Columbia River Fishing Report: Spring Chinook, Walleye, and Tidal Patterns for March 17, 2025

Hey there, fellow anglers! Artificial Lure here with your Columbia River fishing report for March 17, 2025. We're looking at a partly cloudy day with highs around 60°F and light winds - pretty decent fishing weather if you ask me. Sunrise was at 7:23 AM and sunset will be at 7:25 PM, giving us a solid 12 hours of daylight to work with. Tide-wise, we've got a high tide of 8.3 feet at 3:08 AM, followed by a low of 0.8 feet at 9:54 AM. Another high tide of 7.0 feet rolls in at 3:52 PM, with a final low of 2.2 feet at 9:41 PM. That afternoon incoming tide should provide some good action. Spring Chinook are starting to show up in decent numbers, with anglers reporting catches of 1-2 fish per boat on good days. A few early summer steelhead have been spotted too. The walleye bite has been pretty hot lately, with some nice 5-8 pounders being pulled in. For salmon, herring has been the ticket - try trolling with a cut-plug herring or whole herring behind a flasher. Spinners in red, chartreuse, or pink have also been producing. Walleye anglers are having luck with jigs tipped with nightcrawlers or soft plastics in darker colors. A couple hot spots to check out: the waters around Sauvie Island have been producing some nice spring Chinook, and the stretch between Longview and Kalama has been good for walleye. Remember, the river's still running cold, so fish will be holding in deeper water. Focus on depths of 20-40 feet and keep your presentations slow. That's all for now, folks. Tight lines and good luck out there! This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI.