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Reports > 2022 > September > Thursday 22
Thursday, September 22, 2022
 
By Eric Granstrom
 
For FishingMagician.com, I'm Eric Granstrom. September is quickly sailing by and so too is a great chance to catch salmon in the lower Columbia River using a technique that more resembles perch fishing than salmon fishing. It's called "hover fishing". I was introduced to this technique while attending Fish Camp for outdoor writers, show hosts and fishing industry representatives several years ago. The hot spots for hover fishing at the time were off the mouth of the Deschutes and Klickitat Rivers along the lower Columbia River Gorge. It's pretty simple really. You find a spot on the river where fish are holding near the bottom and position your boat so you're "hovering" over the top of them, trying to keep your boat even with the current so your rod tip is directly over your egg cluster. You use a 2-ounce led ball on a slider above a two-foot section of leader with a No. 2 or No. 3 egg hook and a ping pong ball-sized cluster of eggs. An 8-foot or smaller rod with a sensitive tip is the key because the salmon will come up and just mouth the eggs, which barely shows a bite. Until next time, Good Fishing!