Report is for Cape Disappointment camping and buoy 10 fishing excursions from Wednesday, 8/22 - Thursday, 8/30.

Rated 4 becuase we had lots of FUN, lots of FISH, and lots of CRAB!

Left for Cape Disappointment State Park near Ilwaco after work on Tuesday, 8/21. Pulled into camp about midnight 8/22 and by the time we got camp set-up and got to sleep it was past 2 AM. Too late/early to meet-up with friends Dave & Kat Cochran for their scheduled departure at 0430 at the park launch ramp. I did pull it together at about 0615 though both of the kids decided they wanted to sleep-in so I went out solo. Headed out through the west Baker Bay channel and head a good sign as I cleared the outer boundary markers and had to fish surface in a nearby tide rip just ahead of my boat. Made the 6-7 mile run up above the Megler-Astoria bridge to give the Dismal Nitch area a shot. Had not fished this water for a while (and was sturgeon fishing the last time I was there) so it started out as more or less of a shakedown trip. Put a 10" lime bomb fish flash in fornt of the fresh plug-cut herring I brought along courtesy of Narrows Marina. Trolled this in water varying from 25' to 45' with no takers. Trolled both upstream and downstream. After a few passes I reached Dave on his cell. They had 3 in the boat form first light bite and had not had action in a while so they had gone below the bridge. I assessed that the tide was going out and decided to troll down through the church hole and along Sand Island and turn around with the tide. By mid-morning the wind had kicked-up somewhat coming south off the Washington shore. I had to troll at a steep angle to the shore just to make headway back toward shore from mid-river. As I trolled from 40' depth to 35' depth just above the church I got a monster take down followed immediately by a screaming run - GAME ON! Without a net man aboard I decided to get the fish into the warmer water near the surface and play him out there so he'd be good and tired when I brought him to net. I got him to the boat about 3 or 4 times but my leader was just a little longer than the lenght of the pole and I couldn't reach quite far enough to get him the last foot or so to the surface to come to net. I played him out for quite a while then decided my only shot would be to set the pole against the gunwhale beside me and hand over hand the leader until he surfaced. Thankfully, the strategy worked and I boat a 19# hatchery thule chinook - a GREAT way to start off the trip!

When I got back to camp the kids where pretty excited about the fishing prospects and also wanted to give the crabbing a shot so we planned to go back pout in the afternoon. We launched at about 3:00 and found a spot in Baker Bay to soak the pots by about 3:30. From there we ran out into the main river and trolled up stream along Sand Island in about 40' to 50' of water. We, again, ran fish flashes with about 8 ounces of lead on a drop line. We used 2 lime bomb fish flashes and one 50-50 lime bomb and chartreuse fish flash. My son Neal had just settled-in for a little nap time on the front deck as we passed the east end of the island. His pole got hit and I yelled fish-on. By the time I got the pole out of the holder he'd shaken off the nap and was there to play the fish. We got it to boat and netted a chorme bright 8# native chinook. We trolled a bit longer with no takers and decided to go check our pots after a 2 hour soak. We headed back around the island to find a fierce wind blown gnarly white caps off the Washington shore across Baker Bay. Made for a wet trip back to our pots. Thankfully, the surface temps were high 60's so at least we were getting doused with relatively warm water. Pulled the first pot and got just one crab and too small to keep. The second pot had 7 or 8 crab and one was a keeper so we came back to camp with salmon and crab for our effort.

Dave took his crew back out for the evening bite as well and manged a fat 10# hatchery coho for the effort.

Tally for Wednesday - Dave's boat got 3 kings and one silver for 4 anglers. Our boat got 2 kings and 1 keeper crab for 3 anglers.

Thursday the kids and I decided to sleep-in and have a beach day so we skipped fishing in favor of kites and sand castles. Dave's tally for the day was 3 kings for 4 anglers (all from the Daismal Nitch hole).

Thursday evening we all turned-in early so we could make an early joint assault on the fish on Friday morning. We planned an 0400 wake-up time with boats in the water at about 0445. Dave's nephew Garrett ran Dave's boat and Dave graciuosly offered to ride with me so we'd have a net man to join the Fish Princess and me in our boat. We all ran up to Dismal Nitch and started there. Dave's boat landed one king during the early bite. We couldn't seem to buy a bite and there was significantly more boat traffic than previous days so we decided to get out of the crowd and fish down through the church hole again. We also marked some fish just below the thermocline so we swithced-up one rod to a delta diver and pulg cut herring. As we trolled toward the church in about 25' of water a nice current rip had formed with birds picking bait out of the surface and a group of 10 - 20 seals were hunting there. Just above the church we had another freight-train take down. I played this one and after about a 10 minute fight we boated a fat 23# hatchery thule chinook (my largest of the trip). Good thing we had Dave along as he expertly netted the fish. We got back on the troll and continued downstream past the church and along the outside of the east end of Baker Bay. ABout half way down the mouth of the bay the diver and bait set-up got hammered running in about 20' of water. We expected to pick coho on this set-up and when the pole got hit Dave handed it off to the Fish Princess. He did a nice job coaching her through playing the fish and to our surprise we netted a fat 19# thule chinook.

