Went out my first trip on the Columbia River AND first attempt for Chinook.
We launched off of Dike Road at about 6am and went up river and settled in with roughly 8 other boats in what someone mentioned as “Combat Fishing”.

The odds didn’t looked good with the competition surrounding us and could only pray that our boat would produce! The first two hours we had several bites but nothing hooked up.
I personally spend my down time chatting it up with Mike the guide and generally getting to know those around me. Mike (guide) was not only full of great stories but answered all my semi beginner questions( and I asked a lot of questions!)

At about 1230, the boat on my Starboard side left due to a cranking 3 year old on board. That opened a space which looked like opportunity for us. Anyway, Mike switched out the Herring on the Kwikfish for all lines and the tide was going down. Roughly 15 minutes later my line went down. Bam! I jumped up, reeled in and took the rod out of the holder. Felt a great tug and kept reeling in. It just felt like it had hooked in pretty well!
The fight wasn’t too bad but then again I was beyond pumped up and was all ears listening to “coach” Mike.

I was amazed to finally see the shiny silver chinook surface. What a site! Mike grabbed the net, checked to see if it was a Native or Hatchery and brought this beast onboard. Roughly about 12-14 pounds.

We ended up bring on more onboard about an hour later. Overall, I was lucky to land one beast! Many around us didn’t land any.

Lessons learned: Change your bait out often, be willing to learn( or re-learn), and have fun.

The weather was 70 degrees, clear skies and I had really good company onboard!

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