Johns River Fall Chinook

This fishery is located in the Grays Harbor (Chehalis River) estuary. The salmon season usually opens about mid September. There could be non retention of any Chinook in this area as returning wild fish have declined in recent years. So depending on the WDFW's forecast for returning wild Chinook for that particular year, look at the fishing regs. before you grab your rod & head out.

For WDFW purposes, the area we are discussing here is Marine Area 2.2, which is east of buoy #13 between Westport & Ocean Shores, upriver to the Hiway 101 bridge at Aberdeen.   It is accessible from at least 3 or 4 decent launches, listed are, starting at the downriver one first.
            (1) Westport launch --Port of Grays Harbor
            (2) Johns River launch WDFW
            (3) 28th Street Boat Launch -- Port of Grays Harbor
            (4) Wal-Mart Launch -- (not recommended)
            (5) Ocean Shores

Westport launch: It would probably be best for the larger boats to launch at Westport, as at Johns River, the ramp is OK even at a low tide but getting out that channel in a deeper draft boat may be a problem. The launch at Westport is next to the Coast Guard Station, go north from the stoplight on N Montesano Street, (the main street leading to the dock area) then at the Hungry Whale gas station/bait shop at the intersection of Wilson Ave., take a right heading east to its end. The parking lot will be on the right, with the launch straight ahead.

This is a good 2 lane blacktop ramp with docks, and another ramp on the north of the north dock that is not paved as far down, but still very usable. The launch fee is $5.00. There is plenty of paved & gravel parking available adjacent & to the south .

Johns River launch: This launch is on south side of the Johns River, just upriver just east of the concrete bridge at Markham. Johns River empties into the Chehalis River in Grays Harbor. Coming from Aberdeen, at Markham, & the Ocean Spray Cranberry plant, you cross the bridge & then take the next road to the left (Johns River road), which is a short tie-in road to the old hiway which parallels the newer road you just left. There will be a "Public Fishing" sign at this intersection & then again where this road intersects with the old hiway. This will take you back & down a hill to the river & the Johns River Recreation Area & the WDFW launch. There are restrooms & a small parking lot at the launch with a large overflow parking field to the south & adjacent to the launch area.

After launching you need to go downstream under the bridge, & when entering the bay you will have to stay to the right near where a few boats are docked & then still stay to the right & the NW into the bay. It is easy to see the channel at low tide, but once the mud flats are flooded becomes a different matter. You need to run about a mile out a narrow shallow (5 ft deep at low tide) channel to reach the fishing area. There are marker piling & usually hemlock poles pushed into the bottom to mark the channel out to the west channel with piling on the east side before it enters the Chehalis. A car-topper boat could be fished here if you launched from this launch, as you are coming into the upriver fishing area from the East & with a shorter run & less exposure if the wind picks up.

Johns River at about a 0.0 Tide, with still some ramp left	Ocean Spray cranberry plant with the Johns River launch in the foreground, looking downstream & then out into bay

28th Street Boat Launch: This launch is in East Hoquiam, and will be on the upper-most section of this fishing area. It is operated by the Port of Grays Harbor. Go West on Simpson or Wishkah Ave, take a left at 28th Street; follow it less than 1/2 mile to the parking area & boat ramp. It is a good 2 lane concrete launch with dock. It has a protective upstream log breakwater. The parking lot is limited, but you can park along the north side of the road leading into launch & the port has an overflow lot close by. The Hoquiam River empties into the Chehalis River just downstream from this launch. No restrooms however.

Wall Mart Boat Launch: This launch is situated immediately downstream (west) from the Wall-Mart parking lot, but is not accessible from that lot. You have to go past the gas pumps & take a immediate left. It appears to not be used to any degree. This launch is a 4 wheel drive show only & then for a small boat, in that the gravel appears to be not packed & loose creating possible tire spinning as shown in the photo below on the left. At the same time it is probably only a higher tide launch than most fisherpersons prefer. Also the upper portion of it usually covered with debris from ranging from smaller sticks to larger logs that may have to be moved in order to use it. This picture was taken 12-08-05 & shows a Quinault Indian gill net in the left photo.

