Oregon fishing report

Willamette Valley/Metro- Don’t forget to purchase your new 2012 angling licenses and tags. Also return your 2011 tags whether you punched a keeper or not. Smelt often make a showing in the lower Columbia River on a weather system such as what we experiencing. This may stimulate the bite in the St. Helens area and downstream but the regions smelt population is currently listed and unlawful to harvest by either sport or commercial fishers. The Willamette is high and roiled this week. The 2012 lower Willamette sturgeon retention fishery will be decided in January, open in February and may be only two weekends in duration due to a shortage of keeper-sized fish. Rain this week has the McKenzie out of shape but the level is predicted to be dropping in the coming week. The Santiam system is high and angry this week. Clackamas water levels are forecast to rise nearly six feet at Estacada but will be dropping through the New Year's weekend. Steelhead will enter with the freshet. Although there aren’t as many steelhead on Eagle Creek as there used to be, recent precipitation should flood the system with fresh fish headed for the hatchery. Steelheading has been fair on the Sandy. This glacial river will experience a moderate impact from rain this week with levels dependent on freezing levels on Mount Hood. Northwest – Steelhead angler’s long awaited rain freshet is now pounding coastal systems, with water conditions less than ideal until we near the New Year. If weather models remain accurate, smaller systems like the Highway 30 streams, the Necanicum and Kilchis may offer some opportunities. The North Fork Nehalem and Three Rivers will be outstanding options however once they clear and that may be as early as Friday. Larger systems such as the Wilson, Trask and Nestucca are further off and may not fish until early of next week. When those systems do clear, the Wilson will be a top bet for hatchery and wild fish with excellent opportunities for bank fishers at the Dam Hole on the Trask, even in high water. Plunkers will be the first to produce measureable results, targeting moving fish in the shallow water not far from shore. Steelhead will be moving in the slower flows close to the bank to avoid burning valuable calories on their upstream migration. Large colored lures like the spin-n-glo, tipped with eggs should produce fair results for systems with heavier concentrations of fish. When flows subside to “steelhead green”, side-drifters will score the best results with the upper reaches of these systems producing the best early and the lower reaches as flows continue to subside. As we enter what appears to be the authentic Oregon winter weather pattern, steelheaders may find that they only have short windows of opportunity between systems. High winds will put large trees down, making all systems potentially dangerous at any river level. This is the time of year to proceed with extreme caution. Sturgeon anglers found good success in Tillamook Bay prior to the holiday. The west channel of Tillamook Bay produced the most consistent catches for anglers using sand shrimp. The middle of next week may produce the next such opportunity for anglers working the late outgoing tide. Southwest – Ocean crabbing, open north of Gold Beach, has been slow to fair while results in bays and estuaries have been good. Offshore crabbing opens south of Gold Beach on January 15th. On rare winter days when boats have been able to get out on the ocean, lingcod fishing has been very good while rockfish catches have been spotty. Early winter steelhead results have been slow on the Coos and Coquille but precipitation this week should turn things around as water levels start to drop. Winter steelhead are scattered on the Umpqua mainstem but catches have been spotty. Fishing has remained slow on the North Umpqua. Rain this week should finally move winter steelhead into the South Umpqua which opened the 1st of December but has had no winters available. Steelheading in the low. clear waters of the Chetco was surprisingly good over the past weekend. Once the river recovers from rain this week it should be excellent. There is very little action on the lower Rogue at this time but the freshet this week should rejuvenate winter steelheading. Reports indicate only a few steelhead and half-pounders in the Agness stretch with the middle Rogue producing the occasional winter fish. Summer steelheading has been fair but steady on the upper Rogue for smoker-quality fish. Rain this week is putting much-needed water in the Elk and Sixes rivers. Fresh fish will enter but early chinook are already spawning. It might be time to think winter steelhead here. Eastern – Results on the Deschutes have been spotty for steelheaders. There are a few fish around but they have obviously been in fresh water for a while. Deep trolled jigs and large plugs are taking fair to good catches of lake trout at Crescent Lake. Steelheaders working the John Day area are starting to see their fishery begin to fade.