Willamette Valley/Metro- Anchor fishing from Longview to Bonneville Dam is ramping up with wobbler anglers reporting good success, although inconsistent from 30 to 45 foot of water. Anglers must be cognizant of where they anchor as ship traffic has the right-of-way. The next two weeks should be peak fishing in the Portland to Longview stretch.
Bonneville counts are impressive now. It would be worth your time to take kids to the fish-viewing window just to see the magnitude of this run. Summer steelhead numbers are dropping but mid-river action, especially near the mouth of the Deschutes should continually be improving. Sturgeon retention in the Bonneville stretch won’t open for another month.
Fall chinook and coho are crossing Willamette Falls in modest number. Bass fishing is good on the Willamette and will only get better as fall approaches.
The McKenzie remains in decent shape thanks to a wet spring and good snow pack. Trout and steelhead are being caught.
Santiam flows should remain steady until fall rains. Fishing is slow on the North Santiam, fair on the South Santiam.
A few steelhead have been caught on the Clackamas. Remaining spring chinook are dark. Coho should start showing up in fair numbers this week but often are reluctant biters.
Jigs & spinners are taking the occasional steelhead on the murky Sandy River but overall it's slow. Coho will be the target here soon.
Northwest – Hatchery coho showed in force on the Washington side just above the Astoria Bridge on Labor Day. Although limits are not consistent, it is the best hatchery coho fishing of the season. Coinciding with this fishery, the Tongue Point chinook bite turned on the next day. Chinook limits were common on Tuesday and Wednesday with many jacks legally retained as well. This fishery closes after September 9th but will remain open above Warrior Rock near St. Helens and increase to a two chinook bag limit until further notice.
Ocean fishers out of the Columbia are still catching coho and chinook but river action is much better.
The all-salmon ocean fishery closed to wild and hatchery coho salmon last night. Higher than anticipated angler effort and very successful catch rates allowed anglers to attain the quota faster than what was modeled. The ocean will remain open to chinook salmon however and action should pick up near estuary mouths, particularly Tillamook Bay.
The Tillamook, Nestucca, Salmon River, Siletz River and Alsea River estuaries should all be good options for lower bay herring trolling this weekend. Estuary mouths can be a dangerous place to fish so be sure your safety equipment is in good working order. Soft tides this weekend should produce fair catches for this early in the season.
Tuna anglers are struggling to find consistent success but they are averaging large right now. Interest is waning with most enthusiasts already looking forward to next summer.
Ocean crabbing is picking up and should stay good with the extended recreational fishery lasting through mid-October.
Southwest – The ocean coho fishery which allows retention of either wild or hatchery fish, closed Wednesday night. This section of the ocean will remain open to chinook however.
Tuna fishing has been hit or miss off the central coast but decent for those who locate schools of albacore and use live bait or jigs. Keeping one fish hooked up at all times keeps the school of fish interested.
Crabbing is fair to good at Winchester Bay. Smallmouth catches are excellent on the South Umpqua while steelheading on the North Umpqua has been slow.
Chinook fishing was fair to good on Coos Bay over the Labor Day weekend with very heavy boat traffic.
Boats launching out of Port Orford have done well for albacore over the past week.
Charters out of Gold Beach have been doing well for bottom fish despite the 20-fathom depth restriction. Limits of rockfish were taken recently along with good catches of lingcod to 30 pounds or better. Offshore salmon fishing also improved over the past week. Trollers using anchovies have continued to take chinook in Rogue Bay. Wrapped Kwikfish are taking fair to good numbers of chinook on the middle Rogue. Steelheading is good on the upper Rogue, which is flies-only through October.
Eastern – With the waters of the Deschutes markedly cooler than the Columbia, summer steelhead are entering in good numbers now, creating a fishery described by some as the best in 20 years.
Green Peter is producing good catches of kokanee averaging 14 inches.
Paulina has been very slow while nearby East Lake is producing good numbers of smallish kokanee
Fishing has been slow at Crane Prairie over the past week.
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