Free Fishing Weekend is Saturday and Sunday, June 7th and 8th. Clam, crab or fish anywhere in Oregon without a license or tag.
Willamette Valley/Metro - Bonneville has been producing fair results for chinook but anglers are in the full swing of shad fishing. The sky's the limit when shad fishing and some chinook are falling to shad gear as well. The wild to hatchery ratio strongly favors the “high-finned” variety.
Fish passage at Willamette Falls has been declining since mid-May. About 20,000 springers have crossed with another 7,500 retained by anglers in the lower river. Currently, Chinook fishing is very slow. Boats fishing the stretch from the St. Johns Bridge to the head of Multnomah Channel have been getting a few hits and, occasionally, a springer. Catch and release sturgeon fishing is steady on the lower river near Swan Island and at the Toyota Hole. Darts, grubs and small spoons are taking good numbers of shad at Oregon City. Middle Fork Willamette fly anglers are enjoying moderate flows and decent results for trout and summer steelhead.
McKenzie River flows took a jump on Monday this week and may be subject to further impact from snowmelt due to warm weather this week. Once the water starts to drop, caddis patterns will work for trout. There will be some summer steelhead in the system as well.
A couple of summer steelhead were taken recently at Mehama on the North Santiam and the river near the bridge at Mill City has produced a few. Fishing has been slow but springers are entering the mainstem and the lower South Santiam. Try bobber and eggs.
On the Clackamas, bank fishers at McIver are using jigs and spinners to entice summer steelhead. Targeting springers with bobber & bait has been marginally effective with water levels low and running clear. Fish early mornings and practice stealth techniques. Conditions aren't going to improve over the coming week.
Springers have been taken on the Sandy River this week by anglers targeting steelhead with bobber & bait near the mouth of Cedar Creek. Dodge Park has also produced a few springers recently.
Free fishing weekend is June 7 and 8 during which no license or tag is required but all fishing rules and regulations still apply.
Northwest – A nice soft tide series should produce good spring chinook catches on lower Tillamook Bay. Target the Ghost Hole and West Channel on the incoming tide but focus on the inside of the north jetty on the second half of outgoing tide this weekend. There's still time to register for the Bounty on the Bay event at: www.tbnep.org. This tide series will likely be the last productive one for the bay fishery. Moss continues to impede success in the upper reaches.
Lower Columbia River fishers are still getting chinook and a rare steelhead downstream of Longview. Those putting in the time admit that the ratio of wild to hatchery is about 4:1 but the fish are of quality size. Plugs remain the favorite for anchor anglers while spin-n-glos tipped with coon or sand shrimp are taking fish from shore.
Sturgeon fishers are seeing fair to good catches in the estuary. Both oversize and keeper sized fish are present, falling to both smelt and sand shrimp but given the abnormal amount of live anchovies at the mouth of the river, sturgeon should respond well to this bait as well.
Predicted winds are not coming to fruition but a large swell is in the forecast. If the ocean remains calm, bottomfishing out of northern ports could prove productive. Salmon trollers working the shoreline just to the north of the mouth of the Columbia scored excellent results for chinook on the opener; it remains fin-clipped only until mid-month.
Southwest- Central coast ports have been producing limits or near-limits of lingcod and rockfish when offshore winds have allowed boats to launch.
As of the last all-depth halibut opener on May 22-24, 50% of the 113,229-pound quota had been bagged. The next opportunity to ply the depths for halibut will be June 5-7 but offshore winds are forecasted to be wicked.
Pinkfin perch are entering Winchester Bay on their annual spawning run. Anglers on the lower Umpqua have been scoring good numbers of them over the past week.
Windy conditions cut down on ocean launches out of Coos Bay where catches of rockfish and lingcod have been good and chinook fishing slow when boats have gotten out. Bay crabbing is slow.
High winds kept sport and charter craft from launching out of Gold Beach much of the time over the past week. When boats were able to get out, rockfish and lingcod limits were taken as well as ocean crab. Spring chinook catches picked up on the lower Rogue due in part to more than 1,000 salmon recycled downriver from the hatchery over the past week. Low flows and high water temperatures have stalled catches on the middle river. Anglers on the upper Rogue are taking fair to good numbers of springers, primarily by backbouncing bait. Only hatchery salmon may be kept.
Brookings Harbor was once again the top Oregon port for ocean chinook over the past week. Divers and flashers trailing herring or anchovy are scoring fish. Chinook are in the upper 50 foot depths over 150 to 200 feet of water. Rockfishing has been excellent just outside the harbor.
Of the roughly 3,700-pound quota allowed to be taken in the south coast halibut quota, 58% remains to be caught.
A Free Fishing Weekend event at Diamond Lake on June 6th is expected to attract more than 600 children.
Eastern – Deschutes redside action has been on one day, off the next from Warm Springs to Trout Creek. When the big bugs are active, good results may be expected. Otherwise, downsized offerings and nymphs have been filling the gap.
Trout fishing has been steady at the Crooked River although it has been crowded at times. ODF&W's annual fish sampling program begins the week of June 16th which will curtail success and compromise access while this important work is being conducted.
Trout fishing is fair to good on nymphs following a recent stocking at Wallowa Lake. Wallowa River is colored-up and running high but is producing trout along the banks.
Grande Ronde River levels are good for floating with Salmon Flies and Stoneflies on the move now.
Green Peter is producing kokanee to trollers using hoochies, spinners or spoons behind flashers on downriggers in the 40 to 50 foot depths.
Kokanee catches have been fair but steady at Wickiup. A kokanee derby is scheduled here on June 14th.
