This is my first time side drifting for salmon, so if I got the rating wrong whoops. Went out with guide Mike Mike was right on time and then we followed him to the Castle Rock boat ramp. Got the boat in the water and mike did a quick technique and safety brief. We then headed south stopping to float the river at various bends, we started off catching a few coho jack and then the first mature king. Good looking freshwater male in chrome quality, and plus he was a hatchery! first fish in the boat, we catch a few more coho jack that we throw away and then Mike mentions that it's legal to keep jacks. So everyone starts keeping a few jacks just to make sure they got meat to take home.

We saw a few other Kings being caught by other boats, and then we get another hatchery King again beautiful chrome quality. Keep on drifting we end up only a few miles from Longview, just north of a railroad bridge, set up for a drift, first drift wild hen, second drift didn't get it to the boat, third drift another wild king, just over and over I think we ended up catching 4 wild kings just north of the bridge and 2 other kings that we didn't get up to the boat.

So 8 Kings were caught total, 2 of which were keepers, and then we kept 14 coho jacks. I personally didn't hook up with a King, but in my mind that just means brownie points from the fishing gods for next time.