Oregon fishing report

Willamette Valley/Metro- Chinook fishing at Bonneville continues to slow although weekend boat anglers still tallied over 2 salmon per boat fishing in the area. Some bright fish are still being taken but as fish counts plummet, so will the opportunity for fresh fish. Sturgeon anglers working the gorge are still tagging keepers, especially near the deadline at Bonneville Dam. Success rates will continue to fall however as keepers get culled from the population and fish begin to enter a more lethargic period as temperatures drop. Squid and shrimp remain the favored baits. Flows at Willamette Falls remain moderate with water temperatures in the mid-50s. The better fishing is above the falls for smallmouth bass and trout. Slow but steady results are reported by fly anglers targeting fall trout on the McKenzie where the occasional steelhead hookup has been exciting. The North Santiam is somewhat high but the flow is steady. There are some steelhead and a few coho in the river but South Santiam prospects are somewhat better. Fishing is slow to fair on the Clackamas. Rain brought a few coho into Eagle Creek where the crowds have followed. Coho catches have been slow to fair on the Sandy River. Northwest – With other estuaries slowing, Tillamook will become the main focus of salmon anglers well into November. Fishing on Tillamook has been good this season with the later returning component of the run seemingly as strong as the early run. These late chinook are often destined for the Wilson and Kilchis systems and although they tend to be smaller in size, they do seem plentiful. Weaker tides had anglers focused along the north jetty, inside Tillamook Bay, where catches were good on Tuesday for herring trollers from Lyster’s Corner to the bay entrance. Charlie Wooldridge of Bay City tagged a rare hatchery coho and wild chinook. Wild coho remain plentiful on the north coast but most fisheries are closed with exception to the Nehalem and Siletz on the north coast. The Nehalem is likely to close very soon. Although inconsistent, the Nestucca has good numbers of chinook present with a fair percentage of hatchery origin. The Nehalem saw fair chinook catches on Saturday but slowed thereafter. The Salmon River is still surprisingly producing good catches of chinook but action should slow in the coming weeks. The Alsea should be peaking over the next few weeks, especially for bobber fishers working the tidewater areas. The ocean has been friendly enough to take advantage of deep reef bottomfishing, with limits of quality lingcod coming out of Garibaldi recently. Ocean crabbing closed on October 15th with impressive catches coming from those participating in this relatively new sport opportunity. Bay crabbing remains fair in Tillamook, Nehalem and Netarts estuaries and excellent in the lower Columbia River. Southwest – Offshore fishing for rockfish has been very good out of central Oregon ports while lingcod catches are slow to fair with the ocean open to all-depths for bottom fishing. Ocean forecasts indicate mild conditions through the coming weekend and perhaps one more chance for October albacore. The wild coho fishery at Tenmile which opened October 1 has yet to start producing decent catches. Effort is light by trollers dragging plugs and spinners. Chinook results remain decent and steady for trollers in Winchester Bay. Results for chinook slowed on Coos Bay this week. Catches and boat traffic have been very light. Crabbing has been excellent. At the last update from the ODFW, the wild coho fishery remains open on the Coos system with well over half of the 1,200-fish quota yet to be taken. The wild coho quota has been met but chinook fishing remains worthwhile out of Bandon. Fishing slowed in Rogue Bay and the lower river into the past weekend following several fairly productive days. At last report, only the occasional coho and a handful of jacks made up a day’s catch. Half-pounders are being caught at Agness. Steelheading has been good on the upper Rogue where it remains flies-only through October. Trollers are taking a few chinook in Brookings Harbor and the lower Chetco River. Eastern – Steelhead fishing has been a fair but steady affair on the lower Deschutes with fish scattered throughout. Redsides are responding to both dries and nymphs at times. Despite decent trout results, steelhead continue to get the most attention at this time of year. Crooked River fly fishers are hooking good numbers of smaller trout. The John Day Pool will likely begin to light up later in November for steelhead but trollers are taking a fair number of chinook in the reservoir. Catches for chinook will likely taper after this weekend however. Look for steelhead to start in by the middle of November.