Willamette Valley/Metro - The Northern Pikeminnow Sport-Reward Program on the Columbia River starts May 1st.
Columbia River anglers posted good catches on the 1-day extension. Fishery managers are reviewing catch stats but another opener is unlikely, at least until late May or June. Steelhead season opens in mid-May.
Trollers using herring, either whole or plug-cut, but generally behind a flasher, have been hooking up with springers on the lower Willamette from the Sellwood Bridge to Portland Harbor. Some are opting for prawn spinners in the mid-50-degree water. Boaters in Oregon City have also seen their share of action. Bank anglers at Meldrum Bar had to content themselves with being spectators earlier this week as the only springers landed were by those fishing from boats although a couple were landed from the bank at Dahl Park. The Willamette if forecast to receive about 58,700 spring Chinook this year. Many of those will make it past the falls while about 4,000 should enter the Clackamas.
Fly anglers on the lower McKenzie are enjoying great water conditions and good results with native redsides and cutthroat. March Brown dries and nymphs are taking fish now.
If the rising waters of the Santiam system had sufficient numbers of fish to tempt an angler, rising water conditions this week would be enough to ward them off.
Springers are being taken at the mouth of the Clackamas and are scattered upriver. A few are being hooked on hardware. Try locations where natural obstacles cause salmon to hold. Fishing for winter steelhead is fair with the best chance of a hookup high on the river. The first decent push of summer steelhead should occur in a couple of weeks. Expect to find the water level rising this week although it should start to drop by the weekend.
The Sandy is rising this week but should be starting to moderate by Saturday this week. Sandy River spring chinook anglers have been taking a few fish but the better part of the season still lies in the future. Bobber fishers using bait or jigs have taken some from parks along the river. The Sandy is forecast to receive 5,500 spring chinook this season with the peak coming in late April and early May.
The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife will host a free family fishing event at Trojan Pond southeast of Rainier from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, April 26.
For many Oregon anglers, the 2014 trout season officially kicks off on Saturday, April 26 with the opening of many lakes around the state. Check your angling synopsis or online at www.dfw.or.us to determine which water bodies are effected.
Northwest – Effort remains low for steelhead on the north coast but those that participated in the Nestucca and Wilson fisheries recently have reported big numbers of spawned out fish. Only a rare fresh fish exists and summer run steelhead remain elusive.
Spring chinook have been reported in Tillamook Bay but anglers won't expect much until mid-May. This run often mimics the Willamette return, which is likely to come in mediocre this season.
Offshore anglers remain anxious to fish bottomfish out of Garibaldi; they'll still have to wait for better ocean conditions not seen in the foreseeable future.
Southwest- While offshore winds moderated early this week, ocean swells remained too big for boats to launch. Bottom fishing is excellent when anglers can get to the fish. Boats launching out of Newport over the past weekend limited on large lingcod.
All-depth halibut opens May 8-10 with additional opportunities every other week or until the quota of 113,229 pounds is met or the summer season starts August 1. The nearshore halibut fishery will open on July 1, seven days a week. A new sub-area has been set up south of Humbug Mountain to the OR/CA border with a quota of 3,712 pounds.
Spring Chinook have continued to enter the mainstem Umpqua which has provided early-season action for plug pullers on the lower river. While it is getting late in the season for winter steelhead, anglers have continued to catch decent numbers of hatchery fish on the South Umpqua. The run is above average this year.
Ocean chinook remain scattered which has made it difficult for offshore boaters to locate fish. Results improved when boats could launch out of Charleston recently, however, with best results in water depths of 50 to 150 feet.
Waters of the lower Rogue have continued to drop and clear this week, creating challenging conditions for spring chinook hopefuls. Best chance to hook a springer is below Quosatana Creek. Steelheaders are getting a few winters but most are of poor quality now. Level and flow are supposed to rise through the coming weekend which should trigger the bite as the river recovers. Anglers on the middle Rogue have it a little tougher with rising water, few steelhead and fewer springers passing through. It has been slow on this stretch. There are still a few winters amidst the incoming spring chinook on the upper Rogue where fishing remains fair.
Charter and sport boats are taking limits or near limits of rockfish and lingcod whenever they have been able to launch out of the Port of Brookings.
Diamond Lake has been producing limits for some boaters fishing bait in 35-foot depths over 45 feet of water.
Eastern – The lower Deschutes water level dropped through April 19th but has been stable since that date. Fly anglers are using March Brown and Blue Winged Olive patterns to take resides at a fair to good clip.
Anglers are starting to fish the Crooked River despite water flows much greater than a month ago.
Smallmouth bass fishing is heating up on the John Day River. The largest smallies of the year are historically landed here in April.
Kokanee fishing has been slow at Green Peter with none of the trollers fishing this week approaching the 25-fish limit.
