic.

It was only about 8:45 a.m. so I figured I would troll towards downtown until 11:00 a.m. and enjoy my success. About 10:00 a.m. I heard something, the drag on my reel going out, my first thought was how did I get snagged on the bottom? and I looked at my depth finder, about 65’, then I comprehended the situation! I grabbed the rod and put a slightly larger hatchery springer in the boat. Incredible, from saying the heck with fishing today, to one of the best springer days I have had. Like they say, you cannot catch them from the couch. Wonder if I can do this again? Sure is fun trying!