Salmon, albacore tuna, lingcod, and bottomfish out of Ilwaco — six anglers max, gear and bait included, and a captain who's crossed the Columbia Bar more times than he can count.
USCG-licensed & insured · All gear, bait & tackle included · Fish cleaned and bagged at the dock
Per-person rates, everything included except your fishing license. Want the boat to yourselves? Book all six seats and it's a private charter — same per-seat rate, your crew only.
Troll the Columbia mouth and the nearshore ocean for kings and silvers. When the bite is on out here, it's some of the best salmon fishing on the West Coast.
Run 30–50 miles offshore to the warm blue water and get on hard-pulling albacore. Long day, sore arms, and a fish box you'll need help carrying.
Steady action over the reefs — lingcod, black rockfish, and sea bass. Kids and first-timers almost always go home with a limit and a story.
We drop Dungeness pots on the way out, fish the reefs, and pull the pots on the way home. Rockfish fillets and fresh crab in the same cooler.
Rough guide to a typical year out of Ilwaco. Exact openers and quotas are set by the state each season — the open dates below only show trips that are in season.
A 34-foot aluminum crew boat built for the Washington coast — fast enough to beat the afternoon wind home, heavy enough to fish comfortably when there's a lump running.
Marco grew up crabbing with his uncle out of Chinook and has run charters off the Columbia mouth since 2004. He'll put you on fish, teach your kids to work a rod, and tell you exactly why the bar decides whether anyone fishes today — because out here, the bar is the boss.
Some days it's the fish box. Some days it's the whales, the sunrise, or just being out past the bar before the world wakes up.
Iced the minute they hit the deck — your fillets taste like it.
Grays and humpbacks work the same water we do. No extra charge.
Every day out here looks different. That's half the reason we go.
We're through the bar at dawn. The sunrise is part of the trip.
Cleaned and bagged at the dock — from deck to dinner table same day.
Flat calm off the cape. When you get one of these, you don't forget it.
"Limits of coho by 10 AM and the deckhand had my son fighting his own fish by the second drop. Marco called the weather straight all week — when he says go, you go."
"First tuna trip ever. 50 miles out, arms destroyed, cooler full. They cleaned everything at the dock while we grabbed lunch at the port. Already booked next August."
"Took my dad for his 70th. Weather pushed our first date and they rebooked us for two days later, no hassle. Boat's clean, gear's good, and the lingcod fishing was stupid fun."
Marco writes up the week from the cleaning table: what's biting, what the bar is doing, and which dates just opened up.
Limits of chinook three mornings out of five, most of them inside the first two hours. Coho are showing up behind them. The afternoon bar has been closing early, so morning boats are the ones to be on.
Capt. Marco · 3 min readWarm water pushed in closer than it has all summer. Two trips, 41 fish, and a lot of sore arms. Tuna runs leave at 4 AM and they are long days: read the what-to-bring list twice.
Capt. Marco · 2 min readThe state extended the lingcod and rockfish season, so we've put six more combo trips on the calendar. They're in the open dates below now, and they tend to go to locals first.
Capt. Marco · 1 min readThis is the boat's own calendar. Pick a date with seats left and they're held for you for 24 hours while the deposit link is on its way. Prefer to talk it through? Call or text any evening.
They're yours for 24 hours. Watch your phone: the deposit link comes by text, and the license and what-to-bring reminders follow the week before you fish.
July and August weekends book out by spring. Grab yours.