River Fishing off a Dock

[Yeshuasdaughter]

I have loved fishing my whole life.

For the past two years, I have lived near the delta of two of the major rivers in North America. The Willamette, and the Columbia.

I have never fished in a major river before. I don't know what to do.

I've fished in plenty of lakes, ponds, and reservoirs, and little creeks and small rivers. When I was little, we'd fish off piers in the Pacific (but I was too young to really participate). But I've never fished a proper, massive river.

Mostly I'd like to do catch and release, but at special times of year, we go out to watch the salmon run. I know there's trout, steelhead, and bass in the river too. So it'd be fun to someday bring home dinner.

We've also seen otters and sturgeon, really close to the dock, quite often. Locals who live right on the water, say they see sea lions sometimes too.

Can someone give me tips on river fishing? From docks and piers, not from a boat.

Like on a river deep and wide enough for cargo ships to navigate, where the bridges go up to let ships pass. As we are pretty close to the ocean, the rivers are tidal, and the water is slightly brackish.

I really want to get into this. I think it'd be a nice hobby.

 

[Outdated]

Can someone give me tips on river fishing? From docks and piers, not from a boat.

As a little kid I grew up on the Murray River in South Australia and I was taught to swim and fish and do all the sorts of things people living on a big river do. I never liked river fish much, a slightly muddy taste to them, but I was taught how to catch clean and cook them.

These rules are the same for salt water fishing too, from a beach or jetty.

The best bait is what ever you can find in the water at your feet, foods that local fish will recognise straight away. We used to fossick around in the mud at about 2 feet deep using our feet, looking for mussels, they make great bait. We also used to catch small fresh water shrimp and use them as bait. A metal hoop on the end of a stick with one leg of a pair of nylon stockings stretched over it to make a net, the hoop was just made from a wire coat hanger.

Where you fish is important. If you cast your line a long way out with a heavy sinker all you're going to catch is catfish and other bottom feeders. The fish you want are predators, ambush hunters. They need some sort of structure to hide behind, such as the little jetty you're sitting on, and they mostly feed at only one or two feet below the surface. So instead of casting your line out a long way just lower it about two feet in to the water right next to where you're sitting and see what you can get.

If the river is tidal then at low tides you should be able to see other natural structures that are normally under water, these are also good targets for casting your line out to.

If you've got otters and seals hanging around then I don't think you'll manage to catch much.

 

[Yeshuasdaughter]

How about angling bigger migratory fish? Like salmon or steelhead? Is it possible from a dock or pier with just a basic tackle box? Or do you need to be out in a boat with special equipment?

 

[Yeshuasdaughter]

Where you fish is important. If you cast your line a long way out with a heavy sinker all you're going to catch is catfish and other bottom feeders. The fish you want are predators, ambush hunters. They need some sort of structure to hide behind, such as the little jetty you're sitting on, and they mostly feed at only one or two feet below the surface. So instead of casting your line out a long way just lower it about two feet in to the water right next to where you're sitting and see what you can get.

If the river is tidal then at low tides you should be able to see other natural structures that are normally under water, these are also good targets for casting your line out to.

This is actually really helpful.

 

[Outdated]

How about angling bigger migratory fish? Like salmon or steelhead? Is it possible from a dock or pier with just a basic tackle box? Or do you need to be out in a boat with special equipment?

You can target bigger fish too, but for that you're far better off using a lure rather than bait. Once again those structures in the water are very important, most fish don't chase down their prey, they hide behind something and wait in ambush.

So rock formations and dead trees and the like are where these fish will be hiding most of the time. You cast your lure out to where these structures are and reel it back in at a speed that makes your lure look like a fish swimming. If you can add a little random jerkiness to the way you're reeling it back in you can make the lure look like an injured fish - easier prey. This of course is a lot easier to do with a proper rod and reel rather than just a hand line.