May Day! May Day!
Steve Stone (Captain of the Good Ship Lollipop) and Garth Griffin, ever the optimists, ventured above Bonneville Dam to ply the waters of the "mighty Drano Lake." Steve, perhaps the luckiest fisherman to ever live, dumbed into one of a handful of springers inhabiting the lake. His secret bait? The usual 6" blue rubber worm behind by a spinner on a sinking tip fly line scented with Brute Cologne - the standard for Drano. This could be the last post of the season unless things pick up a lot. Way ta go, Steve!
Today Garth Griffin and I fished together at Warrior Rock and Bachelor Shoal. The fishing was pretty slow after a slightly ho-hum early morning bite with 7 or 8 fish seen taken for over 50 boats in the area. The rains yesterday definitely colored the water up a bit and dropped the visability down from yesterday. Also the weather remained unsettled as you can see from the pic. About 12:30 when most trollers had headed home, I hit this 13 pound fish with not a sea lion in sight. Had a great time as I always do with Garth
On Saturday, Pete Hassemer and his wife Patty fish with Maria and me, again at our secret spot near Warrior Rock. As usual we trolled whole and plug-cut herring but the bite was slow at best. It might have had something to do with the weather which seemed to change every few minutes. We started with a warm, calm dawn which turned into a light rain and mild breeze followed by a brisk wind, 10 degree drop in temperature, and torrential downpours. A little later the sun came out and we had to shed clothes as the steam rolled off us. However, as we were about to give up, the rod went down hard and Patty landed this beautiful 16 pound springer. It put up a great fight and Pete was able to net it before the ever-present sea lions honed in on it. Later in the evening, this big fellow was the central feature of a wonderful dinner for 6 prepared by Pete's sister Jane and his brother-in-law Mike. Thanks to Mike and Jane, and to Pete, for the very special wines he brought from his Cellar.
With high expectations - based on the previous day’s success - Mike Delarm and I (Garth Griffin) beat John and his crew to the sweet spot at Warrior Rock. First minute into the first pass and Mike started where he had left off the previous day. The fish was all but hooked when it dropped the bait. Mike expertly feed it two strips and the fish couldn’t resist. I keyed the mike to our sister boat and blurted out – Fish On! After a sweet fight, Mike bagged a #19 eater. We gilled the beauty, swung back into position and Mike hooked up again. But, this time the prey was wearing a Yamaha banner….Oops! Mike blamed it on residual excitement while I theorized that John’s boat was in the area spinning figure eights gathering gear. Anyway, once back under control we resumed fishing. In the same spot no more than 30 minutes since the last fish a really dumb one grabbed my line. I was basking in the glow of the attention and anticipation when one of our 200 closest friends yelled – Sea Lion!!!! I quickly devised a plan that consisted of cranking the fish to the surface, head towards us, and as the killer aquatic Beast approached I would use every bit of my #50 Tuff Line to yard him into the net or boat, whichever was closest. We had the fish up, head towards us, and I thumbed the spool. And then it happened - Black, boil, bang! Fortunately, neither of us got hurt and the day was now complete. Fishers 1, Beast 1. Oh well.
Mike Delarm and 19.5 Pounder (Unverfied by webmaster)
File photo of Garth Griffin
Garth Griffin and I (Mike Delarm)spent a great day on the Columbia River fishing for the ever illusive spring chinook. We started out bright and early at buoy 72 where I had a solid bite and pull down, but no hookup. Got a good report from John Palensky over the radio indicating there was a hot bite at Warrior Rock so decided to give that a try. At mid morning a 14 pound hatchery fish decided to completely swallow the herring and I had my first springer in two years. Garth and I decided to see what was happening at Bachelor Flat after the bite ended at Warrior Rock. Not much later a second springer was hooked up and Garth played the fish to the boat and I expertly netted it for him. Called it a day about 2:30 PM. As always, I learn something new when fishing around Garth and John.
Answer: In A Cooler.
Pete Hassemer from Boise and his wife, Patty Haller came out to fish for Springers with Maria and me. Probably a good choice since right now it doesn't look like they will be having a season in Idaho unless the Bonneville Counts start to soar. The first day, just Pete and I fished and we had a pretty good day on the Columbia by Warrior Rock and the mouth of the Multnomah Channel. By 9:30 I'd boated a 21.6 pound springer and Pete had released a 20 - pound wild fish. About 1:00 with the tide running out pretty good, we boated a 13.4 pounder. Three fish for three bites. In this picture, Pete's eye has not yet started to blacken from the impact of a wildly swinging 4-ounce weight while netting the fish. It really scared me when it hit him.....I was afraid he might drop the net and the fish.
