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For some, the 2010 springer season started early, in late January and in February. On the Willamette, there was a really nice shot of fish that got people's juices flowing.

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But there’s always a pilot run in February. If we get the right water conditions in February, it can usually be pretty good for an early run. But my prediction was it would be good at first but then taper off in March. I’ve seen this happen before. And I was right: Fishing dropped off for most of March.

It’s a lot easier to catch a springer in February than it is during most of March.

The season at hand
Oregon and Washington DFWs gave us something like 45 days this spring, pretty disappointing to me though. Why? Because it was the month of March through April 18th. It sure was nice they gave us a bunch of days when there isn’t enough fish in

I don’t even like to start fishing springers until the 10th of April, because there are still way too many steelhead to catch in the Tillamook system. In mid and late March, we were catching more steelhead in one day with two rods than the Columbia guides were catching in a week.

We’ve all heard it. Halfway through the day on a slow springer bite, you’ll have someone say, “I’ll take a jack, or even a sucker about now.” Or, “you got any sturgeon gear?”

Why subject clients to the crappy weather and slow fishing of early springer fishing when you might catch one or two fish (or none)?

Well, since my season was limited, I was forced to start chasing Chinook earlier than I wanted, but by waiting like I did I was rewarded with lots of limits starting from day one.

David Johnson with a spring Chinook from the Willamette River Willamette: Best in 20 years
After a week and a half on the Columbia under some very intense and crowded conditions, word in late April was that the Willamette had started to clear after being muddy for several weeks.

Of course, I had to test it out.

Welcome to one of the best seasons I’ve ever seen on the Willamette.

Some are saying it’s the best they’ve seen in 20 years. I’ve fished the Willamette for 25 and I’m starting to think they're right: It’s been a long time since I’ve seen fishing this good. It may have been this good in my early years but as a kid, I probably didn’t pay attention to what the other boats around were doing.

How long will it last? Until the water warms up.

The biological clock of Willamette springers is dictated by water temp. When the water is cool, the fish mill around from Oregon City down, but once the temps hit the upper 50s it tells those fish they gotta get going for their home tribs. This is when the bite will slow.

It’s anyone’s guess how long we’ll keep getting cool water. It all depends on the weather, but it should last into early May. Until then it’s "Fish On!"

What’s next? We follow them up into the tribs and springer fishing will last through June.