Good Day on the Columbia

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RamFan503

Grill and Brew Master
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Joined
Jun 24, 2010
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36,473
Name
Stu
I own a restaurant and small brewery so I don't get out much to do the things I love like hunting and fishing. However, yesterday, I was able to go out with a couple buddies and fish the mouth of the Columbia for Salmon. Caught a nice Coho then an even nicer King. Took about 15 minutes to get the King in the boat after several nice runs, jumps, and a couple misses with the net. The rest of the day was just a boat ride with beers.

Stu with Salmon 2.jpg
Stu with Salmon 3.jpg
Stu with Salmon.jpg
 
Sounds like a nice day on the water, the fish look awesome.

Nice touch with the 9.9 next to what looks like a brand new Mercruiser 115
 
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Nice touch with the 9.9 next to what looks like a brand new Mercruiser 115
Yeah - my buddy just had that Merc installed. The 9.9 is what we refer to as a kicker motor. It generally only gets used for trolling. Cracks me up that the thing is called a 9.9. They technically call it a 9.9 HP motor because most states have adopted 10 HP as the limit on when you need a boater's license. Under 10 you don't need one.
 
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Yeah - my buddy just had that Merc installed. The 9.9 is what we refer to as a kicker motor. It generally only gets used for trolling. Cracks me up that the thing is called a 9.9. They technically call it a 9.9 HP motor because most states have adopted 10 HP as the limit on when you need a boater's license. Under 10 you don't need one.
Ahhh....trolling. Yeah I guess on a river with heavy flow like the Columbia your typical electric Minn Kota might be a little challenged. lol. Lots o lakes have a 10 hp rule which has alot to do with registration fees as well. The lake I lived on though that had a 19HP cutoff where anything bigger paid almost twice the fee. It was actually in print. 19HP. Not 20, but 19. Money grabbing basterdz lol
 
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Lets see that meat after you get those babies cleaned up.......I bet they are going to be DELICIOUS!!!
 
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Where's your business? I get down to Portland now and then. I live in Sequim on the Strait of San Juan de Fuca.
 
Nice. It's good for a working man to do some pleasure activities.
 
I'm glad to see somebody's catching fish! I'm still in lock down mode after my surgery. We're having a tropical storm come through on Monday, and next weekend is a holiday weekend. Seas should be calmed down by the weekend I said to my wife yesterday. She looked at me and said "not for you they won't be". :(

So yeah,,, thanks for posting these pics. If I can't catch em... I love seeing others have a great day doing it!

I bet the fresh salmon is sooooo good. I cook a bunch of it... but of course I can't get it fresh like that down here. How will you prepare it?
 
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Lets see that meat after you get those babies cleaned up.......I bet they are going to be DELICIOUS!!!
Yep. See picture below. Didn't take many pics after fileting though.

Where's your business? I get down to Portland now and then. I live in Sequim on the Strait of San Juan de Fuca.
We are actually out on the central coast of Oregon. I used to live in the Portland area for several years but moved when we opened our restaurant near Newport.

How will you prepare it?
Here's one pic we took. I lightly salted the Coho roe and let it brine for a couple days then I sliced some of the belly meat from the King real thin and drizzled a little sushi sauce (essentially sweet, thick soy sauce) and rolled some of the roe inside the salmon, seasoned lightly with chipotle, and baked it. OMG it was good.

Of course my wife and I really love Ikura (salmon roe) when we go out to sushi. If you don't like that then you might not like this. But it was pure silkiness inside amazing fresh salmon.
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Yesterday, we simply sprinkled a little of our Chipotle Rub on it and broiled it. Hard to beat fresh broiled salmon on the skin.

The rest we will be smoking. It's on my brine right now.
 
Funny. when I was in FL I was asked twice if I was him. Not all that close if you ask me but it was fun letting them think it for a sec.
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Funny. when I was in FL I was asked twice if I was him. Not all that close if you ask me but it was fun letting them think it for a sec.
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hmmmm...

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I'm not sure we've ever seen the two of you in the same room at the same time either now that you mention it....
 
Looks like you had a fantastic time. Those are some amazing fish!
 
That is AWESOME!! Man, I wish I had good fishing like that closer to me. Last time I salmon fished was on the Kenai river in Alaska 20 years ago. We ran out of food as that was the last stop on our 7 day trip so we literally NEEDED to catch something or starve, haha. Needless to say, that red salmon was the best I ever tasted. From floppin to plate in 5 mins.
 
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When's Sturgeon season on the Columbia? I've always wanted to head out to Portland (my girlfriend's home town) and catch a trophy Sturgeon.
 
You look a lot like Fish!

And you catch a helluva fish. I grill salmon all the time - but not fresh out of the Columbia. Damn that sounds so good right now.
 
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When's Sturgeon season on the Columbia? I've always wanted to head out to Portland (my girlfriend's home town) and catch a trophy Sturgeon.
I don't know if there IS a season. I think it is whenever weather permits. There may be some closures around breeding season or something. The only way you can catch a trophy Sturgeon anymore is if you bring him to the shore or boat and release it. Still would certainly be cool as long as you got some good pictures. I haven't been Sturgeon fishing in years but one of the guys on our boat caught an 11 footer on that trip. The thing looked like a dinosaur - probably weighed north of 800 pounds. By far the biggest fish I've ever seen caught. We followed it around for over an hour and then it just kind of surfaced next to the boat. He snapped a few pics, pulled the hook and away it went.

BTW - we have sturgeon in the river that runs by our restaurant. I keep meaning to get out and fish for them but haven't.
 
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I don't know if there IS a season. I think it is whenever weather permits. There may be some closures around breeding season or something. The only way you can catch a trophy Sturgeon anymore is if you bring him to the shore or boat and release it. Still would certainly be cool as long as you got some good pictures. I haven't been Sturgeon fishing in years but one of the guys on our boat caught an 11 footer on that trip. The thing looked like a dinosaur - probably weighed north of 800 pounds. By far the biggest fish I've ever seen caught. We followed it around for over an hour and then it just kind of surfaced next to the boat. He snapped a few pics, pulled the hook and away it went.

BTW - we have sturgeon in the river that runs by our restaurant. I keep meaning to get out and fish for them but haven't.

I mostly catch and release anyway, so it wouldn't bother me to let him go. Wish we had them near here. There are Sturgeon in the Mississippi, but I believe they are endangered.