Wall-Mart launch in Aberdeen shown between the concrete slabs	Wall-Mart launch at a +3' tide showing lower end of launch & drop-off

Ocean Shores Boat Launch: For those that may be staying on the north side of the bay, his launch is the place to depart from. I have not been there for years, but at one time not so long ago the boat basin was sanded in & care was needed if it was accessed at a low tide. For current info I would suggest you try to contact the harbormaster or someone currently familiar with that area. I for the life of me can not see them letting it go without dredging, so it should be OK.

When you fish: Under most estuary fishing you normally will be fishing the upper half of the incoming tide, which should flush the fish into the lower estuary. Then, if these fish are committed to going upriver, they will then travel against the current on the following first part of the outgoing tide. It has been observed by some veteran fishermen in the lower reaches near Johns River that the best bite sometimes comes after the high slack & up to about 2 hours after that.

However as with many fisheries, the location & the fish sometimes write their our timetables & they can be caught on any time of the tide. This seems to be the case farther upriver near Aberdeen, as I have seen fish caught on the low outgoing tide & near the tide change also.

It also makes a difference if the weather is dry for some time, or if it has been raining. If it has been dry, then the fish tend to stack up in the bay. If it starts to rain, they will move thru & upriver rather rapidly.

Some large Chinook (40# +) are occasionally pulled from these areas when the season permits an opener. The Chinook here would probably be either the Chehalis, Satsop, Skookumchuck or Hoquiam fish.

There are different fishing areas to choose from: To get to either, from Westport, you go out of the boat basin, head left (north) to "A" buoy which is the farthest red dot to the left. The next red dot is buoy 14. Buoy 21 is in a straight line at the corner. The blue dot is the "SC" buoy, which identifies the South Channel. In this same area there are high piling with range markers for the ships to line up on heading upriver or downriver for the main shipping channel. The purple dot up the south channel is piling marker #8, where the Johns River empties into the south channel.

Buoy 13: Heading out of the Westport area from A buoy the areas split, straight on out & slightly west is buoy #13. This is the farthest LH green dot on the above chart.

This time of the year the season's western boundary is at this buoy. There is considerable fishing that takes place immediately east (upriver) from this location, as usually noticed by the concentration of boats, including some charter boats. This area can be either mooching or trolling. Water depth here will be in the 40' range .

Chehalis River or Shipping Channel: The main fishing in this channel will probably be from buoy #21 upriver to Aberdeen. You will also probably have more success by trolling the 20' line along the edges of the shipping channel. The channel is dredged to maintain 40' at low tide. The main channel bends at the range marker piling near the South Channel & runs upriver. Fishing in the main river usually will be from buoy #17 to #27 & then on to #44 & closer the the 28th St. boat launch. From the airport up to the 101 bridge is sometimes called the "north channel".

Johns River or South Channel: This area is near the mouth of the "south channel" which Johns River empties into. You will not be fishing the actual Johns River, but a portion of the Chehalis River area just off the mouth of Johns River. For this area you head out as before from the Westport launch, but instead of heading left toward the ocean at "A" buoy, you hang a right & start up the river. At low tide there will be Whitcomb Flats (sand) on your right, so you will have to follow the main shipping channel buoys up the river. From buoy "14" all the others upriver are in a straight line to the bend at buoy "21". There are large range marker piling on both sides of South Channel / Johns River entrance.

Most of the fishing is normally done either near the main shipping channel of the Chehalis near the South Channel (SC) buoy, or in the south channel itself & upstream & past the actual mouth of Johns River. Johns River empties into the south channel at it's piling marker "8" about 1/2 mile east (upstream) from where the south channel empties into the main channel. There are sand bars separating the main channel & the south channel at low tide. The south channel is smaller & shallower than the main channel & it condenses at low tide as it gets farther upriver toward Aberdeen.

Some people will fish up this south channel clear up to the water tower on the south bank hill. It gets narrower & shallow but some fish are even pulled in 8' of water. There are a few depressions in this shallow channel that hold fish. The upper section of this is usually is not fished as heavily as the rest of the river system. The good thing here is that the bottom is sand with no logs, stumps or underwater debris. The water depth is usually from 8' to 15' deep & it gets shallower & narrower as it extends upstream.

