Sandy River Chinook

I went to bed last night thinking there was no way I was going fishing in the morning.  Sandy flows were pushing well above 3000 and my last experience at that rate left me with no fish and telling myself I'll stick with the mid-2000 cfs.  Then I woke up and as the clock crept up on 9 a.m. and J taking the girls to a birthday party, I decided I might as well give it a shot...and I'm so glad I did.

I launched at Dodge Park and was ready to fish for both Chinook, with a bobber setup which included two-day old sand shrimp and week old eggs, and spey fly fish.  I had tied a few Metal Detector flies (orange/red) earlier in the week and was ready to fish a few steelhead runs if I had the time.  Really, the plan when I left the house was to just pass up the normal good runs and see if I could just get a good workout in, believing that the fishing would not be good due to the high flows.

I rigged up my old tripod with my Nikon D90 camera and strapped it in front of me, attaching to the foot rest in the cataraft.  It wasn't all that stable but did the job.  I video taped the Dodge to Pipeline run and it was as exciting as always.  At Pipeline, I normally try to hug the left rocks but this morning the flows were pushing hard so I ended up a bit more right which added to the thrill and pushed some water over the tubes.

My Video - Sandy River Dodge Park Ramp to Pipeline

Down stream through the next riffle is perhaps the most beautifully scenic location on the river, if not in the entire region.   The first time I floated this section in February it literally reminded me of Pandora in the movie Avatar.  There are 40 foot rock walls with trees hanging over the water from above.  There is one spot I always look forward to and that's where you can see the background riffle that is highlighted by a back eddy and rock wall that bends to the left.

I was amazed that nobody was at this location as it's one of the most fished sections along the entire run.  This morning's high flow rate probably kept folks at home.  I parked the cataraft and on my second cast (bobber egg/sand shrimp) the bobber pulled down slowly a couple of times.  Now, this was one of those experiences, that come around once in a while, when you're fishing alone and realize a special catch is upon you - causing you to search the banks for others to share in the experience, knowing that nobody is there. 

This was a strong, powerful fish.  It took me a good 15 minutes to land this 25 pound (maybe 30) native Chinook. 

Native Chinook Salmon

After taking the photo I released him back into the Sandy.  I was impressed how fast he recovered, basically resting for a few seconds and then swam off.  A few minutes later the caretaker of the private property that surrounds the area arrived to fish.  We had a good conversation about the river and he seemed interested in keeping it a quality place.

Could this be the real Pandora?

 

After fishing another hour I floated down to the first fly fishing run and stopped by a beautiful waterfall for a quick photo.  

Avatar's Pandora

The "fly run" (I'm sure there is an official name for this great stretch) was a bit disappointing because here is where I could really feel the high flow rate and it made great water only average water.  The wind also picked up so it was a brief stop before heading down the the Blue Hole.  On the way I saw a beautiful Bald Eagle.  I only fished the Blue Hole a few minutes after losing a rig and wanting to go down the the next hole which, again, I'm sure there is a name for but I just call it the hole by the big rock wall.

So, at this "big rock wall" hole I again tried my luck with the bobber and on the third cast, near the seam to the main flow, I hooked into another fish.  I thought at first that this was a steelhead as he felt substantially smaller than the day's previous fish.  It only took a few minutes to land and to my surprise it was another "springer" as indicated by it's dark lower jaw - and this time a fin-clipped fish.

Spring Chinook Hatchery Fish

The rest of the day was wet and the flows increased a bunch.  I somehow managed to break the salmon rod I caught these fish on (not paying attention when I was crawling over the cataraft's front bench).  That really didn't damper my spirits after a terrific day that I wasn't planning on.  I'll cook up the "springer" for tomorrow night's supper.