Along with smallmouth fishing I have had some time to target our big fall run of Chinook out here on the Snake. I finally caught some this year but it was by far no comparison to the Hanford catches seen for 2014. I really wanted to hit Hanford but was weary of the crowds and free flowing river. I fished for Chinook from the last two weeks of September to the beginning of October, mostly at Lyon's Ferry but also two trips to the Clearwater Confluence up by Lewiston/Clarkston.

Brad's cut plug super bait in Mountain Doo trolled behind a modified green hot spot flasher was the ticket for me this year. Trolled behind 8lb balls on the downriggers. 10 to 25 feet of wire. Final tally was four hatchery adults (10 to 12 lbs) one hatchery jack kept, seven wild fish released with two 15 lbs or larger, and more jacks and mini jacks on/off than I can count. That is the downside to fishing the Snake compared to the big Columbia- you have to release all the wilds here and some hatchery origin are unmarked. They are still fun to catch though!

Here at Lyon's Ferry the bite really shifted to jacks towards the end of my fishing (first week of October). Keepers came on 9/21, 9/24, 9/26, and 9/28. Bite seemed to turn on when the water hit 65 degrees and when those jacks were in it was hard to keep them off the line. I would hook 6 or 7 with each night of fishing, and only one night did I hook into a true adult sized fish in October. Someone in a boat told me Thursday (10/23) that they hooked 4 adult salmon... not sure if I'm buying it but if they did that is great! Also got a report that day the steelhead bite was good.

Lots of guys jig right outside the hatchery for Chinook with flat lead jig types. I tried a couple times with no luck. One day I caught a keeper there was a boat of five people (inside the 400' boundary I might add). They must of hooked 10 fish and landed 4 keepers while I was jigging and watching them. Switched to trolling and had my fish on almost instantly. It could of been better, it could of been worse. Was happy to get my first salmon in the Smokercraft as this was a goal of mine for the year. Tight lines all

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