Oregon fishing reports

Willamette Valley/Metro- A myriad of weather has kept the Willamette Valley rivers high and rolling. In between fronts, there have been a few short lived opportunities to get on the water when conditions allow.

 

Both the Sandy and Clackamas Rivers produced a few of steelhead last week for anglers dodging the storms. On the Sandy, the stretch between Dodge Park and Oxbow Park has been holding up well despite the amount of rain and reports have come in of a few good fishing days..

 

On the Clackamas, slightly higher flows than optimum have been the norm but most days the color has been "steelhead green". The river from McIver Park down to Carver has been producing and fishes the best when flows are on the high side.

 

A few steelhead were caught at Meldrum Bar on the Willamette River last week when the water approached "green", but a brown stain is back and will likely stick around for another week. Still, opportunity remains if anglers fish close to shore with bright fluorescent, spinning lures doused with scent and/or bait.

 

Sturgeon fishing in the Portland Harbor has slowed a bit as did the effort, but good numbers of fish should be available through April till the Columbia begins to warm a few degrees. Weather and cold water have kept the pressure on the Columbia River to an absolute minimum.

Northwest –  Highway 30 streams will once again fish after the most recent high water event. The streams have received a large portion of their early returning steelhead but more fish should be on the way. These rivers fish the best when other larger systems are too high to effectively pursue steelhead.

Further south, the Necanicum River deserves a good look. Although boat anglers have had a difficult time accessing the lower reaches, fish were taken taken there last week in the lower flows. Willing fish are most often found at the heads of holes and in water that is between three and 5 foot deep with a broken surface.

The Kilchis River, another small stream option in Tillamook County is also holding fish. Driftboats and bank anglers fishing the lower flows of the Kilchis over the weekend did not fare well. The Kilchis River seemingly received a poor return of chinook this fall and early winter.

 

The Wilson River was in much better shape over the weekend, with ideal levels for both boat and bank anglers. Traffic was high with only fair reports coming from anglers pursuing both salmon and steelhead. Most Wilson River anglers choose to fish the lower reaches of the river in pursuit of fish that ride the tide upstream. In the early morning, tailouts will hold both salmon and steelhead while later in the day, salmon and steelhead will seek different water types for the remainder of the day.

 

Those fishing small streams for early returning steelhead are still targeting the North Fork Nehalem as well as Three Rivers. As is typically the case, most anglers are targeting fish near the hatcheries from where they were liberated from.

 

The Nestucca and Trask Rivers also still have options but salmon fishing is fading to nothing. Steelhead returns to the systems are slow right now but will improve as January comes around.

 

Southwest- Charters reporting that high winds and heavy seas have made storm watching the only available activity. While winter bottom fishing and ocean crabbing are usually excellent, a break in conditions will be required to get out.

 

Now that coastal rivers have recovered from storm front passage, the salinity level in bays and estuaries is returning to normal and, with it, good catches of crab.

 

The Siletz, Alsea and Siuslaw rivers have been producing winter steelhead with a few large hatchery fish reported over the past week.

 

Steelhead will be good when the Umpqua recovers from heavy rain early this week.

 

Winter steelheading was good on the Coos River until water levels came up on Monday this week.

 

Steelheading was worthwhile on the lower Rogue until another storm front raised water levels overnight on December 18th. When flows recover, fishing will be worthwhile river-wide.  Most of the winter steelhead hooked on the lower Rogue recently have been wild, requiring release, but good numbers of hookups have certainly made the effort worthwhile.

 

While the winter steelhead run has yet to peak on the Chetco River, catches were good over the past week. With plugs a top producer, the occasional hookup with a late chinook has been a real handful. Drifted roe has also been effective for some steelheaders.

 

Anglers on the Elk River caught decent numbers of chinook and steelhead over the past week but results stalled over the weekend. High winds are often challenging here.

 

Eastern – Water level, flow and temperature are good with the river a little colored from recent rain. Steelheading has been slow.  Fishing for redsides has been fair to good, however, with caddis and Blue-Winged-Olives hatching mid-day.

 

As long as Crooked River flows remain low, fishing will be reliable here. Check weather conditions as snow has been falling periodically.

 

SW Washington- Although returns to local area hatcheries are less than half of what they were last season, catches are still coming from the Cowlitz when flows cooperate. Most of the action is around the trout hatchery which is common for this time of year.

 

The Lewis, Kalama and Washougal systems are also options for early returning steelhead but returns are also reflecting another down year for adults. Chinook remain an option on the Lewis River but the condition and quantity of fish are fading.

 

Check the WDF&W web site for additional trout fishing opportunities this time of year.