Some of the great Rogue River names immediately spring to mind - guides like John Anderson, Chris Young and Greg Eide. So I heartily advise hiring an experienced guide when you are springer fishing, especially if it is your first time at springer fishing. 'From what I've been hearing, it sounds like there's been a 50-50 split (between hatchery and wild springers),' adds Cody.įishing for springers involves putting your boat in a springer's travel lane, and diverting from these travel lanes only two inches one way or the other can mean the difference of being a hero or a zero. At the very beginning of the springer season (late-February and March), there are more wild springers caught, but around April and into May, the ratio of hatchery springers begin increasing.

In the lower Rogue this time of year, only adipose fin-clipped (hatchery) springers may be kept. I have known anglers who have received some pretty healthy thumb burns due to thumbing the spool on a springer making a long run. This fat content is also responsible for their sudden bursts of energy. Springers enter the river fresh from the ocean as plump as they ever will be, and because of their high fat content, these fat footballs are notorious as being the best-eating salmon on the planet. They are on a mission to get to their native spawning grounds, and they want to get there lickety-split. 'There have been several caught each day by both boaters and bankies.'Ī springer is just another name for a Chinook that enters a river in the spring.

'We've been catching springers for about one month now,' said Larry Cody from the Rogue Outdoor Store in Gold Beach on Thursday.

But if you want the chance of hooking into a salmon that fights three times harder than any fall Chinook (they can spool you in less than a minute), plus have the chance of bringing home the best-tasting salmon fillets in the world, you might think about giving springers a whirl. Springer fishing has never been known as being a fast-and-furious fishery. It's spring, the time of year when a young man's fancy turns to thoughts of love - especially if you're a fisherman - when it's high time for romancing the springer! Anglers are now starting to concentrate their efforts on fishing the lower Rogue River for spring Chinook.

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