Fishing News
Thursday, April 29, 2004

The cure for common spring fever

Chinook salmon are moving from the Columbia River and lower Willamette River into smaller, cold tributaries, where angling tactics change. Jeff Melberg of Boring, recent winner of the Willamette Salmon Quest, offers some tips:

WHERE TO TRY: Anglers in anchored boats will do well with plugs and spinners fished in shallow water along gravel bars in river bends of the middle Willamette from Canby to Harrisburg. Pick the inside edge of the current or the "lead" below the head of holes. Most tributaries with spring chinook runs offer good bank fishing in several areas for those without boats. Bank or boat, finding chinook in small tributaries often means using bait beneath a sliding bobber in holes from six to 20 feet deep. "You've got to adjust for each hole and fish the bait within a foot or two of the bottom," Melberg says.

WHAT TO USE: Melberg fishes with his specially cured salmon egg roe but says most commercially sold cures and cured roe will work. For spring chinook, he adds more sodium sulfite. Use latex gloves to protect hands from chapping and keep the bait clear of natural human oils, repulsive to salmon. Melberg washes his hands in lemon-scented dish soap. Change bait often -- usually after every pass down a run and sometimes during a run or after just a few casts. Fresh bait, Melberg said, is as important as its cure, or more so. When fishing salmon eggs from a boat, Melberg often garnishes the bait with a chunk of fresh filleted sardine. Other commercial scents include the oils of herring, prawns and sand shrimp. Garlic, anise and tuna fish are other popular oils, and some enterprising anglers report doing well by spreading Preparation H on their lures. Anglers can rely solely on fresh sand shrimp, pumped in coastal estuaries and commonly found in the coolers of sporting goods stores. The fresher the better. Before buying it, open the carton and shake it lightly. The sand shrimp should move a little.

"A novice can use sand shrimp just about everywhere," Melberg says.

-- Bill Monroe