Columbia River Chinook Salmon Fishing Portland Oregon

Columbia River Chinook Salmon Fishing in Portland, Oregon, in April 2024.

I arrived at the boat ramp at 3am. I was waiting for my clients to arrive at 6:30 am, and they arrived exactly as planned. We left the boat ramp and started to head upstream on the Columbia River.

I went approximately 2 miles and stared, trolling down the river towards the I-5 bridge. Our lines were in the water for about 5 minutes, and we got hooked up! It was a 15-pound native Chinook salmon. Oregon and Washington do not allow you to keep native Chinook salmon in the spring.

We trolled down to the I5 bridge, and we reeled our lines up. Then we headed back upstream to do the troll all over again. This time trolling down, we had nothing not even a bite. But that’s fishing.

Then we did the troll all over again, this time with some success. We reeled in 2 keeper salmon. 12 and 16 lb’er. The father and son were very thrilled!

We fished till about 2:30 pm and we caught another fish but it was a native chinook salmon.

But it was still a very good day for fishing . I for sure will see this father and son on future trips fishing for Sturgeon.

This post will be updated in 2024 Marvin has a new 27 foot Alumaweld boat

Marvin’s Guide service also offers Walley trips in the spring.

Read more about Columbia River salmon fishing here.