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Website: Darrell & Dads Family Guide Service

Phone: (509) 687-0709

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11 - Vernita Bridge to Priest Rapids Dam Report
Washington

Photos

Details

10/18/2014
71° - 75°
Trolling W/Downriggers
Chinook Salmon
Other
Red
Mostly Sunny
Flatfish
All Day
61° - 65°
10/31/2014
4
2406

Sorry about the late report. I had some minor, or not so minor, skin surgery just below my eyelid. They ended up having to do reconstructive surgery and a skin graft. Are we having fun yet? Thankfully they got all of it.

Anyway back to the subject....fishing! We made a last trip to the Reach before it closed on the 22nd of October. We fished Saturday the 18th and Sunday the 19th. The water was low and the Vernita launch was a bit of a challenge. I saw some trucks in up to the door sills to get their boats off the trailer...too much fun but hey catching Kings is worth the launch hassel, right?

Caught the fish shown on Saturday mid morning. It took a Kwik fish K15 in Red Tiger with a tuna wrap back trolling. What a fish, it jumped vertically and cleared the water 4' with it's tail; not once but twice! Put on quite a show for our fellow fishermen who were close enough to see it. Finally got it in the net.

Started fishing Sunday with the same set up as the day before...no luck. Not many showing on the sonar either. Many boats started leaving around noon as I'm sure Monday work was calling. We put a 1:00 PM departure on us and kept fishing. I put on a Brad's K14 Killer Fish with a chartreuse bill, chrome body and red tail wrapped with sardine. Started marking fish around 1 pm so we stayed a while longer. I'm sure glad we did. Landed four fish by 2:00, three adults and one jack. What a great way to finish off the fall season! Many thanks to friend Tom for making this a great trip.

I'm healing up so it's about time to head for Roosevelt; reports to come - Alan


Comments

BentRod
10/31/2014 12:56:00 PM
Nice fish!
romanfishing
10/31/2014 3:20:00 PM
What about meat quality of such old fish?
downriggeral
10/31/2014 9:41:00 PM
Thanks BentRod.
romanfishing - The meat was firm and pale. We did catch one hen that was in better shape and slightly pink in the meat. These are definitely headed for the smoker. There is a huge difference in the quality of the fish at the Reach versus the fish we catch at the mouth of the Deschutes. Most of our Chinook effort is put in the Deschutes area for that reason.
hooksetjou
10/31/2014 10:57:00 PM
What a beauty!
Fishman_Kuzan
11/1/2014 10:00:00 PM
Nice fish Al! Hope to get at some of those next year, hope the recovery is going well.
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Available Guide

Available Fishing Guide:
Website: Darrell & Dads Family Guide Service

Phone: (509) 687-0709