Willamette Valley/Metro - The Willamette River has given up another spring chinook, this time of hatchery origin. This should come as no surprise and others will follow in the coming weeks. Water conditions remain "good" with decent clarity, average temperature and a very fishable level. Bank anglers at Meldrum Bar are giving it a go, as are a couple die hard back trollers at Oregon City and one to four boats a day are spotted at Sellwood. From Lake Oswego downstream, green label plug cut herring is the standard bait, trolled slowly with four to eight ounces of weight. From Lake Oswego upstream to Willamette Falls, cured prawns, sand shrimp, coon shrimp and cured roe are the favorites, either back trolled or plunked. Expect spring chinook fishing to pick up by mid-March and continue through May.
Catch and release sturgeon fishing in the Portland Harbor has been steady for most. Anglers are reporting good to excellent fishing with a mix of shorts, keeper size and a couple of oversized fish to bend rods. Most all baits are working, including smelt, roll mop herring, sand shrimp and even worms. If you drop your anchor in a spot and give it a solid 30 minutes without any action, get up and find a new spot.
Mackenzie River water levels took a hit from recent rain at the end of January but have been dropping since and should offer winter fly fishing opportunities for redsides this week.
Although counts of winter steelhead have topped 1,000 at the Falls, that's still not a sufficient number to expect a great deal of action for native winters on the North Santiam although water conditions are decent.
On the Clackamas, steelhead anglers are putting in their time and finding action on most accounts. When water conditions have been favorable, there are fish to be had, but nobody has reported excellent results. February, March and April are the prime months for Clackamas winter steelhead.
The Sandy River continues to kick out nice winter steelhead for both boaters and bank fishermen. Although the catch rate isn't off the charts, more experienced anglers are getting their share and sometimes reporting excellent results. The section between Dodge Park and Dabney Park has been giving up the most steelhead. Plugs fished from a drift boat and bobber and jig combos are the go-to. Expect the action to continue through the first week of April.
Northwest – After a brief period of good fishing following the prolonged low water, action dropped off on most north coast streams despite ideal water conditions. By the weekend, anglers were lucky to have engaged in a single hook-up for a day's effort. Angler success will change however, as February wears on and certainly into March.
Another rise is expected prior to the weekend, making smaller streams a viable option over the weekend, followed by the larger systems such as the Wilson, Trask and Nestucca, early next week. Bank anglers may see decent opportunities over the weekend in the upper reaches of these systems where conditions tend to improve more rapidly. The best hatcher options will remain on the Wilson and Nestucca systems. Darker, spent fish are starting to show with more regularity on all the other early run systems on the coast.
The north Oregon Coast is coming into a nice minus tide series mid-week, next week. This makes sturgeon fishing an option this weekend and beyond and if the ocean swell cooperates, razor clam digging could be good in the middle of next week too. There is no sign of a cooperative ocean forecast for those seeking bottomfish.
Southwest- Offshore bottom fishing out of central ports has remained an excellent option when ocean conditions allow launching. Reports indicate easy limits of lingcod while it has taken a little longer to fill rockfish limits.
Showers on the south coast have alleviated low, clear water conditions only slightly this week with dry weather forecast to return for the weekend. Even a little freshet can improve steelheading, however.
Mussels may now be taken north of Cape Arago at Coos Bay but harvesting remains closed south of that point.
While mainstem Umpqua flows are rising this week, the South Umpqua is in decent shape for steelheading where a fair to good number of hatchery fish have been making an early appearance this season.
Coos Bay has remained productive for crabbing and will remain so through the coming weekend.
When offshore conditions have allowed, bottom fishing out of Gold Beach has been good. A few pinkfin surf perch have been taken in Rogue Bay although it's early for this fishery to shine. Steelheading has been worthwhile on the lower Rogue. While flows may increase a little over the weekend, fishing should hold up. The middle Rogue has been productive for plug-pullers and side drifters in many stretches up to the moth of the Applegate River. There will be little interest for anglers on the upper Rogue until winters, which are running late this year, swim this far upstream.
The rising waters of the Chetco are forecast to crest overnight Friday, February 9th, and then drop throughout the coming weekend. For weeks, steelhead have been taken every day and in every condition although it's always better when conditions are conducive, as when flows are moderating.
Eastern – In a news release dated February 4, the ODFW unannounced there will be no spring chinook season on the Deschutes in 2013. Redside fishing has been fair on the lower Deschutes. Rainbows and brown trout have been responding to streamers on the middle river.
The Dalles and the Bonneville Pool have both been producing some keeper sturgeon and will likely continue to do so through the open period.
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