Buoy 10 Fishing in Astoria Oregon
Buoy 10 is that time of the year that Columbia river fishing guides dream of. Buoy 10 is an area that is near the mouth of the Columbia River. Every year in August our fall Chinook Salmon begin their migration up the Columbia. Fishing Buoy 10 is special, the fish are all just hours out of the ocean and are as fresh as they possibly can be. Coho Salmon also start making their way into the river at this time as well. There are plenty of fish around and they are hungry! This area is beautiful and offers plenty of good times on and off the water. This fishery Starts in early August and will be good all the way through the middle of September. I offer trips for up to 6 customers for the Buoy 10 fishery. At the end of the day I will fillet and bag your catch for your convenience.
Chinook Salmon at Buoy 10
Buoy 10 offers some of the best Chinook Salmon fishing anywhere in the world. Chinook salmon typically range from 15 to 35 pounds and put up a heck of a fight! Chinook make great table fare and are by far the biggest of the Columbia river salmon. The Buoy 10 area is very close to the ocean. The Salmon are looking to feed in this part of the river so trolling bait is the most popular technique to catch these awesome fish. We typically troll herring or anchovies behind an inline flasher and the fish love it! Chinook can be caught in deep water in this fishery, oftentimes in water 70 feet and deeper. In this deep water you may find yourself fishing suspended. Sometimes only dropping your offering 30 feet down to catch the fish. On days where currents are fast you can also find fish in as shallow as 6 to 7 feet of water. The fish get pushed up on shallow sandbars chasing bait with the ripping currents. This is very exciting fishing all around. The limit for salmon at Buoy 10 is one Chinook Salmon and one coho per day.
Coho Salmon at Buoy 10
Coho Salmon fishing at Buoy 10 is fast paced and very exciting. Columbia River Coho are not known for being huge however they fight very hard and are very abundant. An average Coho will be from 4 to 8 pounds with big ones being 14 pounds and bigger! Coho are very aggressive and eat a lot of anchovies and herring. This makes fishing bait very effective when Coho fishing. Just like fishing for Chinook we fish either herring or anchovies behind inline flashers for Coho salmon. You can sometimes catch Coho salmon in the same places you would fish for Chinook salmon. But more times than not we target Coho shallower in the water column. This means that in 30 feet of water you may only be fishing 10 to 12 feet down. Coho tend to hang out and feed a lot closer to the surface than Chinook do. To harvest a Coho salmon at Buoy 10 the fish must be a hatchery fish. This is indicated by a adipose fin clip from the hatchery the fish was born at. You can keep 2 adult hatchery Coho per day at Buoy 10 or you can keep one Chinook salmon and one hatchery coho!
Sturgeon Fishing at Buoy 10
Buoy 10 is one of the premier sturgeon fisheries in the whole pacific northwest. This fishery is often overlooked when it comes to Sturgeon fishing. In the summer sturgeon make their way down to this portion of the Columbia to feed. Their feed consists of herring, anchovies, clams, mussels, and sand shrimp. Catch days for sturgeon in this area can be absolutely insane with many days landing over 50 sturgeon. This is a catch and release fishery but it is well worth the trip to experience fishing like this! We anchor up fishing for sturgeon, often anchoring in water 50 foot and deeper or 10 foot and shallower depending on the day. Sturgeon are bottom feeders so bait is thrown on the bottom to entice the fish into biting! After a hard hookset the fight is on, get ready for sore arms and a tired back Sturgeon fishing is no joke!