Since fishing is easier & possibly more productive in the early season if water is warm & low, the Chinook may possibly stack up here before the upriver migration. IF according to WDFW, the wild Chinook escapement level appears to not be high enough for any particular year, the whole bay, including the south channel may be closed for a few weeks early in the season in the name of conservation.

Ocean Shores Side: During this fishery many of the salmon are heading for the Humptulips River. Not many fishermen fish this side. These fish will tend to take a left & head toward the Humptulips, which takes them past the Ocean Shores marina area. There is a somewhat wide deep area (from 40-60') from here up to the Ocean Shores entrance that is fishable. The buoys here will be #1 & #3 right off the marina entrance. The channel to the Humptulips heads for Goose Island & is about 15' deep with a slot about 30' at Goose Island. Here, it may be best to fish on the incoming tide, which flushes the new fish into the river system.

Upstream near Aberdeen/Hoquiam, or North Channel: Upstream more, the fishing boundary at the start of the season is the Hiway 101 bridge across the Chehalis River in Aberdeen. The not so good Wall-Mart launch is just upstream from this bridge. The 28th Street launch is downriver about 1 mile & right in the middle of this section of the upper fishery. Most of the fishing takes place from just above the 28th St. launch to downstream near the airport. There is a newer abandoned concrete dock on the NE shore that has a deeper hole near the downstream end. Many fishermen will backtroll this hole when fishing the tide incoming. The shipping channel here where most of the fishing is done is about 45' deep. Here you do not want to fish the bottom like other areas as this area has lots of debris & WILL grab your gear.

The Method of Fishing: The preferred method seems to be trolling, one thought is to keeping your bait NEAR the bottom if fishing the south channel or on the edges of the main shipping channel. Some experienced fishermen here will troll the 20' depth line along the edges of the shipping channel with good success.

There are occasionally underwater snags in or near the shipping channel furthering the idea of not dragging bottom here & lessening the chance of hanging up. The fishermen who fish the shipping channel seem to prefer about mid-depth & slightly deeper, but off the bottom. So take your pick.

This type of fishing is shallow enough that downriggers can prove to be to much of a hassle & normally are not used.

The preferred gear usually is a standard mooching slider rig, or a sturgeon sinker slider on the mainline to which a lighter leader of about 12-18" is attached to a round sinker, with a large purple or black label cut plug herring pulled behind a medium or large Fish Flash. It appears that the best 2 colors are green/prism & red prism for either of the above. Water color his is dark & very turbid so a large attractor like the large size Fish Flash is recommended. The Port sometimes uses divers in the upper river near the docks & the word is that they can not see their hand in front of their face.

The most important aspect is to use a Sampo ball bearing swivel off the rear of each to keep leader from kinking. Some fishermen use a Les Davis crippled herring bonnet and use smaller bait that can equal the length of a large cut plug.

Use the standard estuary set-up with a slider & 12" to 16" dropper to a 6 to 10 oz sinker. Put about a dacron line of about 2" longer than the dropper between the mainline end & the fish Flash. Use enough weight to get the bait to the bottom at a line angle of 45 degrees. Most fishermen use too light a sinker. If fishing more than one aboard, but an 8 ounce for the forward fisher & an 6 oz for the rear rod.

The standard 6' leader will work, but when the water is turbid, then shorten this leader down to 48" or even 24". Also a 40-50# leader is used many times, as you are fishing shallow (10-20') & the big fish have no place to go but run, and those big Chinook can cut a 20# leader with their teeth quite easily if they are hooked deep in the throat & not in the jaw. With the turbid water here the fish are not leader shy. You may want to inject those herring with scent, to aid in attracting the fish, since the water is murky. If targeting Coho, then shorten the leader to the shorter dimensions or less. Use the Hi Vis mainline especially if there is more than one person on the boat, as this allows you to see where the lines are at all times.

