Oregon Fishing Report

Willamette Valley/Metro- Under permanent rule, the mainstem Columbia is open now to spring chinook fishing but effort will be very low, at least until March brings more promise. Sport seasons were recently set through the bi-state process allowing boat angling seven days per week from March 1 through April 6 from Buoy 10 upstream to Beacon Rock. Bank angling will be allowed during the same time frame from Buoy 10 upstream to Bonneville Dam. There will be three Tuesday closures – Mar. 20, Mar. 27 and Apr. 3 – to accommodate commercial fisheries. The first spring chinook of the season passed Bonneville Dam last week. The lower Willamette water level has been on the drop but remains swift and muddy. In the recent decision by fishery managers regarding the spring chinook season, the lower Willamette fishery remained unscathed. It will be open seven days a week with a 2-fish bag limit for as long as the run lasts. The McKenzie has yet to recover from the high water event although there is hope for the week to come. The Santiam System will remain too high to be of interest through the coming week. Still a little high but with good color, the Clackamas will be dropping through the coming weekend. Steelheading has been slow but broodstock fish should begin showing in better numbers in the weeks ahead. Hardware and fly fishers are taking steelhead on the Sandy River. Use caution on soft sand riverbanks. Snow levels dictate river conditions but conditions should remain favorable for a while. Northwest – Anglers received a glimmer of hope as river levels on some north coast streams dipped low enough to produce unexpectedly good results last weekend. Steelheaders side-drifting from boats and drift- fishing from shore did exceptionally well around Mills Bridge on the Wilson last Saturday. The river started to rise from another storm however and just began to fish again mid-week. The conditions should be ideal for weekend anglers and although there should be fair numbers of fish available in what will certainly be an excellent year for winter steelhead, don’t expect easy limits this time of year. The ideal conditions will draw a significant crowd. The North Fork Nehalem also received another shot of hatchery steelhead and anglers fishing near the hatchery deadline produced good results. This system and the Necanicum may be too clear for great results over the weekend and low water typically makes boating more hazardous. Bank anglers should continue to do well however as fish are well distributed throughout these systems. The North Fork Nehalem hatchery is recycling fresh fish back downstream and darker fish to Lake Lytle in Rockaway. Spent fish in these systems do bite well but aren’t good for eating. The Nestucca and upper Trask Rivers should also have fishable numbers of steelhead available. The Trask will primarily produce wild fish along with the Nestucca but the Nestucca should have a fair shot of broodstock fish entering the system as well. Weekend tides and weather look conducive to a sturgeon outing for Tillamook Bay anglers. Although the fishery is more challenging to figure out, success can be good in a relatively un-crowded water body. Offshore fishing and crabbing remain a poor option through the weekend. Southwest – Bottom fishing has been good offshore but not a given. Charter boats have had to move around to find rockfish and lingcod but once located, limits have been the rule. Ocean crabbing has been slow due to rough ocean conditions almost daily over the past several weeks. A few Dungeness have been taken in Winchester Bay but it's still slow. Now that the Umpqua has dropped into shape, steelheading has improved with the South Umpqua reliably producing hatchery fish. Steelheaders hooked up with wild fish over the past weekend on the North Umpqua. When ocean conditions have allowed, lingcod limits have been taken out of Charleston. Coos Bay crabbing has yet to recover from the freshet resulting from recent storms. Plunkers did well for winter steelhead over the past weekend on the lower Rogue but in the absence of precipitation, all forms of bank and boat fishing will take fish. Water conditions on the middle Rogue were coming into shape late last week with plug-pullers and side-drifters taking fish recently. With good numbers of winter steelhead already snug in the Cole Rivers Hatchery, there are enough in the upper Rogue to create a worthwhile fishery. Steelheading on the Elk and Sixes rivers will improve into the coming weekend as rainfall has stopped, allowing the water to drop and clear. One wild steelhead per day may be retained from either river. Eastern – Nymphing has been marginally effective in the cold, high water of the Deschutes. Steelheading is done as fish have moved into tributaries to spawn. Boat anglers fishing The Dalles Pool were averaging an unprecedented 3 fish per rod on the last creel check. Although 2/3 of the fish are wild, the ratio still worked out to be a keeper hatchery fish per angler. Fishing is good on the Crooked River despite low, clear water. Typical winter hatches of midges and Blue-Winged-Olives are occurring early in the afternoon. Soapbox Update: Do you care about how you go about catching your annual supply of salmon? As conservation-minded anglers, we should. Currently, scientists believe that not enough is known about critical populations of forage fish in our nation’s oceans. Learn more about this campaign and the critical work its experts are doing to secure this valuable food source for our great sport fish here: www.pewenvironment.org/pacificfish but also stop by their booth, booth #159, at the Pacific Northwest Sportsmen Show beginning this Wednesday, February 8th. SW Washington – The Cowlitz saw a rebound in steelhead catches once flows dropped. Boat anglers averaged nearly a steelhead per rod and bank anglers did about half that good. The Kalama and Lewis should produce some results over the weekend. These rivers are dropping into excellent shape right now. The Washougal is also an option but high effort only produced fair results on the last check.