Anglers can look forward to one of the best returns of chinook salmon in several years when the fall fishing season gets under way Aug. 1 on the Columbia River.

Fisheries managers are forecasting a return of 655,000 adult fall chinook this year, which is up from a return of 429,000 chinook last year. If the run materializes as expected, it would be the largest fall chinook return since 2004.

The first booth I stopped at when I walked in the doors to ICAST was one that I returned to at least twice a day for the rest of the show.  Precision-Pak manufactures a variety of fishing gear organization products, and many of those are made just for kayaks and kayak anglers.

The Cape Disappointment Dungie Tournament & Crab feast

Date: July 24th
Location: Waikiki Beach (Cape Disappointment, WA)
Tourney times: 6AM launch 12PM weigh in
12 crab limit with a minimum size limit of 5 3/4" (Dungeness)
Entry fee: $20 per team
Prizes: Folding crab traps and accessories from Promar

Just as their name suggests, these tools come back to you.  Since ICAST 2008, Boomerang Tool has been in the New Product Showcase with new and innovated tools with their own Boomerang Tool twist - 36 inches of retractable kevlar cable leashes.

Boomerang's lightweight aluminum pliers also feature replaceable carbide cutting blades which have no problems cutting 4# mono or 65# braid - not to mention wire ties.  The pliers I have also feature crimps for putting together the large lines, and a hooked nose I found useful when removing hooks from fish, and helped with split rings when I didn't have my split ring pliers handy. They have several different sets of pliers to suit your needs.

I've been running to PC whenever the surf is down enough for me to launch. I just love the fishing out there - anyone could really do it...

This time I brought a crab pot with me. I've never tried crabbing out there before, but I usually see one other crab buoy, so I figured I'd give it a go. I just took the one pot (oregon limits 3 pots/person) just so I didn't have to worry about all the extra gear for nothing.

Since I've been getting ready for the 3rd annual Oregon Rockfish Classic this weekend, I thought it would be a good time to show you a bit of what goes on with me when getting ready for this type of event.  There's some variation with other tournaments, mostly in regards to tackle, so it's not that big of a difference.

The Oregon Rockfish Classic was born as a fishing trip.

In Pacific City, Oregon, less than a dozen kayak anglers met up on Sept 20th, 2008.  From throughout Oregon and Washington, they came to fish what some called the Oregon Coast Derby.  Others called it the Pacific City Kayak Fishing Classic.  There were a couple prizes to be had, but fishing was the main call.  Pacific City is one of the easiest surf launches because it is fairly well protected.  That's not to say there weren't some spills though.

Sorry it's taken so long for this report to come through.  Life's been crazy busy, but I've been on the water regularly.  So, how about some updates!

Weather had calmed down and allowed for a couple weeks of good saltwater fishing - just enough for everyone to get a hit, and now wanting more. If you could get out far enough, halibut was doing very well, so that was most up for the charter boat guys.  Those of us in kayaks found greenling (sea trout), rockfish, and lingcod all very active and hitting all sorts of baits.  There's a great single day fishing report in the forums.

Let me start the scene from my point of view:

 For those who do not know, I live in the PacNW.  I haven't traveled a whole lot.  I've never been to the places I've found myself this weekend (Kentucky, Indiana, Tennessee, Georgia, or Alabama, in that order).  I had never met Mark, Adam or anyone else on this forum or in the tournament.  I was very much the stranger in a seemingly lost world.

Slowly but surely the Spring Chinook season is picking up.  This is the first week in several that I've not been able to get on the water, and I'm dieing to be in the mix now.

Until monday, most anglers have been targetting the Willamette River because permanant regulations allow for salmon fishing 7 days a week.  Angler efforts have picked up daily.  One day I was out in my kayak trolling along with 8 other boats, the next day it was 12 other boats.  A week later I saw 24 boats.  Some trolling, some on the hook.