Your choice of lure depends on current speed, with heavier lures used in the faster water and lighter ones in slower current. The "wobbler" word on most fisher's lips is Alvin, followed by 10 Spot and Clancy. For slower water, try Brad's Mini-Extreme. You might try a Glo Green or Hot Banana Coyote spoon because sometimes they want something different.

Below Bonneville Dam, the salmon are just traveling through, headed for destinations above the dam. Their behavior dictates tactics. When boat-fishing, you anchor up and wait for the fish to come to your gear.

In the lower river, the fish follow travel zones, which change with water conditions. Hymer recommends you look for bottom contours with rapid transitions from shallow to deep, then fish the edges of those ledges. He also suggests fishing the faster water flowing along islands, since the fish seem to be attracted to water moving at greater velocity. Remember that the Columbia is a working river: Don't anchor in the designated shipping channel.

Bank-bound anglers have a couple of lower river options. Plunkers below Bonneville Dam get some fish every year. There are some public fishing piers around Washougal, but the main difficulty is getting your gear out deep enough into those travel zones. Some Kalama-area anglers employ a boat to carry their gear out and drop it in deeper water.

Jim Mulberry of Cascade Locks stumbled onto the summer salmon while fishing for steelhead. A retired postal worker, he is on the river almost every day during the season, searching for that elusive 50-pound fish. To date, his biggest boated fish is 45 pounds, but he has hooked and lost fish that he thinks topped the 50-pound mark. "You won't believe how big they get," Mulberry says. "These are beautiful, chrome, football-shaped fish."

His favorite spots are around Washougal and further downstream where the Willamette joins the Columbia. "Fishing seems to be better when the water is running faster," he says. It happens as a result of Bonneville Dam opening the spill gates. In fast water, he'll fish spinners as shallow as five feet, using two to three ounces of weight on an arm's-length weight dropper. When the water slows, or during the summer when the water temperature heats into the 70s, he'll drop down to 28 feet.

Brass Colorado blade spinners in sizes 4 and 5 catch a ton of fish, although Mulberry will often use blades as small as 1s and 2s for a change of pace. Black blades work best before sunlight hits the water, and on dark days. He doesn't buy into the treble/single hook controversy. Instead, he thinks the key to hooking and holding fish is using a quality hook, strong enough not to bend during the fight. And he always makes sure his hooks are sharp.

There are good public boat ramps at Bonneville Dam and Beacon Rock.

MID-COLUMBIA-BONNEVILLE DAM TO HANFORD REACH
August in the Columbia River Gorge means bright, sunny days with temperatures in the 90s bringing corresponding increases in water temperatures. Summer Chinook seeking respite from warmer water will often lollygag around the cooler water river mouths of the White Salmon and Wind Rivers. Probe the 20- to 35-foot water depths with a chartreuse Blue Fox or Blue Streak lure suspended a few feet off the bottom.