The bait should be frozen herring in either blue or purple label size. In the morning before you leave, in a small insulated cooler, place the herring in 2 qt water, 3 cups rock salt, 1 cup powdered milk & 5 drops Pro Cure Bait Bright or Mrs. Stuarts Bluing as used in washing clothes. As a substitute for bait bright, simply use a blue food coloring. The salt toughens them, the powdered milk, having lactic acid sets the scales, & the blue coloring adds the iridescent blue color of a live herring.

I keep my bait in a Tupperware 2 quart refrigerator drink container (that has a large lid) that is placed inside a small cooler. This allows me to brine down the bait & then pour a sack of ice around the Tupperware container & inside the cooler. This keeps the bait cold all day long as the ice lasts for over 24 hours. When the day is over, do not throw this bait away, especially if you are going to fish again soon, just put the Tupperware container in the refrigerator. If you are going to be longer than a week, then but place them in a good sealable "zip-lock baggie", & place the brined herring, enough of the brine to cover the bait & place it in a protected place in a deep freeze. This solution is so saturated with salt that it will not freeze. When you need them again, they will be good & tough, except do not expect them to last indefinitely, as they may freezer burn or turn mushy after about 6 months.

If using a cut plug, use cutting block, & hook placement determines the roll. For blue label you need 3 1/2" between back of front hook to front eye of rear hook. Bury the larger heavy hook in the tail. Use Octopus type hooks for better hooking & KEEPING HOOKED ability. Run a size 5/0 hook in front with a 6/0 in the rear.

If you use a herring bonnet, then you can get by with the smaller green label herring.

What works best in the Grays Harbor area is a cut-plug that has a "Big Flop" spin. The Buoy 10 fishery however seems best when using the "Bullet" spin. Practice cutting herring & watching it spin. Placement of the hooks also govern the spin.

The tide difference between Aberdeen & Markham is -14 minutes. Be there 1 1/2 hrs before the high tide & prepared to fish the 1 hour before high slack, thru the slack & 1 hour after. Otherwise you will be spending much of your time removing grass off the line. If you have a high run-off the bite will usually be only at the tide change. However if the tide has a low swing, then the bite will usually last clear thru the tide & into low slack.

Tide difference farther upriver at Aberdeen is near 1 hour later than the tide book says for Westport.

Troll slow & WITH the tide. The biggest problem with experienced fishermen who now try this fishery that is new to them, is that they usually try to set the hook to soon. You want to put the rods in the rod-holders so that the rod tip is within 2-3' of the water. The fish will tap, the bait 2 to 3 times, when he does, speed the trolling motor up immediately to FAST for a while. What this does is the fish thinks the bait is getting away & he will chase & attack it. When this happens & the fish hits it hard enough to basically set the hook himself, & the rod tip will be buried in the water when the fish take offs. This is now the time to grab the rod & just pop the tip to be sure the hook is set.

For those of you who have to watch & hold the rod, many times you will not detect the dramatic hit when these Chinook pick up the herring, as they simply pick it up & follow you if that is the way they are moving, so be ever watchful of your rod tip. You may set the hook on seaweed, but then it may be a nice fish. This hand held method will miss many more fish than the above rod holder method.

Have extra rods rigged & ready, so that you do not miss any prime fishing time when the "bite" occurs & you need to be re-baited or to remove weeds.

Line angle is important to get proper lure action. You may have to change trolling speed many times as the tide & currently changes. Check the bait action when ever you are putting new bait in the water.

There is a Chinook salmon hatchery on the Satsop River, but also there are some wild fish from the other rivers that have no Chinook hatchery in the rest of the Chehalis system.

You can also pick up some Coho here if you fish the "south channel". But they can be found anywhere in the system, & you plan on targeting them, it makes more sense to look for them on the flats between buoy #25 & Ocean Shores at high tide, before they funnel into the river channels.

The one thing here, is that if the salmon have lockjaw, a well prepared fisherman could try for sturgeon. You have your choice of fishing the sand flats, or the deeper holes. The usual bait for these is either smelt or sandshrimp, however your salmon bait (herring or anchovies) can be also used

Regulations May Change: Check the WDFW regs. carefully each year as to what you are allowed to keep. It changes year to year, from no season at all, to release all Chinook, to keep 1 Chinook & 1 clipped Coho, or even 1 wild Coho for the year 2000, so depending on the estimated returns the catch also changes. Also look at the online WDFW website as in the 2007 regs, there was many mistakes for this river in the printed manual, but changed in the website version. The problem is that the change was not where you would normally expect it to be & you had to dig for it, so the average person would miss these changes.

