Oregon fishing reports for 1/24/2013

Willamette Valley/Metro- Continued cold, icy conditions have made for tough fishing and reduced effort on the valley rivers and streams. The Willamette at Oregon City has squeaked out a few steelhead from Meldrum Bar but anglers are spread thin like the fish. Water clarity is about optimum but the temperature is less than, making for a slow bite. A few sturgeon are bending rods down in the Portland harbor, but effort here is diminishing as well.

 

Snowmelt pushed the McKenzie levels to the 4,000 cfs range this week. It offers fair winter fishing for redsides.

 

North Santiam levels are forecast to be rising this week while the South Santiam will gradually drop. There are a few steelhead in the system.

 

The Clackamas has dropped below prime level and although pressure is light, a few steelies are being checked. Most anglers are reporting a lack of clipped hatchery steelhead in contrast to the abundance of native fish. Low water techniques will sometime prevail, with a "nightmare" pattern jig under a bobber being the go-to.

 

Although very low and clear, the Sandy River still has been kicking out a smattering of winter steelhead. The hatchery keepers are more abundant here and have rendered the catch about 50/50 wild to hatchery reared. Bobber and jig set-ups will shine best here with the drought like conditions. 

 

Northwest –  All systems except the mainstem Nehalem have been running low and clear causing anglers to employ low-water tactics for minimal success.

 

Despite a fair tide series, it appears that few fish came in over the weekend but anglers still took to the rivers in pursuit of faint hopes.

 

The Wilson River, one of the top prospects on the North coast for fresh steelhead, produced poorly from top to bottom under these conditions. An occasional broodstock fish was caught with a mix of some spent hatchery fish that are in poor condition.

 

The Nestucca River produced much the same results with only a few fish taken over the weekend that were of any quality or size.

 

Some native steelhead are beginning to show and that will be the case for most North coast rivers. The exception is the Wilson and the Nestucca, which will produce fresh hatchery late-run fish as well as natives, into early April.

 

Rain is in the forecast along with warming temperatures which could spur another shot of fish over the weekend.

 

Anglers should expect a lull in fresh fish until mid-February.

 

With a good tide series over the weekend, sturgeon anglers pursued keepers on Tillamook Bay with limited success.

 

Despite an ocean free of wind waves, anglers were not allowed over the Tillamook Bay bar to pursue offshore species such as rockfish and crab. A significant swell persisted through the weekend. Don't look for offshore opportunities to improve anytime soon.

 

 

Southwest- Boats have been unable to launch recently out of Newport and Depoe Bay, a common problem in the wintertime. Good fishing and crabbing awaits when offshore conditions allow.

 

North Umpqua anglers are catching a few steelhead and while most fish here are natives, an 18-pounder was caught and released late last week.

 

Coos Bay crabbing is good. The Coos as well as the Coquille Rivers will fish well for steelhead as they drop following rainfall this week.

Steelhead catches have been spotty on the lower Rogue as anchor fishers using plugs are taking only a few fish here and there. Low, cold water is blamed for lackluster results but this situation will turn around as rainfall resumes this week, raising water levels and temperatures.

 

A few winters are being taken on the middle Rogue while upper river anglers are hooking summers which are not of table (or smoker) quality.

 

Boats launching out of the Port of Brookings in friendly seas over the past week have enjoyed good catches of rockfish, lingcod and ocean crab. Steelheading had been good before the water dropped, yielding some large specimens including a 21-pound hatchery fish taken earlier this month. Look for results to improve with rainfall this week.

 

Despite record rainfall at the Elk River hatchery facility, without recent rain, the river remained low and clear as of Tuesday this week. Precipitation forecast this week will rejuvenate winter steelheading here.

 

Eastern – The clear waters of the lower Deschutes are providing fair results for redsides but steelheading remains dismal.

 

The Crooked River dropped further over the last week to even lower levels and continues to fish well. Midge patterns predominate with Blue-Winged-Olive hatches sporadic. Nymphs are effective in the absence of hatch activity.

 

SW Washington- Southwest Washington rivers are done for a while as early run steelhead continue to near their spawning phase.

 

The Cowlitz River will remain the best bet especially as the hatchery program focuses more emphasis on later returning Fish.

 

The Kalama River is really slow and the Lewis River can produce nice sized late running wild steelhead but they often come later in February.

 

Efforts remains somewhat high for sturgeon in the Longview area but success rates have slowed recently.