Willamette Valley/Metro - Walleye fishing on the Willamette River's Multnomah Channel has been better than decent. This normally quiet fishery has stirred interest from local anglers as well as anglers from further away. Trolling upstream in 12-20 feet of water with a night crawler rigged on a worm harness has been the method of choice. The walleye seem to prefer a little "bling" with their meal, in the form of a spinner blade or spin-n-glow in front of the worm. Sturgeon fishing in the Willamette was very slow during the retention opener and effort was at a minimum. The same is expected for any future openers or until the water cools off in October.
Summer steelhead fishing on the Columbia River has picked up a bit. Catches have become more consistent at the river mouths and below Bonneville Dam. A few anglers fishing the usual techniques have scored some nice chinook as well, suggesting there might be more in the river than previously thought. Anglers wishing to target early chinook salmon should try fishing deeper water. Small spinners, coon shrimp, plugs and large wobblers are getting bites.
On any day when there has been cloud cover, fly anglers on the McKenzie has seen a spike in results. Caddis remain the primary pattern of interest. Water temperature in the mid-50s has been fairly stable.
Flows on the North Santiam are stable and should remain that way over the coming week. While steelheading is predictably slow of low numbers this year, catch=and-release trout fishing is good. As of 1st of August, just over 4,000 spring Chinook had been counted on the South Santiam at Foster Dam with the same number of summer steelhead reported.
Northwest – The Buoy 10 opener went better than expected. The Young's Bay fishery has consistently been producing the Rogue strain chinook (aka “select area brights”) 2 hours before and 1 hour after high tide. Ruby, Bob and Nancy Van Dyk from Forest Grove all took their limits (1 fish each) of chinook in about 2 hours at high tide at the mouth of Young's Bay on Sunday afternoon. The largest fish, a 24-pounder, took a spinner behind a fish flash in 23-foot of water. The best news is chinook are being caught throughout the estuary, an early indicator that the run is going to be at least as large as predicted. River coho are scarce.
Catch and release sturgeon fishing remains excellent on Taylor Sands but no one is doing it. Use anchovies for bait.
Coho are scarce in the ocean as well. Offshore anglers are having to work for their catch, especially with the recent drop in water temperature recently. Chinook were readily biting to the north of the Columbia River on Saturday but have since disappeared. If the ocean temperatures rise again, it should turn on.
Last week was a good one for offshore albacore anglers although fish didn't bite consistently every day. Many boats came in with 20+ fish but rough offshore conditions has quelled interest.
Nehalem Bay continues to produce impressive numbers of chinook near the bay entrance. It is crowded however so prepare for tension. The Wheeler and Nehalem stretches should produce better catches on the current stronger tide series as the summer chinook run enters its peak weeks.
The initial summer halibut opener was less than impressive for most anglers. The next all-depth opener south of Cape Falcon is August 16th and 17th.
Southwest- It has taken some long trips at times out of Newport to locate tuna recently. While some boats got into them at 30 miles out, others have reported heading out 50 to 60 or more miles. It makes for a short day when the return trip takes several hours.
Crabbing is south coast bays has been showing a little improvement with more keeper male Dungeness showing in traps and nets.
Fires burning in southwest Oregon have closed some roads and created breathing hazards for some. Smoky conditions may determine where it's comfortable, or even possible, to fish.
Boats launching out of Winchester Bay have been taking ocean Chinook but only 40% of those anglers trying are actually returning to port with a fish.
Charters launched out of Gold Beach over the past week during lulls in windy conditions offshore for a mixed bag. Bottom fishing yielded typical catches of ling cod and rockfish but halibut and even Chinook were caught. Ocean crabbing has been good when winds have allowed. A surprise cooling of the lower Rogue late last week had Chinook moving upriver from the bay. Fresh salmon entering the bay have been off the bite. Steelheading has been fair on the lower and middle rivers. Smoke has been keeping anglers off the upper Rogue but the situation is improving.
Offshore Chinook fishing had been good out of Brookings over the past week when boats could get out. Either herring or anchovy, trolled behind a flasher, have been putting salmon in the fish box.
Water at Diamond Lake has warmed to the 70-degree range and trout fishing has slowed. The algae bloom is ongoing but has continued to test as non-toxic but trout must be skinned to remove any off flavor. Bait fishing in deeper areas has been most effective.
Eastern – Caddis are hatching periodically on the lower Deschutes and have been taking dry imitations when this occurs. Otherwise, nymphs are reliable for fair results. A few summer steelhead have entering the lower river with anglers hooking up occasionally.
Crooked River flows remain low and it is fishing well.
Green Peter has been producing fair to good numbers of kokanee on the troll in about 50 feet of water.
Kokanee and brown trout for jig fishers but results have been spotty.
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