Weather: This time of the year you can get "bluebird" weather if we get a nice fall season. Or if mother nature skips a season & the summer turns directly into winter, you can very easily get wind, rain & fog all at the same time.

Normally you will be inside the estuary enough that even a normal fall afternoon, the wind will not really effect you in the fishing area. You might however encounter more wind chop heading back from the "south channel" to the Westport dock if that is where you departed from. Or if from the north channel, then from #30 on up to past #44 near 28th street launch. The one good thing about this fishery is that there are many boat launches, which gives you options depending on the weather. The farther up the river you go the wind normally dissipates as you hide behind more land on the south.

If this is the case the recommendation is to have a good GPS/plotter showing the water depth, shipping channel & marker buoys. There may be times when a southerly or SW wind is blowing where your trolling may be more like side-drifting in a river if you are to maintain your course. When this happens it is hard to fish & harder to maintain the boat, so even the most dedicated fishermen may even call it a day. Somewhere in one of the boating classes I took it said that you will not get wind & fog at the same time. Believe me here it can happen & if you are out here without good electronics, you may not end up where you think you are. Could even end up on a sandbar or worse.

The wind is blowing this boat sideways while trolling & trying to maintain a course, hence all the rods on one side

GPS Locations: This time of the year you can run into fog in the morning, for those of you with GPS the locations are listed below. The following numbers were taken off being near the actual buoys, as they were taken physically after Selective Availability was removed from the system. Readings for the last 4 buoys was taken off a GPS plotter chart. "A" buoy has been replaced with a river marker buoy #4. It may not be in the exact same position however.

Buoy “A”	46-55-02	124-06-93
Buoy “14”	46-55-27	124-06-43
Buoy "17"	46-55-29	124-04-27
Buoy “21”	46-55-29	124-03-46
Buoy “SC”	46-55-33	124-02-85
John’s River #8	46-55-50	124-00-50
Buoy “24”	46-55-59	124-01-97
Buoy “25”	46-55-70	124-01-17
Buoy "27"	46-56-48	124-00-43
Buoy “30”	46-57-47	123-58-92
Buoy “34”	46-57-69	123-57-98
Buoy “40”	46-58-10	123-55-40
Buoy “44”	46-58-04	123-54-17

Grass: This can be a problem in the lower areas, especially if you are there at a high flood tide, as the weeds seem to be pushed upriver with the tide, These weeds can accumulate enough on the line to foul the swivels, therefore creating twisted gear. It is advisable to pull your gear every 15 min. or so to check it. If troubled with seaweed or grass on your line, adding a golf tee on the mainline as your uppermost gear, will help divert many weeds off & keep the swivels free. The tapered small portion of this golf tee seems to allow the weeds to be passed off, where a knot at a swivel seems to stop & hold the weeds.

Normally in the upper section normally called the "North Channel", there will not be many floating weeds.

Crabbing: If you drop off a crab pot in the bay, remember that you usually will be going out at low tide & need to allow for plenty of line to compensate for the incoming tide plus any current that accompanies it. Otherwise you may have to go back later & try to locate & pick it up on another low tide. There are commercial crab pots in the area north of buoys "15" to "21". This water is about 20' deep for a quite large flat area here. Another area to crab would be hang a right coming out of the boat basin & run up Elk River a short ways. There usually is not crabbing much above this point however, as the water salinity is lesser enough to discourage any crab concentration.

Ships: There is not much commercial freighter traffic in this river & these large ships that do use it tend to lay & wait for the high tide before heading up or downriver. However you are more likely to encounter a barge being towed at any time. If there happens to be any commercial traffic coming thru, give them enough room, as the channel is not overly wide. In the photo below, this freighter blew one long single blast about every 5 minutes as it moved up the river. The small fishing boats, still trolling, just moved to the outsides of the channel & let it go by.

Kelly & Peggy with a 45# buck Chinook	3 Johns River Chinook