Wow Sturgeon, Salmon Equipment

Good Morning from Seaside and the North Oregon Coast!!

Fishing for Sturgeon on the lower Columbia River is in full swing. Great numbers of fresh ocean Sturgeon are arriving daily and are providing plenty of bent rods for anglers on both the Oregon and Washington sides of the river.

Currently Sand Shrimp and Fresh Anchovies are the go to baits but in areas where crab and bulhead are a problem we are seeing good results with Squid and Smelt.

Our suggestion for catching is GO FISHING! Hire a guide, charter or team with your fishing buddies and get out there from now until July 4th when the season closes.

Make sure that if your not experienced or do not have a boat that is suitable for the lower Columbias mighty currents and afternoon winds do not play cowboy on this piece of water. Hire someone or just do not go.

Now as with any fishing there has been periods each day when the bite goes off and the bite slooooows down. We move on a regular basis to first find fish and then once found if they are not biting make sure you try a good Sturgeon Scent. Pautzke's Gel and Liquid Krill is a great place to Start!!

Equipment we use for Sturgeon on the Lower Columbia River.

Quantum Rods and Reels. The Cold Water 9' 15-50 matched with the Blue Runner line counter are a great combo. We like at least 350+ line capacity as when fishing the shallow water these fish can make some huge runs looking for the safety of deep water.

Sufix 50lb Gold Braid is our main line and we load about 200 yards backed by another 150 years of Dacron. Then Sufix 80 pound leader with a 4/0 Gamakatsu Barbless does the trick. We suggest the smooth small Sufix (the only round braided line avaialble) for leader because when fishing shrimp it does not make a huge hole when fishing it.

Pautzke's Gel and Liquid Krill is a big part of our fishing operation. We first take the Gel Krill and add Anise oil to regularly rub into our hands for covering scent. We then also take the Gel and coat our leaders and several feet of the braided line regularly to add additional scent in to the water. The Liquid Krill is added with FISH SAUCE and sprayed onto most baits again for additional scent. So Pautzke's is something you do not leave the dock without!! Hey Pautzke's; Don't Leave the Dock Without It!!

Last but not least we have been using Pro Troll's E-Chip on three of our lines and three without to test the effectivness. We are into the first two weeks of this test and will continue until the end of the season. While fishing has been good we are seeing two trends. we are catching about 2-1 on the E-Chip rods and we are getting harder more agressive bites. While we still need more time to play with the test we already know that adding E-Chips to your leaders or main line cannot hurt and for me no doubt will help. Go to your favorite Tackle outlet and ask them if they have or if they will order you E-Chips from Pro-Troll!!

Ocean Salmon is opening July 1st!!

We will give you reports once we start fishing the ocean for Salmon and it is expected to be a good Coho season, but we want to mention the new exciting equipment and tackle we are planning to use in the ocean this season.

Quantum Rods & Reels again lead the way with us using the 9' 15-50 for trolling divers (best all around rod for the Northwest) the same in 12-25 for down riggers. The new Quantum Line counter reels along with the Blue Runner Line Counters.

Pautzke's ( don't leave the dock without it) Natural Fire Cure and Yellow Nectar along with Gel and Liquid Krill.

Sufix 30 pound Siege in smoke green Sufix 40lb Flourocarbon leaders.

Pro-Troll: Sting kings with E-Chip and Pro Troll Rotory Bait Holders with E-Chips!

Humminbird: New Sonar GPS unit will be installed and we are very excited about this new piece of equipment to our boats!

Dee's Diamond Flashers: We are very excited to know be using Only these flashers in our boats. These flashers are tough, have great flash and are equiped with Stainless, Ball Bearing swivels! It is great not to have to buy a flasher and then have to change the hardwear before you fish it.

Well remember we are now booking Summer Ocean Salmon, Catch & Release Sturgeon (awesome fishing) and Buoy 10 Salmon.

www.fishingwithval.com

fishingwithval@msn.com

866-738-6991