The Columbia River Bar is called the “Graveyard of the Pacific” for good reason: it has a horrible history of more than 2,000 ships that have floundered and sunk on this shallow shoal, characterized by a crosshatching of currents, eddies, and whirlpools.

But the danger and the record of disasters belies a getaway that will keep you coming back many times, as I have – especially to visit a place that tells the Columbia River’s powerful story of untamed nature.

The Columbia River Maritime Museum (CRMM) in Astoria puts you in touch with danger; a place where respect for nature runs deep and the history of the region comes to life in unique and exciting ways.

Ocean swells coming down from the Bering Sea are caught by a near-shore sandbar that helps create huge waves. In winter especially, these waves and their breakers can occur in gale-force conditions and challenge the most experienced mariners in the largest ships.

It’s the mouth of the river that runs through the heart of the Pacific Northwest and at this Astoria landmark you will find many intriguing swirling stories. We’ve shown you the fascinating power and fickle nature of the Columbia River first hand in previous getaways – in fact, just last summer, on a fishing trip to the famous Buoy 10 salmon fishing grounds where dense fog nearly cost us as a two-hundred foot long ship showed up out of nowhere. And, last fall, we joined lifelong local fisherman, Steve Fick, on a Dungeness crabbing adventure. He showed us a new respect for the power of the river and the bar.

The people who work on the water know this danger well and they accept the risk. For example, U.S. Coast Guard personnel put their lives on the line each day to help folks who get into trouble. Their story is told at the CRMM through a dramatic blending of photos, equipment, video and a full sized motor lifeboat. Curator Jeff Smith noted that visitors to the Maritime Museum come face to face with all of these stories – but in winter, it’s all indoors, where it’s warm and safe. He noted that the varied photos, exhibits and video displays merge the past with the present and provide you with a compelling place to see, touch and learn more about an important corner of Oregon.

Editor’s Note: Grant’s Getaways is a production of Travel Oregon brought to you in association with Oregon State Parks, Oregon Dept. of Fish & Wildlife and Oregon State Marine Board. Episodes air Fridays and Saturdays on KGW Newschannel 8 and Saturdays on Northwest Cable News Network.

This week, I head for the big, broad Columbia River in this week’s Grant’s Getaways to follow a silver rush – a silvery rush of salmon swimming up the river past a sports fishing mecca called “Buoy 10.”

It’s a trip full of tips, tactics and techniques to catch salmon safely on a stretch of river infamously called “the deadliest river bar in the world” for its number of shipwrecks, capsizes and deadly accidents.

On the Astoria dock at a coal black 4-am, it was hard to say “Good Morning” to my fellow anglers who had gathered – with their lunches, thermoses, rods and reels in hand – to enjoy a daylong fishing adventure. After all, shimmering stars and a sliver of a gleaming moon held tightly onto night. But barking sea lions and an inch of daylight squeezing just above the eastern horizon said otherwise.

So did our guide, John Krauthoefer, who told our small group, “Daylight boys – won’t be long – so let’s button things down, snap up the PFDs and get moving.” We boarded his 25-foot fishing boat and began to slowly motor across the broad-shouldered Columbia, with high hopes for a successful salmon fishing trip.

Daylight revealed that a dense fog bank had taken over the lower river. If we wished to pass through it, we had better be prepared.

“My GPS (Global Positioning System) tells me that there’s a green buoy right there – and if you peer into the fog, you can see we’re just coming up on it.”

I wondered aloud about the fishermen who didn’t have GPS on their boats. He quickly and firmly noted, “Stay on the dock until the fog clears. You’re much safer – it’s not worth a fish to risk your life – it really isn’t.” We slowly trolled and kept eye on the boat’s GPS screen, which showed our position in relation to the shipping channel and the surrounding shorelines.

This part of the Columbia River is a busy stretch for inbound and outbound ships. We certainly did not want to get caught in the middle of it on a busy morning of ship traffic. All too quickly, John’s second sense told him something was just not right.

“Ok – reel in – we’re going to move,” he ordered. He wasted little time and moved us a few hundred yards further away from the shipping lane. We heard the ship before we saw it. And what we saw was gigantic – a massive, two hundred foot long shadow of a ship that moved across the area we had just been trolling our baits.

I looked at my fishing partner, Trey Carskadon, who shared the same obvious expression of relief – then he smiled. Carskadon added, “You can just get absolutely turned around in this kind of a fog, so GPS certainly is a must, but even a compass would help. Plus, you better know how to use it. It is essential equipment and I wouldn’t come out here without it.” Carskadon is the chairman of the Oregon State Marine Board and he is a boating safety expert when it comes to the fickle Columbia River.

He told me that even in summer, the river conditions often change in a heartbeat: “Right now the danger is obviously with the fog, but when the wind comes up and you have a lot river traffic out here, it can get downright dangerous. People assume it’s like a lake out here, most days it’s anything but that.” That much was certain and we’d just experienced a good lesson of that fact – but there was another certainty on the river this fine August morning: the river is full of fish.

“Oh, it’s a big Coho,” yells John as Trey’s rod doubled down and the line screamed off the reel.

“A nice one,” noted Carskadon. “Feels all of ten or twelve pounds. A nice hatchery fish too.”

He could tell it was a hatchery Coho salmon because it was missing its adipose fin, a small half moon shaped fin that’s located behind the dorsal fin. The adipose fin is clipped off all hatchery salmon babies at the hatchery where each fish is raised.

