Recap for 2012

This year was all in all a great year. Conditions were much different with the high water and cooler temps. The migration of the sturgeon was about 6 weeks off schedule making for a pretty tough fall bite. The Columbia being at flood stage pretty much killed the May sturgeon bite for keepers. Thank god for the salmon to suck up some of the slack. We did a fair amount of walleye fishing and had some great success. Had a blast salmon fishing spring and fall. Due to all the regulation changes on sturgeon fishing i am going to be guiding for Walleye,salmon,steelhead and sturgeon for 2012. Never thought that it would happen but i am very excited for the new adventures to begin. Predictions for the Willamette springers for 2012 are 83,000 and 314,000 for the Columbia. Summers are around 91,000. How can you not get excited about that. Here are a few pics to sum it all up. Thanks to all and see you on the water.

Charlie Foster

Columbia/Willamette sturgeon reports June 2011

Sorry that i have not posted any thing in a while it was not due to lack of water time. As every one knows the water is extremely high and has every thing all backed up. The Willamette is starting to warm up and will continue to do so with the warming air temps. Current water temp in Oregon City was 50 degrees yesterday June 7. The Willamette remained unseasonably cool so there was not a big push of fish to leave the river system to start the migration. This made for an absolute blast for catch and release fishery. There were several days we were landing 30 to 50 fish and out of that 25 legals. The over size fishery is doing well with 4 to 11 fish being landed daily. The biggest that we have gotten was a 10 foot 2 inch. The shad have been difficult to catch due to the cold water but they are around. There are some over size being caught on the Columbia but you need a good chunk of lead to keep it down. Nick from Massachusetts fished with me last week and had a pretty good shocker. Nick hooked a nice over size and fought it for about 15 minutes and then something happened. the line went slack and then it went taught again. Nick kept pumping away and soon i saw leader. Looking down in the water the first thing i saw was the name Minn kota. Nick had landed a 30lb thrust trolling motor. "WOW" It is in the garage drying out. Here are some pics from the last few months and see you on the water.

Columbia/Willamette sturgeon reports Feb 2011

As every one anticipated the opener on the Willamette there was a lot of pressure. Thursday February 17th started out great with limits by 8 A.M. Friday was still good with limits by 11 A.M and Saturday there was a big weather change that shut down the bite. You can look at this two ways. One there were only 384 fish recorded on the first three day week and fishing will carry through the end of March. The other way to look at it is spring fish are much harder to catch than fall fish which is reality. With all the storms and barometric pressure changes you can be gold one day and work your tail off the next day just to put a few fish in the boat. (THAT'S FISHING) There are quite a few over size in the mix now and are providing plenty of action. Be selective on what you keep to keep the river open that much longer. I finished up the Columbia fishery with some very good results. ODFW gave us an additional 800 fish this year and the season closed 2 days earlier than last year due to all the pressure. I would recommend raising the bottom slot from 38" up to 42" and this season would go in to June like it did 3 years ago with only a 700 fish quota. All in all it has been a great year so far and am looking forward to some over size fishing this spring. Here are some pis from the last several weeks and thanks to all who fished with me. Big keeper honors of the week go to 9 year old Joe from Crescent City Ca. Joe landed a nice 52" on squid on the Willamette. The fish was 1" bigger than Joe. Good job little man and good luck on the trapping. Joe's hobby is trapping whatever climbs in his live traps. So far he has gotten a possum a raccoon and his neighbors house cat (WHOOPS!) See you on the water.

Charlie Foster
503-820-1189

Columbia/Willamette sturgeon reports

The new year started of great. The only down fall was the weather. 20 degrees and 35 mph wind. Fishing was good though. The season has got underway for keepers. The bite is not quite as good as last year but is still providing plenty of action. The Willamette is scheduled to re open some time mid Feb. The bite should be very good until the closure at the end of March. Here are a few pics from the Willamette and a few from last week. Thanks to all who fished last week.

Charlie Foster
503-820-1189

Willamette River sturgeon fishing November 2010

As i anticipated the fall opener for keeper sturgeon (Nov 4th) was red hot. The migratory fish shot up river with all of the recent rains that we have had. There was still a bunch of hold over fish from last years fall movement due to the shut down at the end of March. There was a lot of pressure all throughout the river with very good success. Here are a few pics from last week. Thanks and see you on the water.

Charlie Foster
503-820-1189

Columbia Sturgeon Reports

As anticipated the keeper opener on the Columbia was pretty good. There was a bunch of pressure and continues to be. If you were fortunate enough to get into some fish there were some big keepers caught. The migratory fish have still not shown them selves but they will be coming as the water temp has dropped down to 60. I fished the Willamette four days this week and we landed 30 keepers and 23 oversize. The weather has been great and looks like it will continue for the next ten days. Here are a few pics from the last few days. Thanks and see you on the water.

Columbia sturgeon report/September

The September anticipation for over size sturgeon was well worth the wait. With all of the good water opening up September fist above Skamania Island there were several spots that continually produced big numbers of big fish. We ended up fishing 28 days in September landing 178 over size with the biggest being a big 11 footer. Several 10 footers and a lot of 7 to 9 footers. our best day was 15 over size. If you did not want to target the big boys or in some cases needed a break you can throw small baits and catch 50-60 small fish. There are quite a few keepers that are hold overs from this spring that will provide plenty of action for the October opener of retention. The water temps were cooler in September than normal and have been stable for the last month. The migratory fish have not started moving and will not move until the water temp starts dropping. Most are going hunting this weekend so it will not be as crowded as normal. We are going to be test fishing some new baits this fall and hope to discover the new secret bait. Take care and see you on the water.

Charlie