Columbia River Guided Fishing Trips

Columbia River Salmon Fishing

Columbia River Salmon fishing is some of the best in the world and without a doubt the greatest angling attraction on the Columbia River. For folks that don’t get to Alaska, fishing in Washington and Oregon on the Columbia is closest to an Alaskan adventure. There are 5 different Salmon runs on the Columbia and over a million fish that return to the Columbia’s tributaries. Chinook Salmon, Sockeye Salmon, Coho/Silver Salmon provide anglers with plenty of opportunity throughout much of the calendar year. Our guides fish Buoy 10, Wind River, Drano Lake, Hanford Reach, and John Day.

Columbia River Spring Chinook

The Columbia River Springer is some of the best tasting salmon in the world. These fish are excellent on the BBQ and have the perfect amount of fat content. On our Columbia River guided fishing trips we fish above the Bonneville Dam in the Drano Lake – Wind River section of the Columbia. The town of The Dalles, Oregon provides anglers with lodging choices and camping close by. The season typically starts in April and can run through the middle of May. Once the Columbia closes in this section, we move to the Clearwater river in Idaho for some of these same fish.

Columbia River Fall Chinook

Buoy 10 – Astoria Oregon has the most popular Salmon fishing in the Lower 48. The cool fishing town of Astoria Oregon has a cool vibe that is not just for the Salmon angler but families alike. The Buoy 10 fishery is considered legendary and very limited to a 1-month season. Hundreds of thousands and upward to a million Salmon enter the mouth of the Columbia and will provide anglers ample opportunities at fish in the 40-50 lb. range. This is a tidal fishery and requires experienced boat captains to navigate the tricky waters of the Buoy 10 area. The fishing is epic and we have 3 Stott’s Fishing guides that make Astoria their home for the month of August. Once the Buoy 10 fishery closes, our guides will head to the Hanford Reach to fish the last free flowing stretch of the Columbia river for our “Upriver Brights” fishing.

Columbia River Sturgeon

Columbia River has one of the largest, population of sturgeon in the world. Sturgeon fishing on the Columbia is a year around fishery but heavily regulated to the seasons that allow you to keep sturgeon. Catch and release is always available and if the keeper season starts in January. There is a slot of 43 to 54 inches, tip to fork and a 1 fish daily limit with a 2 fish annually. The Columbia river sturgeon are stereo typed into 3 different classifications. Shakers are considered undersized sturgeon which are very abundant throughout the river, slot is the keeper sturgeon that falls into the slot size set by fish and game, Oversize is the river monster that can weight in the 400 lb. class. This fish can take up to an hour or so to land and has enough fight for your entire group.

Combine Trophy Sturgeon with Walleye

There are days that we hook 20-30 sturgeon which really is some world class fishing. Depending on time of year, combining some walleye fishing to your sturgeon trip is a bonus! We mainly fish between Bonneville and McNary Dam in the McNary and John Day Pool but will venture up in the Wallula Gap that has some incredible fishing as well. Lodging is nearby Tri Cities Washington and Hermiston Oregon, both have excellent hotel choices.

Columbia River Walleye Fishing

The Columbia River walleye fishing has vastly put itself on the map for holding trophy sized walleye. In fact, they are predicting the new World record will come from the Columbia with a 20.9 lb. fish already being recorded. We fish 12 months out of the year for walleye and each season offers us a little different style. Starting in the spring, we’ll focus on targeting the big gals that roam the Lake Wallula, Lake Umatilla sections of the Columbia. In late January, walleye will start moving toward their spawning grounds and feeding up in the shallows making them more vulnerable to our baits. Trolling crankbaits and casting blade baits is our preferred spring season go to! Summer and fall is all about numbers with an occasional big fish. Once the spawn is over, we catch more males and the fish seemed to be schooled up. Casting jigs and blades is super effective along with pulling worm harnesses when needing to slow down.

Chasing Walleye on the Columbia

The Columbia has fluctuating water flows and plays a big part on our Columbia River guided fishing trips. We’ll chase walleye starting from Vernita Bridge up to the Priest Rapids Dam and down river to the Hanford Reach area. Our 2 biggest sections of the Columbia we fish are the Lake Wallula pool around Tri Cities and the Umatilla Pool from below the McNary Dam down through Irrigon, Boardman, Patterson and Crow Butte. The John Day pool can be excellent for summer fishing as well. Although there is no limit to our walleye, we do ask that our anglers release the larger female breeders. We will be happy to take measurements and plenty of pics of your fish to take to your local taxidermists.