Double D treated my family to a great day fishing for some beautiful rainbows on one of his favorite lakes. What a great day we had and the fishing was even better. The standard trolling set up with a night crawler teaser was the riggin that kept all of us busy and having a great time! My little 5 year old (lilripper) was in her typical predator mode out to catch everything she could. Check out the attached video of her barking out “GET THE NET DADDY” What a crack up… We caught countless fish and had a great day! Thanks Todd your a class act and a great friend. It will be a memorial day we remember for a very long time.
Don’t forget that just because the Columbia and lower Willamette are closed you can venture out and hook a few of these beauties elsewhere. WE DID and its was a ton of fun. Double D, John, and myself headed out in the early morning hours Saturday for some springer action. I knew it was gonna be good as counts have been peaking the last few days over the falls and at Bonneville. It was a bit of a run to find the spot we wanted but it didnt take long before I was hooked up with a nice little springer. We had a great morning going 2 for 4 all on a secret little rig in a secret little spot…. Well not to much of a secret, just give me a call and I might share the location if you ask real nice….Its peaking right now and I love getting 4 opportunities in a morning outing.
After yesterdays post about the prawn rig my phone has been non stop on fire! Its obvious we are all hungry for some quality tutorials and tip sharing for sure… I will start putting more of these on the site as I have time! We will be focusing on innovative and proven catching techniques. I am not going to bore you or insult you with lame topics like bobberstops, knots,and how to use lead!!!lol leave that to the freshman group…
In the next few weeks I will be pounding the Clackamas, Lower Sandy, and Washington tribs for springers in the sled. This year I will probably leave most of the egg’s at home for two reasons. First we didn’t take many hens this fall, and I don’t believe we should be feeding smolts all the harmful chemicals found in most egg cures. I have been experimenting with new all natural egg cure recipes also, but thats another topic. Last year we took springers on medium size Kwikfish behind divers!
Here is a great looking springer that Jeff took last May on one of our trips. He was using a bait wrapped K15 behind a #10 sliding jet diver…I will post the picture of the rig tonight.
In the last few days of the very short spring salmon season I switched to prawns and had some really good success. There were a few reasons for this change. With the release of all the water in the Columbia the bite really slowed so I moved into the Willamette and Multnomah Channel. The Willamete had started to back up some do to the heavy flow of the Columbia, and the temp had also started to rise slowing the bite some compared to the red hot bite of weeks previous. Usually a good rule of thumb is to incorporate some spiners into your offering along with Herring when the water hits 53 degree’s. This year was no exception. At 53 I started pulling a very simple prawn rig and had some terrific success. Here is a quick few pics to show you how simple my rig is tied. You can see it just a fixed tied cut plug rig with a couple of size 5 octopus hooks. Slide a single bead down the line followed by a 3 inch spinner wire with the loop end bent at a 90 degree. Then slide at least three more beads down the line. This spaces the blade far enough from the prawn tail to keep it spinning freely. Add in a size 4 blade of your choice and viola! Now add the prawn….I like Ray’s Baits a lot and had many spingers take them this season. You can see how the spinner wire keeps the prawn straight for a natural look. I also leave the second hook as a trailer rather than forcing it into the soft head of the prawn. The head is the first part of a cured prawn that fails first so less messing with it the better. Some anglers like a roll on the prawn and I’m sure that works fine, but I prefer a straight natural look and let the blade be the attractor. Some also prefer a large Spin-Glo instead of a blade. I don’t… I feel the thump of a quality blade will trigger a bite much better. Hit me up if you need any tips on how to get these together. Here is Lil Ripper with a springer that was taken on a prawn in the last few days of the season. I think I went 1 for 3 that moring and was home by 10:30…
Well not to much of a secret, just give me a call and I might share the location if you ask real nice….Its peaking right now and I love getting 4 opportunities in a morning outing.
You can see it just a fixed tied cut plug rig with a couple of size 5 octopus hooks. Slide a single bead down the line followed by a 3 inch spinner wire with the loop end bent at a 90 degree. Then slide at least three more beads down the line. This spaces the blade far enough from the prawn tail to keep it spinning freely. Add in a size 4 blade of your choice and viola! Now add the prawn….I like Ray’s Baits a lot and had many spingers take them this season. 
You can see how the spinner wire keeps the prawn straight for a natural look. I also leave the second hook as a trailer rather than forcing it into the soft head of the prawn. The head is the first part of a cured prawn that fails first so less messing with it the better. Some anglers like a roll on the prawn and I’m sure that works fine, but I prefer a straight natural look and let the blade be the attractor. Some also prefer a large Spin-Glo instead of a blade. I don’t… I feel the thump of a quality blade will trigger a bite much better. Hit me up if you need any tips on how to get these together. 
Here is Lil Ripper with a springer that was taken on a prawn in the last few days of the season. I think I went 1 for 3 that moring and was home by 10:30…
