Lingcod are in thick!

We headed out from Hammond early to catch the high slack and it paid off! The rockfish are in heavy already with some small ones and some very, very big ones hanging out. We found ourselves limited and releasing about two or three more limits while we tried for more Ling Cod. The Ling Cod are still working their way in, but made a decent showing with 3 released, one stolen by a sea lion, and 3 that were big enough to make it to the dock. We also released 2 cabezon and found a few jumbo kelp greenling. On top of all of that, Bobby somehow managed to catch a massive surf perch. As if the good fishing wasn't enough, we ended up doing some whale watching as a grey whale chowed down on some of the bait balls near the mouth of the river. While the Bald Eagle on the jetty seemed amused by the whole scene, the sea lions were not exactly happy with the whale's presence. All in all today was a great day, with a bit of rain in the morning but a relatively calm ocean. I'm looking forward to some more bottom fishing trips this year, I can't wait to put more of these tasty fish on the boat!

Today we had beautiful weather, awesome guests, and a really pretty early Columbia River Spring Chinook on the boat! While we couldn't get fish for everyone (spring chinook is hard after all), this beauty made it on board.

As far as Spring Chinook Fishing goes, today was a good one. My buddies at High Class Tackle made the trip down and we accomplished our mission of getting a first of the year Springer for Ryan in the boat. With an early departure for one of my favorite spots we put the plugs to work and work they did with multiple takedowns. These guys work for a great company and I was more than happy to help their boss reward them with a great trip.