Oregon fishing report

Willamette Valley/Metro- Do you have your 2012 fishing licenses and tags yet? Be sure to acquire them before your first fishing trip of the year, it can be a costly oversight. Reports of salmon taken by sea-lions near Astoria are speculative but quite possible. Spring chinook have been taken in January in both the mainstem Columbia and Willamette Rivers and with a good run forecast this year, it could happen again. Sea-lions may also be present for smelt, which are likely to enter this time of year as well but remain closed to sport and commercial harvest. The lower Willamette River level crested on New Year’s Eve and has been gradually dropping since although it remains off-color. Steelhead aren't moving over the Falls in high water but plunkers at Meldrum will be getting busy this week. Sturgeon fishing should improve once levels taper off again but it remains open to catch and release opportunity only until further notice. McKenzie levels spiked near the end of 2011 but have been dropping since. It remains a little high for best results. The Santiam system is forecast to remain high through the coming week. Water levels on the Clackamas are quite fishable this week and the river is clearing. Fresh winter steelhead entered with rainfall over the past weekend. Eagle Creek has been slow but showed signs of improvement recently. For the limited numbers of hatchery steelhead still returning, this week should provide some fair opportunity. Sandy levels are still high and off color this week. Clarity will improve as the freezing level drops. Fresh winter steelhead are in the system. Northwest – Steelheaders are coming into their best opportunity in weeks but early indicators aren’t what some would have expected. Smaller systems like the Necanicum and North Fork Nehalem were in prime shape late in the weekend. The Necanicum produced best on Sunday but there is a large obstruction that will likely cause boaters to drag driftboats across gravel. This situation will get more challenging as water levels drop. The North Fork Nehalem produced good catches amongst the high angler effort early in the week but will taper as flows drop. The Wilson fished poorly on Tuesday but remained a bit high for optimum results. The Trask and Nestucca posted similar results early in the week and with another rain likely to rise river levels on Thursday, high water will persist into the weekend. Although some steelhead should certainly be present on these systems, the better action is likely to take place later in early spring. A good mixture of broodstock and wild steelhead will enter in better numbers by mid-February. Early run hatchery fish may already be making their way into smaller tributaries to spawn in the next few weeks. Sturgeon anglers focused on Tillamook Bay are yielding results. Good tides for sturgeon take place now through the weekend with the best action likely just prior to low slack. The west channel of Tillamook will likely produce the most consistent results but other narrow channels in the middle of the estuary will also hold feeding keepers. Crabbing in Tillamook Bay is slow but some anglers are getting fair numbers in Netarts Bay. The mouths of these coastal estuaries are extremely dangerous this time of year so check motor reliability and safety equipment before heading out. Lives are lost nearly every year. Southwest – Offshore boats are taking good numbers of lingcod when ocean conditions have allowed them to get out. Rockfish catches have been fair to good. Last week's storm caused a predictable slowing of Dungeness success in bays and estuaries but results will improve this week as salinity levels rise. Winter steelhead will be available in the South Umpqua as it drops and clears from the weekend freshet. Steelheaders on the Coos and South Fork Coquille Rivers are expected to do well this week as water conditions improve with dry weather. Plunkers took winter steelhead on the lower Rogue following the storm over the past weekend. Bait and lures will be effective this week as the river settles down. Winter steelhead will be into middle Rogue stretches with the freshet moving fish upriver. Bait is legal river-wide as of January 1. Still a little high early this week, the Chetco should be in excellent shape this coming weekend. Plunkers have been doing well for hatchery winter steelhead but conventional techniques will become effective as water conditions improve. Waters of the Elk were high and muddy on New Year’s Day but dry weather this week will provide good conditions as the river produces winter steelhead. Eastern – Metolius fly anglers have been making fair catches using nymphs although Blue-Winged Olives are hatching afternoons. The occasional bull trout has been taken. Winter fly fishing has been decent for whitefish on the Crooked River. John Day anglers are still taking steelhead although the bulk of the catch are wild and must be released unharmed.