We launched my boat at 6am this morning at Willamette Park near downtown Portland. The launch was busier than expected but we quickly got our gear setup and started trolling toward the Spaghetti Factory. I brought green and red label herring in addition to spinners and Brad’s superbait. We elected to use triangle flashers with 48 inch leaders rigged with whole red label herring. After making a couple of passes through the Spaghetti Factory stretch we didn’t see any fish caught. I decided to drop down to the Ross Island bridge to fish suspended in the deep water. Starting from the Southwest side of the river we trolled straight across to the East side where the takedown happened. Here’s how the fish was caught:
- Depth: 28 feet of water – 24 feet of line on counter (fishing suspended)
- Weight: 8 oz
- Bait: Whole red label herring
- Flasher: Sweet Abby
- Leader: 4/0, 3/0 hooks, 48 inch
- Trolling speed: 1.75 mph SOG
- Salt & bottled water brine with “Bluing”
- No scent used
We landed the fish after an extended battle (see the video below) which was unmarked so we quickly released it unharmed. The hooks had popped out while in the net. We saw one other fish caught about 50 feet away and a fish lost on the Southwest side of the river. After trolling in that area for an hour we didn’t see another fish caught. We journeyed through downtown Portland where I ran into some long time fishing friends, John and Diane. They had just caught a fish near the Steel bridge. I can’t tell you how happy I was for them. The bite near the Steel bridge wasn’t much better than what we observed at Ross Island. After making a few passes we trolled to Gunderson in the Swan Island Basin. We didn’t see a fish caught the rest of the day. I had friends fishing in all parts of the river today and they felt it was very slow. Let’s hope the bite is on tomorrow. Tight Lines.
Fishing With David Pyle 
Thank you 🙏
Don
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