Whether casting from a jetty at the mouth of the Columbia or from shore on an upstream tributary, bank-based salmon anglers enjoy lots of opportunity. (Photo by Julie Johnson)
August 15, 2025
By M.D. Johnson
Mention salmon fishing in the West, and most folks envision big water and big boats festooned from bow to stern with the latest electronics, downriggers, rod holders, multiple outboards, high-dollar rod-and-reel combos and a slew of baits, lures and other terminal tackle. However, there’s another side to Western salmon fishing that doesn’t involve a boat at all. Indeed, many salmon anglers stick to terra firma and catch all the hard-fighting, fresh-from-the-ocean kings and silvers their arms can handle.
But there’s a bit more involved in shore-based salmon fishing than randomly choosing a spot on a jetty and slinging the first thing you grab from the tackle box. In fact, there are some perhaps surprising similarities between bank and boat fishing, and if you’re looking to consistently capitalize on salmonids from shore, it doesn’t hurt to know a specific or two.
The author’s wife took this fresh coho from a jetty at the mouth of the Columbia River. (Photo by Julie Johnson) WHERE AND WHEN My wife Julie and I spend most of our bank-based hours at the mouth of the Columbia River, pitching our wares from a 2.5-mile-long line of boulders known as the North Jetty. Originally built in the early 1900s, the North Jetty, along with Jetty A, also on the Washington side of the river, and the South Jetty on the Oregon side, work to “minimize navigation channel maintenance and ensure safe passage for ocean-going vessels travelling between the Pacific and the main-stem Columbia,” according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which oversees the structures.
Aside from the jetties, other spots where bank anglers can ply their trade near the mouth of the river include the base of the Astoria-Megler Bridge and, across the river in Oregon, a stretch of sand accessed by way of beautiful Fort Stevens State Park that’s affectionately known as Social Security Beach. Otherwise, bank access to the main-stem Columbia is a here-and-there proposition. Anglers will find scattered upriver options around the Washington towns of Cathlamet, Longview, Woodland, Vancouver and North Bonneville/Bonneville Dam, while on the Oregon side there’s Jones Beach near Westport, Prescott Beach Park below the former Trojan Nuclear Facility, Sauvie Island, Kelley Point Park at the Willamette River and on upriver to Bonneville Dam. Most are traditional and well-known shore-based salmon fishing locations. Translation? When the dam counts grow, plan to be there early.
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The main-stem Lower Columbia isn’t the only place a bank-runner can try his or her hand at catching a king or fooling a silver. The tributaries to the Big River, the natal streams of these late-summer and early-fall fish, provide excellent shoreline fisheries as well. In Washington, these include the Naselle, Grays, Deep, Cowlitz, Kalama and Lewis rivers, along with countless smaller creeks. In Oregon, it’s the coastal rivers—the Alsea, Siletz, Salmon, Umpqua, Nehalem and Tillamook—that command the lion’s share of the spotlight. However, both Big and Gnat creeks east of Astoria offer access, as does Portland’s Willamette River upstream.
When to fish depends on two things. First is the timing of the start of the annual salmon run, which is typically sometime between mid-August and early September. Second is the season dates established by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW), who, along with other entities, share the responsibility of managing the fishery on the Lower Columbia. For our purposes, we’ll assume that a window of mid-August through Halloween is the best time to catch a salmon from shore.
A 1-ounce Mepps Syclops in the rainbow trout finish is one of the author’s go-to lures for cohos and Chinooks. (Photo by Julie Johnson) SHORE FISHING RODS ’N REELS Fish with 100 shore-based salmon anglers and you’ll see 99 different rod-and-reel combinations. Every angler has his or her favorite, with that decision based largely on personal preference, fishing style and the method being used, which we’ll focus on momentarily. I favor simplicity when it comes to rod, reel, line and terminal tackle, and typically will use the same gear inland as I do on the North Jetty. When drifting anchovies, I’m partial to an 8-foot 6-inch or 9-foot, medium-heavy Okuma SST casting rod mated to a 5500- or 6500-size Abu Garcia C-series Ambassadeur level-wind reel filled with 30-pound braid. For plunking, I’ll use the same rig but go up to 40- or even 50-pound braided mainline for added abrasion resistance. My spinning rods are 8-foot 6-inch, medium-heavy Okuma SST sticks fitted with size-35 Pfleuger President reels filled with 30-pound braid.
