Die hard fisherman

Grandma and Grandpa retreated from the rain. But this diehard fisherman stuck it out.

He also figured out how to put his own worms on the hook.

Looks like Grampa is teaching him well.

Won't be long before he's teaching Grandpa  ;D

Guess one is never to old to learn new tricks. ;D

Fishing with Sons and Grandsons is about as good as it gets....

Sure is Lou.

The best trip I ever had was at the mouth of the Columbia River trolling for salmon.  Son, Grandson and papahog.  Grandson (at that time 9 years old) caught the first fish, the most fish and the biggest fish.  We all got limits and I will remember this particular trip forever. 

There have been lots of trips since. 

I've recently come to appreciate fishing with one of our grandsons.

The Columbia River entrance can be treacherous. The US Coast Guard and National Motor Lifeboat School train there. Having seen footage on TV, I sure wouldn't want to be there at the wrong time. The day we drove there, hoping to see some action, it was relatively calm.

Tom,

Your grandson is really concentrating on getting that worm on the hook.  He sure is cute...grandson, that is.

So, you guys are getting rain up there? 

Marsha~

No rain in sight Marsha, and haven't seen any in a long time. It's been a nice 83 degrees, but is forecast to get to 100 degrees Monday.

Tom I have been across the CR bar more times than I can count.  Never have I felt unsafe but let me qualify that.  We pick our days and tides.  We have turned back more times than we crossed.  If it is not the right don't go.  Fog, wind, tide, swell, wind waves all affect the conditions that will allow you to cross and not to cross.  It is such a long bar both across and lengthwise that conditions have to be just right to attempt to cross.  You also have to have a pretty good idea what the conditions are going to be when it is time to come back in to make a smooth crossing going out.

Now that being said we mostly fish from  three to six miles inside of the bar.  From buoy 10 out to the CR buoy/ocean you can not fish anyway as that is considered the bar and there is lots of large river traffic in that area anyway. 

The mouth of the Columbia is deadly and someone dies there every year.  Mostly do to equipment/engine failure but it does happen.

AS with the ocean and maybe more so because of tides and river flow you have to be very cautious when fishing in the Columbia.  It sure don't hurt to know what you are doing either.

Thanks Ken. As you say, you have to pick the time and know the conditions. Seeing that USCG video sure scared the heck out of me though.

We have a potentially disastrous entrance south of us at Morro Bay. One time I called the Coast Guard before entering (standard procedure at Morro Bay). The reply was "Skipper, clear over the bar and unlimited visibility". When I explained I was outside the entrance and couldn't see the bow of the boat because of the fog, there was a long silence followed by a request for my GPS coordinates. Another long silence before he said "Very clear coordinates, let me know if we can help any further".

This entrance is very small compared with the Columbia River, but it's tough to navigate in fog even in calm conditions if you haven't been there before. It's an S-shaped channel, and it changes because of silting. Fortunately, I'd been in there several times before, so we made a safe entrance. Once inside the harbor it was like someone had lifted a curtain, and it was clear blue sky. Right in front of us was the USCG office. Had the guy looked out the window he would have known we were in thick fog.

After refueling, we tied up at the MBYC guest dock and were joined by a couple of other boats that had left home after us. The folks in the YC explained "you're not going anywehere for several days because the wind is going to shift tonight". When one of our friends said "I've got 1320 hp, he was told "you don't have enough". Sure enough, we wouldn't have got off the dock with a million hp first thing in the morning, although it did switch 180 degrees long enough for us to get out of there.

All around the yacht club were photos of George C Scott's 110 foot boat, vertical, bow down at the entrance. He'd forced his skipper to go against his better judgement, and that was the result. You can't beat local knowledge.

FOG is no fun on the water.  I have been outside with a fog bank sitting on the bar and would not come in till it cleared.  I could come in OK with the GPS  but without radar you can not see the other boats and large tankers other cargo ships crossing the bar.  To be in the fog and hear a big dog honk his horn and he sounds like he is right along side you and you can not see him creates as much stress as child birth or heart attack.

It is not fun but sure feels good when it is over and your out of the fog.

I fished for Salmon Yesterday in Nehalem Bay Oregon.  It was going to be 95 degrees inland where I live so I knew it would be cooler on the coast.  I met a friend and her boyfriend at the ramp at 7 am and it was a nice cool 40 something.  The fog was thick and not much wind.  Thought what a great day this will be when the fog burns off.  I had dressed in layers so I would be comfortable all day. It never warmed up all say.  Stayed right there and with the fog is was bone chilling cold so I was real glad I had all the layers on.

Fished till noon as we had a lunch meeting in Astoria at 1pm.  It was one of those days where you just fished. No Catching but being with friends on the water is the most fun you can have with your clothes on.  What a great time.

Was a bit warmer in Astoria and when I left Astoria for Portland it was still cool.  Had not gone 20 minutes watching the temp in my truck rise from 50 to 70 and ten min later it was 80 then with in a hour of leaving Astoria it was reading 98 degrees.  Wanted to turn around at that point.  Was still 98 when I got home in Hillsboro only 1 hour and 20 min from where I was fishing.

The fog bank stayed on the coast all day, never burnt off, never got warm.  Funny how that works.

Was fishing on the Columbia river a couple days ago.  Friend invited me and my grandson to go fishing with him.  We trolled for Coho waiting for the tide to turn before sitting on anchor trying to catch a Chinook or three. 

First pass in the morning (very early morning) and my grandson hooks up a monster Coho and plays it like a champ and  we got it in the net and found it to be a keeper.  How lucky could we be.  Second pass and grandson's pole goes off again, Papa played this one to the boat, into the net, YEA! another keeper.

At this point we were done catching for the day but we did not know it.  So we kept fishing till second tide change about 4 PM and called it a good day.

Two monster Coho, one for the BBQ and one for the Smoker.  Life is good.

Pic of my grandson Trevor and his Coho Salmon.

Great photo Ken.