Oregon fishing report

Willamette Valley/Metro - The Bonneville pool catch and keep sturgeon fishery is now closed. A summer season will likely be forthcoming.

The catch and release sturgeon fishery on the lower Willamette River remains the best bet in town if action is your goal. Double digit days can be expected if the fish are located and they are relatively easy to find. Looking for the concentration of boats in the Portland Harbor is a common practice, but having a decent depth finder and knowing how to use it makes the "locating" easy. Little pressure and even less action is happening at Meldrum Bar, though the season's first spring chinook could be taken here or at Sellwood any time now.

McKenzie River flows have stabilized with little change expected until the next weather front moves through. Winter fly fishing is fair.

North Santiam levels will be fishable through the coming weekend. While there still isn't a lot of winter steelhead in the system, numbers are improving with a few taken recently by boats drifting from North Santiam State Park to Stayton.

On the Clackamas River, ideal water conditions are inviting but the distribution of winter steelhead is still discouraging. Better times should be ahead as the Clackamas "winters" come later than those of other drainages. Late February through April is generally peak time.

The Sandy River saw some winter steelhead success over the weekend but there is still little to get excited about. Water conditions are again approaching low and clear with more challenging fishing to follow. Fresh fish will still enter the system, but one by one rather than a big push. Best opportunities are available from Lewis and Clark State Park up to Dodge Park.

Northwest – Back to low and clear water conditions, steelheaders on the north coast are left to deal with less-than-ideal scenarios in what is already past prime early season for returning adults. Following the last rain freshet, anglers were already coming across spawned out fish although bright ones still cut orange.

One of the better options, the North Fork Nehalem continues to report low pressure and low catch. Four steelhead were reported off of the handicap platform on Monday and it's likely steelhead will become more motivated to feed after they've dropped their eggs in the gravel. The problem is, they make for poor table fare.

Even larger streams such as the Wilson and Nestucca are unlikely to produce quantifiable catches of quality steelhead in the near future. Anglers typically have to wait until late February or March before the second wave of returns happen; a mix of wild and some broodstock fish to NW watersheds. To find consistent success anglers will have to downsize their offerings and approach pooled up fish in a stealthy manner. Single beads have become popular recently and low water is the perfect time to employ this technique.

Despite moderating weather, the ocean swell continues to keep anglers at bay. Aggressive lingcod will be available when seas allow but rockfish catches will likely remain subdued until ocean temperatures warm and fish begin to school in greater numbers.

The lower Columbia has slowed dramatically for Dungeness crab. It will be summer before catches improve again.

Southwest- Nearly everyone took rockfish limits over the past weekend when boats were able to get out on the ocean. Lingcod catches were also good. Rough offshore conditions are keeping boats at bay most days, however.

Crabbing has been slow at Coos Bay despite little fresh water influence from the last storm. Catches of rockfish have been good off the jetties.

Flows on the lower Rogue have dropped back to pre-freshet levels with catches of adult and half-pounder steelhead slowing as a consequence. While a handful of winters have been caught, fishing on the middle river has been poor to slow and is unlikely to show improvement with water levels predicted to continue dropping through the coming weekend. Upper Rogue steelheaders have continued to hook colorful or spawned out summer fish this week as the population of winters in this stretch remains low.

Following a crest at 4,500 cfs with the storm front earlier this month, the Chetco has been steadily dropping. Steelheaders trying it in the coming weekend will see a result of that trend in low, clear water, flowing at less than 1,000 cfs. These are challenging fishing conditions calling for light lines, long leaders and diminutive baits. Long range trends indicate relief will come in the last week of January when another front is forecast to roll through.

A few winters were taken over the past week at the Elk River but it is now at extremely low and clear conditions in the absence of precipitation.

Little change is reported at Diamond Lake where ice fishing is ongoing with little snow on the lake's surface. Fishing is slow to fair.

Eastern – Fly fishers on the lower Deschutes report fair results for native redsides. Caddis, Midges and Blue-Winged-Olives will remain the patterns of interest through the season.

Most recently reported at 58 cfs, Crooked River flows are getting low even for regulars here. Trout fishing is fair on midge patterns.