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The North Jetty on the Washington side of the Columbia routinely produces fish during the fall salmon run. (Photo by Julie Johnson) BOBBERS ’N BAIT My wife, a Washington native, taught me how to bobber fish for silver salmon in 1993, and over the years I’ve refined my technique just a bit. A typical bobber rig for jetty salmon consists of a bobber stop, small stop bead, 5 mm bead, 100-gram (3.5-ounce, 7-inch) slip bobber, a second 5 mm bead and a 1- to 1.5-ounce beaded trolling or keel sinker. To the sinker, I attach a DIY mooching rig roughly 35 inches long tied on 30-pound monofilament and carrying two barbless hooks. The front hook is a 4/0 that slides, while the back hook is a 5/0 that’s tied static. The bait, a fresh (recently alive) anchovy, is hooked in the head and slightly ahead of the tail, and the hooks are cinched slightly to give the bait a spinning curve.
There are five things I’ve learned fishing a bobber and bait on the North Jetty for early-fall salmon. One, the tide doesn’t matter. Ebb, flood or slack, just fish whenever you can. Two, and obviously, cast right if the current is right-to-left and vice versa. Three, at the end of each drift, or “swing,” your bait will begin to spin more rapidly, as it will upon the retrieve. Nine out of 10 strikes will come at this point. Four, if fishing a slack tide or still water, cast out, let the bait settle, pick it up until you hear or feel the uppermost bead smack the bobber, then let the bait wobble down. This falling flash often triggers vicious hits. And five, red hooks, like the Daiichi Bleeding Bait 4/0 Octopus Wide , make all the difference in the world.
A variety of spoons and spinners in bright colors are highly effective on fall-run salmon. (Photo by Julie Johnson) SPINNERS ’N SPOONS As much as I dearly love fishing a bobber and bait for salmon, I’m a huge fan of throwing spinners and spoons from shore, be it the North Jetty, Lower Columbia shoreline or a tributary. For spinners, it’s the Mepps Flying C , either the No. 4 (5/8 ounce) or No. 5 (7/8 ounce) in pink/silver blade, chartreuse/silver blade or chartreuse/fire tiger blade. The Blue Fox Vibrax and Rooster Tail spinners are also popular. If I’m spoon-feeding salmon on the North Jetty, I’m using the No. 3 Mepps Syclops (1 ounce) in rainbow trout, hands down. On an inland stream, hammered copper can be a killer choice.
When the bite is on, juvenile Chinooks make for an active day of fishing. (Photo by Julie Johnson) PLUNKING I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the tactic known as “plunking” as it applies to shore-based salmon fishing. In a nutshell, a plunking rig starts with the mainline, say 30-pound braid, knotted to a three-way swivel. Below that, an 18- to 24-inch monofilament dropper is tied to a pyramid sinker of enough weight to hold in the bottom structure and current. To the side, a 20- to 30-pound fluorocarbon leader is rigged with a Yakima Bait Spin-N-Glo and a single 4/0 barbless hook. While some fish the rig plain, some will add a small piece of colorful yarn, others a coon shrimp or bit of peeled crayfish tail.
To plunk, one casts the rig into a prospective salmon travel route, places the rod in a holder, attaches a cow bell to the rod tip and waits for the ding. Salmon fishing doesn’t get any simpler than that.
Washington’s scenic Cowlitz River offers good bank access upstream from the town of Longview. (© Goldilock Project/Dreamstime) STELLAR SALMON WATERS Best bets for shore fishing.
Naselle River: A pretty little tree-lined stream, the Naselle flows into Willapa Bay just a few miles west of the town of the same name. There’s shore access not far from Johnson’s One Stop; the hatchery on North Valley Road offers more.Cowlitz River: Predominantly a boat-based fishery, the Cowlitz provides bank anglers willing to travel upriver from Longview and Kelso with opportunity, particularly above the confluence with the Toutle River and east of the town of Toledo in the direction of Blue Creek.Lewis River : There is shore access to the Lewis near Woodland, Wash. Some of it is public, but more of it is private and worthy of some door-knocking. Many salmon hunters head upriver to what’s affectionately known as the Meat Hole off NE Etna Road near the WDFW hatchery.Willamette and Clackamas rivers : For those who don’t mind city fishing, Portland’s Willamette and Clackamas rivers offer excellent coho action in September, along with a small chance at fall kings. Clackamette Park near the suburb of Gladstone can be productive. So, too, can Meldrum Bar Park just downriver.This article was featured in the August issue of Game & Fish magazine. Click to subscribe .
