Willamette Valley/Metro - The Columbia River is kicking out good numbers of chinook below Bonneville Dam. Reports indicate the anchor fishermen are faring better than the backtrollers. Fishing should improve from already "good' to "excellent" as the water temperatures drops a few degrees from this week's cooler weather. Fish are also being taken at the mouths of the Sandy, Washougal, Lewis, Kalama and Cowlitz with wobbler's, spinners and plugs.
On the Willamette River, silvers have been spotted rolling and jumping off the mouth of the Clackamas. Boaters and bank anglers have taken a handful since the weekend at Meldrum Bar and at the blacktop, either backtrolling plugs or casting plugs and spinners. Bass anglers are looking forward to the cooler temps to bring the smallmouth back on the bite. Sturgeon fishers will get another catch and keep season on Saturday Oct 19th. This will likely be the last opportunity for keeping a sturgeon for quite some time.
With fall approaching, shadows are lengthening and showers are falling periodically. These conditions combine to create excellent fly fishing opportunities on the McKenzie River.
Pressure is light on the North Santiam at this time of year and while fishing remains slow, it's a great place for solitude or mushroom hunting.
The Clackamas is giving up a few silvers on the lower river, but better times are on the way with the onset of early fall. Hoards of anglers are lining the bank at the bowling alley and Cross Park. Few are taken legally in these spots. Reports have come in of a handful of late summer steelhead being taken between Rivermill Dam and Feldheimers.
The Sandy also started to kick out a few silvers in the lower river, but anglers have also spotted a few up as far as the Cedar Creek hatchery. Small baits of cured roe, spinners and jigs under a bobber will all draw bites.
Northwest – With the absence of hatchery coho in the lower Columbia River, interest and success has waned. Chinook catches were fair at best over the last weak tide series but anglers have largely dispersed to other fisheries. It's likely that the late season coho fishery in October will also be a bust. Crabbing is good however.
Angler focus has shifted to other coastal estuaries with Nehalem and Tillamook being the best prospects. The Ghost Hole in Tillamook has yielded consistent early morning catches on the incoming tide although few fish over 20 pounds are being taken. Spinners have also been working well in the middle and upper bay as we begin to enter peak season for Tillamook chinook. Bobber and bait tossers working the Trask and Tillamook tidewater sections have also been tallying success. Tillamook's consumptive coho season kicks off on Friday and Saturday and fish are present in the estuary but not too willing to bite.
The Nehalem has been excellent for fall chinook with the current stronger tide series likely to produce good catches at Wheeler and Nehalem this weekend. Herring is most productive below the Highway 101 Bridge with spinners becoming a good tool upstream. Check the ODF&W web site for wild coho restrictions on this system but there is currently consumptive opportunity for these fish as well.
Although ocean crabbing is not as productive as it has been in years past, the quality of crab is excellent. Estuary crabbing is not nearly as productive and the stronger tide series this weekend won't help things.
Southwest- Boats out of Newport and Depoe Bay made fair to good catches of tuna earlier this week. Offshore trollers experienced an improvement in salmon catches. Ocean crabbing has yielded limits of good-sized, hard-shelled Dungeness. Rockfishing has been excellent.
Ocean coho fishing remains open seven days a week off the central coast through the end of September or fulfillment of the quota.
Bait fishers using bobbers have taken some nice chinook from the Siuslaw tidewater over the past week.
Rough seas prevented launches out of Gold Beach for much of the past week. Boats plying Rogue Bay made fair catches of chinook and coho. When offshore conditions settled down over the past weekend, fishing for rockfish and lingcod was good. Catches of adult steelhead and half-pounders have been good on a variety of bait, lures and flies around Agness. Chinook fishing has been steady on the Grants Pass stretch. It's flies only on the upper Rogue above Fishers Ferry boat ramp where summer steelhead have been cooperative with long-rodders.
Although boats out of the Port of Brookings are taking Pacific Halibut to 40 pounds and decent catches of rockfish and lingcod, ocean salmon fishing closed until the "bubble" fishery opens October 1. This situation has local anglers exploring Chetco tidewater for salmon, which has resulted in fair to good catches of jack salmon recently along with several adult chinook.
Eastern – The lower Deschutes has been unsettled but water conditions are improving. Summer steelheading has been fair but will pick up as water conditions improve. With outrageous numbers at Bonneville, steelheaders are waiting for the big numbers to hit. Trout fishing is fair with nymphs effective. Counts at Sherars Falls have improved with double-digit chinook and summer steelhead passing daily along with a few coho.
Suttle Lake has continued to produce near-limits of smallish kokanee to trollers. Anglers are allowed 25 fish per day here.
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