Oregon Fishing Report

Updated for for the week of August 19th – August 25th, 2005
Oregon Fishing Update

Anglers that haven't made it down to Buoy 10 will be glad to hear that they haven't missed anything. This fishery is so due to explode however and that I may be fighting a double right now as you are reading this text! The weekend fishing should be the best we've seen so far. The week ahead will offer the best opportunity of the season for quality kings. That is, if the run hasn't been mis-predicted.

The ocean out of Astoria continues to frustrate anglers. Fin-clipped coho seem to be hard to find but should begin to show if they are going to. Chinook are beginning to make up a higher percentage of the catch but limits are not easy to come by. Most anglers are turning south to get their fish but Chinook should be coming from the North.

Summer steelheaders on the lower Columbia will have ideal tides over the weekend. The minus tide series should keep steelhead hugging the beaches where bank anglers fishing spin-n-glos could intercept good numbers of larger B run fish.

The estuary and the gorge consumptive sturgeon fishery is now closed. The water below the Wauna power lines won't re-open until the new year but above, it re-opens in October. Great catch and release options exist in both the estuary and gorge areas. Everyone is after salmon however.

The Deschutes River mouth remains sporadic however more fish seem to be passing into the pool and conditions should improve by the end of this month.

The Grande Rhonde is fishing well for trout and John Day River on the East side continues to kick out smallies with catfishing picking up.

The summer Chinook fishery in Nehalem Bay has been poor and likely won't pick up anytime soon. The big tide exchange over the weekend may bring on a bite in the upper reaches of the estuary but jaws trollers will find it difficult to fish effectively with herring.

Siletz anglers may see another flush of Fall chinook this weekend with the strong tidal exchange. Pressure is on in the Umpqua below the bridge but fishing is spotty. Rogue steelheaders are enjoying decent angling for half-pounders.

The second offshore salmon season opened Sunday, August 13th for a 29-day run through September 11th from South of Port Orford to Horse Mountain in California. Fishing has been slow.

The ODFW trout stocking remains in a mid-summer lull with only Carmen Reservoir planted in the Willamette Valley this week. In the Deschutes watershed, rainbows were stocked in Spring Creek and Devils Lake.