Columbia River Salmon Bonanza - Clear Skies and Hot Bites for Anglers

Artificial Lure here with your Columbia River and Portland fishing report for September 3, 2025. Let’s get right to it—Portland woke to clear early fall skies and comfortable temps hovering in the low 70s. We’ve had some light east wind keeping things fresh, making for picture-perfect fishing conditions you usually have to order special. Sunrise was at 6:33 AM and sunset’s coming at 7:42 PM. Long enough to get in both a pre-work cast and a sunset run. Tides are looking favorable for anglers working both the main channel and sloughs. According to NOAA’s Hammond station, we saw a low at 3:38 AM, a high at 10:52 AM, another low at 3:09 PM, and high again at 9:14 PM—so mid-morning through early afternoon is prime for running baits along current seams and swinging spinners through the eddies. Over at Vancouver, Tides4Fishing says the tidal coefficient is high today, boosting both current and fish activity—those swinging tides push baitfish, and everybody else follows even in the river. You’re probably wondering, what’s hot in the water this week? The big talk all up and down the boat launches is salmon—Buoy 10 season is wide open through September 5, and bank and boat anglers have been catching thick-bellied coho and some nice chinook in the 12–20 pound range. Regulation this season is two salmon per day, only one of which can be a chinook, and all coho must be fin-clipped as always, per Sea Breeze Charters and the WDFW. The bite’s been best on the outgoing morning tide, especially below the I-205 bridge down to Sauvie Island and out near the mouth around Kelly Point. Reports from the hatchery hole upriver, too, show solid numbers turning up—you know the drift lines if you’re local. For lures, trolling herring behind a Pro-Troll flasher in chartreuse or Wonderbread color has been the ticket. Folks throwing spinners—blue 3.5s and green label—off the rocks or from boats have seen good strikes, especially with a little UV flash. Plugs like Brad's Cut Plugs, Sweet Abby, and various Mag Lips loaded with tuna belly are a local favorite, particularly for chinooks staging outside the deeper holes. On the bait front, nothing is beating fresh herring for the big kings, but coho have been hammering spinners tipped with a little scent. For bank anglers, try drifting eggs or prawns under a float around Twilight Slough and Swan Island for a shot at both kings and late-summer steelhead—yes, a few runners have turned up, especially on smaller soft beads or pink worms. Hot spots today? Head for the mouth of the Willamette at Kelly Point—huge tide swings put bait right in the ambush zone. Downstream, the famed Multnomah Channel stretch between Fred’s Marina and Coon Island has been putting up consistent numbers for trolling boats. If you’re shore-bound, Cathedral Park and the St. Johns Bridge area are pumping out some solid fish for those getting up before dawn, or try Sauvie’s Oak Island access around the second tide push. A little word on water clarity: the e This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI.