First Springer of 2018

Launched from the Ridgefield ramp on this day.  I initially wanted to slip into the Multnomah Channel but decided last minute to head up river to Davis Bar.  It gave me a chance to run the motors good and get some fresh fuel thorough the system.  I had to replace a thermostat in one of my motors and it appears to be working well.  It was stuck open.  I will have to replace the other one on the next maintenance to be proactive as I am coming up on 800 hours and items like these are starting to fail.  Well, 20 minutes later, we arrive on the scene.  Next time, I will probably trailer a little closer.  🙂

We started with a spread of our normal flasher and cut plug herring setup.  Chartreuse flashers and natural herring for anyone that is wondering.  Heavy weights and bouncing the bottom.  For Springers, if you are not on the bottom, you are not fishing.  Especially true on the outgoing tide.  At least, that is my experience and I have been known to catch a fish or two.  🙂

The boat traffic in the area was pretty heavy.  We made a few passes and were not seeing any action in our boat or any others for that matter.  We talked to people and it seemed that today was going to be a tough grind.  We were on our sixth pass.  I came across another guide boat with one client in it.  He was a guy I knew and we started talking.  About a minute into our conversation, I here from the other side of our boat “FISH ON!!!”  I look over and line is getting pulled out at a steady pace.  “Are you sure?  It looks like you are snagged.”  About that time, the head shakes start.  We are all very excited for this being our first springer on a day where it appeared that nobody was having very good luck.  “Better not lose that fish Fred.”  🙂  This fish was a hard puller and made a few runs, but we eventually got it in the net.  The fish gods smiled on us this day.  It was a hatchery.

We had three other bites throughout the day, but nothing stuck.  We felt honored and will take anything we can get, especially early in the season.