Do not pity the salmon fisherman who lives in Portland. He's city-bound, but he is doubly blessed. And it's never more apparent than during the storied spring chinook season.

The reach from Oxbow Launch to Dabney Park should be a great drift this year on Sandy River. Guide Jack Glass (right) found success for this angler last year. Photo courtesy of Team Hook-Up Guide Service.

In May, Portlanders are used to the sight of boats anchored and lined up in the Willamette River, or drift boats floating the Clackamas River in Oregon City and the Sandy in Troutdale. Just across the Columbia River north of Vancouver, the Cowlitz, Kalama and Lewis rivers sport great hatchery runs of chunky, strong-fighting, great-tasting springers.

That means that within 45 minutes' drive of downtown Portland, there are six rivers that offer local anglers a chance at the most sought-after game fish in the Northwest.

These are the lower Columbia spring chinooks, often called "snow-bellies" because of their white undersides. Upper river chinooks have darker stomachs and faces. They are headed up above Bonneville Dam.

The lower river fish also average a little bigger than the upriver springers. A 3-year-old lower river springer will usually run about 12 to 15 pounds, and the 4- to 5-year-olds can run up to 30 pounds.

But know this: These fisheries have struggled in recent years. Although there are signs of a recovery in the future, it will probably be another year before anglers see a return to the days of fat runs. It is possible that half of these streams will see reductions in limits or fishing days, and one or two may be shut down completely.

However, there are bright spots as well. While this may not be a banner year, residents of the Portland-Vancouver area will still have good opportunities to land some nice spring chrome footballs without burning a lot of gas.

Now is the time anglers transition from fishing the big Columbia River to fishing the tributaries. The bulk of the spring chinook run has gone up the Columbia and are staged at the mouths of feeder rivers, where anglers try to troll them up. By the end of May, the fish are stacked up in the deep holes of the smaller rivers, and the bankies get their chance at the fish.

By June, the runs are slowing down on some streams, but others offer good fishing into July.

With that in mind, here are six good reasons Portlanders should stay close to home in May.

SANDY RIVER
The Sandy River enters the Columbia River near Troutdale, and the mouth of the river gets a lot of attention from salmon fishermen in the first week of May. Fishermen troll herring, plugs and spinners for the schools of fish, or they anchor on outgoing tides with sardine-wrapped Kwikfish. The mouth of the river is notoriously shallow and sandy, but high spring flows in the Columbia often allow anglers to troll as high as the Interstate 84 bridge.