Free: Contests & Raffles.
I have been 3 times and had 3 on each time. Only landed 2! There is a salmon derby every weekend and expect to wait in long lines just to launch. Vernita has hundreds of campers and trailers and it really sucks launching there. Ringold has room for at least 10 to launch at a time and is much better. During the week it won't be too bad because the derbies are Friday through Sundays. People catch them everyway imaginable. We use downriggers flashers and cut plugs with tuna. I have caught them with spinners, magnum wiggle warts, and salmon eggs.
We caught 5 adults and a jack today. The adults were 19,18,14,13, and 8. We lost 3 bigger ones. I also caught a sturgeon. All were on eggs. It rained on/off the whole time we were there. Water was very low.
My buddy has been down there for 2 weeks guiding. He has been limiting out everyday sometime twice a day with another batch of clients!!! Lots of fish and non stop action.
It might be tough with a I/O. The launch's are bad to say the least at Vernita but you might be able to. With that boat you have to have 4 wheel drive on those round river rocks. They can't improve the launch because it is Indian historical land. The water fluctuates a lot each day, on Saturday we had trouble launching a 20 ft. aluminum boat. If you are able to launch you should probably stay above the bridge and fish with the downrigger folks. If you go down river you should try to find a map, there is coyote rapids and hard to tell shallow spots. Flashers and brads cut plugs in mountain dew, lemon lime, or hot tamale's.
