My Dad got his boat registered in time for us to take on The King of the Reach fishing tournament. The boat registration was filled in a matter of hours. It’s a friendly salmon fishing tournament focused on salmon conservation. Any wild salmon caught get loaded up and taken to the nearby fish hatcheries, where the eggs and sperm are collected. Last year we had a great time and caught a decent amount of salmon. This year well it was a different story.
This year with 299 anglers on the river, 1,175 wild salmon we caught and taken to the hatchery. Last years winning boat brought in 74 fish and this years winner brought in 68 fish. That is a lot of salmon to catch in just 3 days. With a 4 person per boat limit, 68 fish in 3 days is pretty impressive.
Now our boat wasn’t helping out too much with this whole conservation effort. It’s pretty frustrating to be doing the exact thing others were doing and not catching salmon the way they were. We had salmon jumping out of the water around ya but we sure weren’t catching any. We did finally manage to catch 2 hatchery salmon and 2 wild salmon, so we did catch a few. The most important thing is, we had a great time.
We were constantly cracking jokes about how they are gonna give us a 4 year ban due to lack in productivity. Or when we try to sign up next year they will call and tell us that the amount of fuel we used in comparison to the number of fish caught was too far off last year and we have been banned from the tournament. The jokes just kept rolling!! So even though the salmon weren’t being brought into the boat, the amount of laughing that went on made it all worth it.
The temps in the morning were below freezing and there was a slight breeze coming up the river. Cold... yep it sure was. Don’t ask me why this is fun but it just is. Lol. I am just happy that I was able to bring my camp trailer to provide a nice warm place to come to after a long cold day on the river. Hopefully next year we do a little better in the salmon catching department because I know we will always have a great time on the Columbia River.
Hive On
and
When the Fishing isn’t good
Enjoy the Scenery
Do they actually ban people? lol
No, it would be kind of funny if they made prank calls to the bottom five boats or something. lol
How do you tell the difference between hatchery and wild salmon.
The adipose fin is clipped off. It’s a small fin between the dorsal fin and tail. Let me find a pic...
This was my question also...Looks like we have our answer.
Sounds like y'all were using the wrong type of explosives...
Need some of these you reckon?
Those tend to do the trick, or so I've heard :D
..."Or so you've heard." Lol.
As a rule, I always try to follow the first commandment... "Thou shalt not incriminate thy self"
Yes, wiser words have never been spoken.
The Black Cats and Lady Fingers just weren’t quite doing it this time...
Or this...
Fishing in below freezing temperatures...Hmm, no thanks.
What do you think was behind the lack of production? I'm not much of an angler, more a hunter, so don't really get why those little fishies would be all around and not hooking up.
We were clueless honestly. I guess they can smell in parts per billion. So if you are handling the bait with your bare hands they won’t touch it. Maybe we were handling our lures and getting our stinky Man-scent on them?? 🤔 Lol. Good news was we weren’t the only ones.
I am not much of either. I am just getting into salmon fishing and soon going to be doin’ some huntin’. My Dad and brothers ruined me at an early age. ADD/ADHD Don’t set well when you are sitting in a duck blind freezing, or sitting in a boat not catching fish. “Yep, this is dumb!! I have better things to do” Now a days I have no problem just taking a chill pill and relaxing. So little by little I am getting more involved in hunting and fishing
Ah yeah, those fish are sneaky. Well, it's about the fun of it also I guess, the camaraderie etc.
It's good to see you're starting to get into things like this though, it always pays to keep things interesting and to reinvent oneself. Life is too short to get stuck in a rut.
Try something new and learn something new. My brother would always get mad when we would shoot clays.... “Why the hell don’t you duck hunt??!!!” Lol. I guess I am a pretty good shot with a 12 gauge. Lol
I agree, it's good to open oneself up to learning; Having that habit is beneficial and can make a huge different in many aspects of life.
I'm sure you know the old saying, @jlsplatts ( A bad day of fishing is better than a good day at work ) Interesting stuff on how you determine a wild-caught from a hatchery-raised Salmon. The next time I'm in the store picking up some Salmon I will surely look for the adipose fin. The difference in price is more than double. I'll make sure they're not selling one for the other. 😢
It’s even better when you are taking a vacation day and still getting paid from work to go fishing😉
Salmon is expensive!! Hopefully next summer when we head up to Brewster, WA and fish for Sockeye and King Salmon. Bring a small freezer, and a vacuum sealer it’s time to fill the freezer. Lol
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What a beautiful place to fish.
I am glad you explained the difference between the two types of salmon, interesting.
Better luck next year with catching fish, at least you had a boat load of laughs.