Friday eveining Dave and Kat and Kat's brother Pat and I went out crabbing. We set 4 pots and 1 ring. We hauled each one twice on about 45 minute soaks and ended-up with about 15 keeper Dungeness crab.

Tally for Friday - Dave's boat hauled 1 chinook for 3 anglers and our boat managed 2 chinook for 3 anglers and we added 15 succulent crab to our catch.

Saturday I had reserved spots for the kids and me with our trusty guide Russ Morrow who is an expert on Columbia River salmon as well as the Nehalem River in Oregon. Russ did not disappoint. Total for the day was 13 bites, 11 hooked, and 5 landed for 5 anglers. My son Neal and the Fish Princess both got 20 pound class kings. I had a bright 6# king and our two companion anglers, a father and son team each got a hatchery coho. We also released at least one native coho and a couple of sub-legal kings. Dave and Pat went crabbing Saturday and returned with another 15 or 20 crab. Saturday evening we feasted on fresh herb encrusted grilled king salmon and fresh steamed crab!

Sunday it rained most of the day with some scattered showers and some heavy rain and my crew took the day off. Friends Rob & Sheryl arrived in camp on Saturday and Rob went out with Dave Sunday. Rob landed a 23# thule chinook.

Dave's brother-in-law Pat had been out with us on a couple of trips and had played several fish but had nbot boated any yet so our mission for Monday was to get him a keeper. Four of us headed out on Dave's boat at about 5:30 after dealing with some minor boat issues (dead battery had to be swapped-out and pinched fuel line). We headed to Dismal Nitch and it was very evident from the get-go that the previous day's rains had changed the program. We saw only one or two kings caught the whole day and everybody seemed to be catching coho. The good news for the day was that the schools of coho moving into the river at this point were mostly hatchery fish. We did get Pat onto 3 fish and he landed 2 of the three and both were hatchery brats so he finally got his keepers. I also brought a coho to boat and it was a native so we released it back into the river. Late Monday Dave's nephew Garret rejoined us at camp.

Tally for Monday - 3 coho for 4 anglers with 2 kept and 1 released.

Tuesday, 8/28 Dave, Garrett, Garrett's friend Ryan and I fished out of Dave's boat. Garrett got a nice 15# thule king first thing to give us a good start. THis day was our most consistent action with at least one or two bites and one or more fish-on on EVERY trolling pass through the dismal nitch hole. There were far less boats and we stayed relatively close to the Washington shore and out of traffic. Oddly we had many short strikers and fish that long released as it took us 24 fish on to get 4 in the boat. Garret batted 1about .000 going one for one and then his pole went silent for the balance of the day. I was .750 landing 2 bright kings in the 10# class and releasing a native coho on the chartreuse and silver delta diver. Ryan went about 2 for 16 landing about a 12" king first thing then crackering about 14 straight fish before he caught our last keeper king of the day, about a 12# mint bright fish. Dave was 0 for 3 with two fish lost right at the boat.

Tally for Tuesday - 4 kings for 4 anglers.

Wednesday, 8/23 was the last fishing day for me. Dave took Garrett and Ryan out in his boat and Rob and I went out in my boat. On the early bite was an upstream troll (incoming tide) and Dave's crew got two keeper chinook and one hatchery coho. Rob hooked a sub-legel chinook that released near the boat and I caught one native coho that we released. Things went very quiet for several hours around the high slack and Dave's crew gave it up and left early. Rob and I stuck it out until the tide change and were rewarded for our efforts. Some nice current rips and seams formed as the tide began to run out. As we swung to a downstream troll I headed closer to the Washington shore in about 35' of water. The boat right behind us got a fish and we were watching them bring the fish to net. Just as they landed the fish I turned around to see Rob's pole get buried. He played a nice 12# mint bright chinook to boat and at long last we kicked the skunk out. We got back to fishing and a few monets later Rob's pole got buried again much harder this time. Rob grabbed the pole and reared back and came up empty he retrieved his line to find just six inches of his leader remaining. Lesson - check your leaders after landing a fish. We got back to fishing again and I managed two more coho one right after the other, unfortunatley both were native fish so they went back into the river. I ended-up the trip 5 for 5 on hooked coho but all were natives so none came home with me.

Tally for Wednesday - 3 kings and 1 coho kept and 3 coho released for 5 anglers.

Dave's crew went back out for a couplke of hours Thursday morning while I packed-up to head for home. They got back just before I left and had 0 salmon for the day. Wednesday evening featrued a full moon and cloudless skies so the fish may have been feeding all night.

All-in-all excellent fishing adventures and great fun with family and friends!

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