More than a million Coho salmon are forecast to pass through the estuary over the next six to eight weeks. In fact, right now the angling daily limit is two salmon, but beginning September 1 the limit rises to three Coho salmon a day. Not all of the Coho that anglers catch from the Columbia are hatchery fish. Many are wild fish that must be released back into the river.

John said there’s a “right way” to do that. “First, don’t ever bring them in the boat and don’t ever lift them out of the water. Don’t just dump them out of your net either. If you can, try to get hold of them by the tail and let them swim out of your hand. If you just dump them out, they often die because they’re so tired from the fight, so let the fish rest in your hand and then open your hand so they swim right off.”

As the fog evaporated with the warmer morning, the flooding tide built and hundreds of anglers converged at the famous river marker called “Buoy 10.”
But boat wakes, a strong push of current and a rising wind meant that it was a bit like fishing in washing machine – and you want to definitely avoid the spin cycle.

It was a day to remember – one that began on a dance with danger, and provided lasting memories and valuable lessons of exciting times in the Oregon outdoors.

Information on purchasing an Oregon Angling License

Sport Fishing Regulations (pdf)

Locate a fishing guide here

Information on Safe Boating Practices

If mid-summer heat waves get you down, perhaps it’s time for a cool retreat!

This week’s Grant’s Getaway promises a refreshing escape as I go aboard a small boat on a huge river. It’s the sort of adventure that may leave you feeling a million miles away from the city hubbub and noise in a sea kayak on the Columbia River.

Trying something new and risky takes courage, but if you’re convinced that it’s right for you, the risk can often pay off with unique adventures.

Safety is everything when Steve Gibons, owner of Scappoose Bay Kayaking, gathers paddlers together on the dock at Scappoose Bay Marina.

The first step: we slid into the cozy confines of the small cockpits of a smooth sided 14-foot long tandem sea kayak. We listened intently as Steve explained a basic rule of kayak recreation: First, a reassuring fact: more people tip over at the dock than any other place on the water – either getting in or out.”

Many of our fellow paddlers were like us – relative newcomers to the recreation and to this stretch of Multnomah Channel at Scappoose Bay. It’s a place where tide and weather can change in a heartbeat.

But on this gentle summer’s day, the bay and the nearby Columbia River were smooth and calm, so no need for us to worry. Instead, we used our time to practice the basic forward and reverse paddle strokes that Steve taught us – paddle strokes that we would soon put to good use.

Finding a comfort zone on the glassy water came easy on a day that was filled with summer’s glory – clear skies, a gentle breeze and outgoing tide to ease our downriver journey. More importantly, our small group of paddlers seemed to have the river all to ourselves on a stretch of Columbia River backwater that’s largely overlooked by most folks.

It is certainly that – and much more – a time and place where nature’s touch restores your soul.

Henry Miller is the outdoor editor for the Salem Statesman Journal. He has been fishing the rivers, lakes and coastline of Oregon for 20 years; his biggest fish to date is a 44 pound ling cod caught on a charter out of Newport.

Wallowa Lake
Flanked by the Eagle Cap Wilderness and the Wallowa Mountains, there arguably is no more scenic fishing lake in Oregon than Wallowa Lake near Joseph. Its crystalline waters are stocked with rainbow trout during the tourist season, but also has a good self-sustaining population of kokanee—a landlocked variety of sockeye salmon. If you’re at Wallowa around Labor Day, you can watch the kokes in full scarlet and green spawning colors swim out of the lake and up the Wallowa River.

TenMile Lakes
North and South lakes south of Reedsport make up the coastal complex known as Tenmile Lakes—the top bass tournament waters in the state. It’s not uncommon to see several fish checking in at more than 8 pounds during a typical tournament weigh-in. Because the lakes are shallow—average of about 15 feet deep—spring and summer fishing is tops, before the water chills in the winter or heats up in the summer, turning the fish sluggish.

Lower Rogue River
Fishing guides talk about the banner years when the fall-run chinook salmon are so thick that limits are landed in less than an hour…and they don’t take reservations, but instead run a shuttle service to take anglers queued at the docks at Gold Beach out to the fish and back to the cleaning stations! This may be an exaggeration, but not by much when the run is good. Fishing for the salmon that can top 40 pounds peaks in August and September, when fish move upriver with the first rains.

The John Day Pool on the Columbia River
Known as Lake Umatilla, the impoundment above John Day Dam always offers something to catch—as long as you can stand the wind and the weather extremes! The fun includes steelhead in September at the mouth of the John Day River. Anglers focus on small mouth bass and walleye—the state walleye record, almost 20 pounds, was caught in the pool in 1990—in the late spring through summer. Shad also make it up the Columbia as far as the town of Umatilla, peaking in late May and early June.

Crane Prairie Reservoir
This big impoundment near Bend is legendary for its big trout, both rainbows and brookies. Unlike most reservoirs, the site of Crane Prairie wasn’t skinned off by loggers before filling in the 1920s—its wealth of snags and structure make it as picturesque as it is productive. In addition to monster trout (rainbows approaching 20 pounds are regularly hooked), there’s also a healthy population of largemouth bass, the progeny of an illegal “stocking” that took hold.
While limits aren’t guaranteed, the fish that you land will be worth the effort.

For more information on fishing the glorious waterways of Oregon, please visit our Outdoor Recreation section.