No problem finding a place on a charter boat this summerILWACO – “This year there are more fish than fishermen,” said Butch Smith, owner of Coho Charters, last week of the salmon season thus far. “Business is down about 30 percent from last year.”

For the first time since 1985, the season has been open to seven-days-a-week in July, according to Smith, who has been a charter boat operator for 23 years. Since 1978, salmon fishing has been closed Fridays and Saturdays to expand the length of the overall season and to limit catch quotas.

A Typical Charter Trip

Tuesday, July 22, 20034:11 a.m. – Awaken four minutes before alarm goes off, get ready for first salmon charter fishing trip in over 30 years.

4:32 a.m. – Arrive at Coho Charters after seeing three cars in 10 miles of travel. Terri Smith, wife of owner, greets me cheerfully.

4:42 a.m. – Join 13 customers, deckhand A.J. Baldwin, and skipper Butch Smith aboard the Coho King, a 40-foot charter boat.

4:58 a.m. – Smith explains the use of life jackets and tells three secrets of catching salmon: put line in water, make sure line has bait, and don’t jerk or you’ll take bait away from feeding salmon.

5:02 a.m. – Diesel engines fire up and we depart the Port of Ilwaco amidst a 15 mile-an- hour fresh breeze from the northwest.

5:36 a.m. – We pass the tip of the South Jetty. The sea lions bask quietly, but the Columbia River Bar kicks out nine-foot swells even at high slack tide.

6:12 a.m. – Butch sees bait on the surface and lines are let out 12 pulls even though we are at a depth of 200 feet.

6:13 a.m. – The first hookup on the port bow results in the first “keeper”, a non-hatchery coho of about five pounds.

7:42 a.m. – The 26th and final keeper is boated. The fishing has been fast and furious, with as many as five salmon on deck at one time. Only about a dozen hatchery fish have had to be returned – a good day of fishing! We head for home after everyone has punched their catch on their cards.

7:55 a.m. – Three porpoises leap from the Pacific near the Columbia River Buoy.

8:58 a.m. – Coho King ties up to the dock after a safe and uneventful trip in. Passengers begin to disperse with their limits of silver salmon and triumphant smiles. Baldwin and Smith start the hour and a half cleanup in preparation for tomorrow’s trip. “With unemployment as high as eight to 10 percent in Northwest Oregon and Clark County in Washington, we needed the boost.” Fishermen from the Portland to Longview area make up as much as 90 percent of his customers, according to Smith.

Max Gentry of Sea Breeze Charters said the sinking of the Taki Too fishing charter near Garabaldi, in which 11 people drowned when their boat capsized earlier this year, has also hurt his business.

“Our customers talk about the accident a lot. They pay attention when our skippers explain where the life preservers are.”

Gentry explains that bookings for Buoy 10 are strong, but crossing the Columbia River Bar seems to have spooked some customers away from fishing in the ocean. He, too, has experienced a 30 percent drop in business this season as compared to last.

Both Smith and Gentry lament the two-week early closure of the sturgeon season, cutting heavily into profits. “Our sturgeon trips were just starting to get hot,” explained Smith.

The Department of Fish and Wildlife closed the sturgeon season because catch quotas had been met. Throughout the 1980s diminishing returns of salmon forced the quota system to come about to conserve various fish species. The quota reached an all-time low in 1994 when the ocean salmon season was cancelled altogether.

It was decided that closing salmon fishing on Fridays and Saturdays would lengthen the season, giving more people a chance to catch fish and allowing the charter industry to diversify. Sturgeon and bottom fishing trips became popular.

“I hope the Port of Ilwaco is bracing for a downturn financially. With gas prices high for the tourist and the economy sluggish, this could be a tough year, although the seven-day opening should help,” Smith predicted.

Sportsmen’s Cannery has suffered a 30 percent drop in sales, as well. Tina Ward said, “Our decrease in business is a direct result of a drop in the charter business.” Ed McClure of Ed’s Bait and Tackle has experienced similar shortfalls of upwards of 30 percent in sales.

Other Port of Ilwaco establishments claim to not be as affected by the downturn. Colleen Anderson of Shoalwater Cove Gallery and Framing said, “We attract a different crowd of visitors. Our business is about the same as last year at this time.”

Rebecca Fontana said of her restaurant, The Canoe Room, “Business is not bad. We are a 12-month establishment and not as reliant on seasonal customers.”

The port has made a push recently to branch out to include gift shops, art galleries, book stores, salons, and up-scale restaurants. The Saturday Market and Art Walks also bring more people to the port.

Smith maintains that if the demand for charter trips picked up, there would be more “fishing widows” plying the shops in Ilwaco and more families vacationing on the Peninsula, staying at the motels, enjoying the restaurants.

“The fish are there,” he reiterates. Getting fishermen, women, and kids to be able to afford the experience of a salmon peeling line from their reels may be the challenge of the next decade, just as improving runs was the challenge of the last.