Spring Chinook Heat Up on the Columbia: Early Morning Tactics and Hot Spots

Hey folks, Artificial Lure here, your go-to guy for Columbia River angling around Portland. It's early morning on this fine spring day, tides from Vancouver charts showing high at 3:41am at 1'1", dropping to a killer low of -0'3" at 9:59am, then high again 2:32pm at 1'0", and night low -1'0" at 11:18pm. Sunrise hit at 6:58am, sunset's 7:34pm—plenty of daylight to chase these bitin' fish.

Weather's typical March cool, layer up as the river chills early. Spring Chinook are heatin' up big time, per yesterday's Portland river report—anglers pullin' nice keepers from the lower river. Schools are smaller but feisty, best action early mornin' and late afternoons, accordin' to Fast Action Fishing guides. We've seen steady catches of those bright springers, some coho showin' early too, limits posted in the Multnomah Channel and Willamette stretch.

For lures, spin-n-glows in chartreuse or pink with a yarn tie-down are killin' it—troll 'em slow at 1.5-2 mph. Best bait? Fresh cured chinook eggs or sardine-wrapped Kwikfish divers. Hit the outgoing tide hard for aggressive strikes.

Hot spots? Bonneville tailrace for numbers, and try the Washougal mouth—fish stackin' there. Grab your Oregon license, rig up, and get out before the crowds.

Thanks for tunin' in, folks—subscribe for more reports! This has been a Quiet Please production, for more check out quietplease.ai.

Great deals on fishing gear https://amzn.to/44gt1Pn

This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI