Willamette Valley/Metro - Sturgeon fishing in the Bonneville Pool has been just so-so. Participating anglers are reporting fewer keeper size fish than hoped. Expect the fishery to continue through the scheduled closure on Jan 19th.
Catch and release sturgeon fishing has been excellent in the Portland Harbor for the few anglers putting in the effort. Double digit days are the norm and although anchovies have been the preferred bait, most of the fish are pretty indiscriminate about what you feed them.
Meldrum bar is seeing very light pressure with very few steelhead caught per angler. Don't be surprised if a lucky angler catches the season's first spring chinook within the next few weeks.
Water levels at the McKenzie River will be dropping through the coming weekend and beyond. Fly anglers throwing Caddis and Blue-Winged Olive patterns should expect fair results for winter trout.
Angling adventures on the North Santiam remain primarily academic. A few winter trout are available for catch-and-release but there are still too few native winter steelhead to target.
As of this writing, anglers are waiting for the Clackamas River to recede so that they may resume steelhead fishing. Fishable water conditions should be available by the weekend.
The Sandy River is high and dirty as of now, but better conditions will be available by Wednesday or Thursday. Expect winter steelhead to be spread throughout the system by then with bait taking the majority of fish until water conditions drop and clear.
Northwest – Last weekend's rain event was the one all steelheaders have been waiting for. With rivers finally primed after a long dry spell, all coastal systems should produce catches by the weekend. Smaller streams were in ideal shape as of Tuesday with today likely to produce fair catches as well. Although Thursday and Friday are likely to be best on larger systems such as the Wilson, Nestucca and Trask in that order, catchable numbers should still be available for weekend warriors.
The North Fork of the Nehalem produced surprisingly mediocre results for near perfect conditions on Monday; just another indication that the run is coming in sub-par this year. Some systems will already be seeing spawned out steelhead despite the fact we're still relatively early in the steelhead season. Conversely, some wild and broodstock fish should show in other coastal systems such as the Wilson and Nestucca. Following this freshet, anglers will be in a steelhead lull, between the early season returns and later returning wild and broodstock fish that have a strong 6-week window from mid-February through the end of March. It's likely that returns of these late fish will be down as well.
With strong winds and rough ocean conditions, boaters kept their vessels in-harbor for the last several days. Although we're entering a period of calm weather, ocean conditions are expected to remain rough, keeping bottomfishers and ocean crabbers from accessing willing seafood. Windows of opportunity are likely to be limited through March.
Softer tides may once again bring crabbers to the lower Columbia. Although success rates are likely to continue to fall, it may be the best bet for keepers on the north coast. Other estuaries are likely to inundated with fresh water to produce measureable results.
Southwest- The storm watch is over on the coast with the accompanying precipitation welcome as most rivers were critically low at a time when steelheading should be excellent. Now that the storm has passed, water levels are moderating and fishing results are ramping up.
While high swells such as those which pummeled the Oregon coast over the past weekend will create conditions too rough for steelhead to cross, the ocean is laying sown as coastal rivers drop, creating ideal conditions for winters to enter and improved results for steelheaders.
Offshore bottom fishing will resume as the ocean calms sufficiently to allow launches. Rockfish and ling cod results are expected to be good. There will be no depth restrictions through March although cabezon may not be retained until July. Forecasts indicate swells moderating Saturday this week but building again through the weekend. Check current reports for updated information.
Lower Umpqua steelheaders have been enjoying decent fishing for several weeks but with rainfall over the past weekend, upper stretches will share in the bounty. The first hatchery winters will be entering the South Umpqua as well although populations of winter steelhead sufficient to create a decent fishery here is still a few weeks away.
Crabbing has been good for boaters on Coos Bay and fair to good for those crabbing from the docks. Recent rainfall is not expected to affect results. Clam diggers will have an opportunity this week with low tides occurring at late in the day on Thursday this week with best results expected around Charleston, Cape Arago Highway and at Clam Island.
Precipitation fell far short of predictions regarding impact on for Rogue levels. Flows on the lower Rogue increased slightly but fell back to nearly the same as those before rain started to fall. Rain pushed water up on the middle river early this week but anglers will find it at pre-storm levels in the coming weekend. As a result of these lackluster effects from the storm, fishing is slow on the middle Rogue and only a little better on the lower river where half-pounders are also available. Steelheaders on the upper stretch are still picking up the occasional elderly summer fish although a well over 100 winters have made it to the hatchery so there's reason for optimism in the not-to-distant future. Anglers fishing below the Hog Creek boat ramp are now allowed to keep one wild steelhead a day as long as it's 24 inches or better. Bait may be used anywhere on the Rogue now.
As seas calm, jigging for rockfish and ling cod just outside Brookings Harbor is expected to be good. Chetco levels crested over the past weekend and will continue dropping through the weekend to come and are forecast to get skinny once again. Steelheading was fair prior to this freshet and is expected to be good as fresh winters enter the system. The run this season is predicted to be better than average with the height of the season historically occurring during the month of January.
Low, clear water will once again be the condition on the Elk and Sixes rivers by the coming weekend.
Ice fishing is ongoing at Diamond Lake, producing fair catches to most although those who find concentrations of fish are doing quite well.
Eastern – Fly fishers on the lower Rogue are reporting slow to fair results with a few trout being hooked and very few steelhead biting.
Trollers fishing at 50 to 60-foot levels have seen some improvement in Bull Trout catches at Lake Billy Chinook.
Ice fishers auguring holes in the frozen surface at Lake of the Woods are catching yellow perch for their efforts. This fish make excellent table fare.
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