Portland/Metro Fishing Report – The Willamette fishery is still going but will fade fast after this week. Anglers are still focusing on the extreme lower reaches of the Multnomah Channel, the head of the channel and the puddle just upstream of the West Linn Bridge near Willamette Falls. It’s Pro Troll and spinner or Spinfish time, early morning is best.
Shad fishing is still excellent in the Oregon City area and should remain that way for another week or two.
Summer steelhead numbers are over 3X stronger this year than last, passing over Willamette Falls. That makes the Santiam and McKenzie systems more attractive than in previous years.
Sandy River Fishing Report – Avid angler Jeff Stoeger reports that last week was productive depending on where you were fishing. I floated the river on Friday and saw a couple of fish caught at the boat ramp at Oxbow. The springers were cookie cutters, all about 10 to 12 lbs. and all on spinners. Saw fish in most holding water and we had one good take down on bait and lost it a minute into the fight. Cedar Creek has fish and jigs and beads were productive and as you head downriver, spinners were the ticket.
The Clackamas continues to disappoint for spring Chinook and remains slow for summer steelhead although a few are around.
Check out the upcoming stocking schedule HERE.
Find the full report and forecast for Members on the Sandy and the Clackamas from this page here.
North Coast Fishing Report – Ocean salmon season is well underway and coho catches are good from Newport to Astoria. The coho are still somewhat small in stature, but often put on weight swiftly this time of year. Chinook catches have tapered, but some ports are still reporting fair catches, but in sporadic fashion.
Spring Chinook action is winding up on the Tillamook and Nestucca systems, but catchable numbers are still around. Most anglers are switching to saltwater for their salmon fix, but summer steelhead season is off to a good start on the Wilson and Siletz systems, with the Nestucca and Three Rivers also an option.
Don’t overlook sea-run cutthroat trout in nearly any north coast system. There should be fair to good numbers on most north coast systems, primarily in the tidewater reaches as well as the estuaries.
Nearshore halibut catches picked up out of Garibaldi and Newport last week. There remains just one more opener for the all-depth option before the summer season kicks off in early August, July 7 – 9. The commercial deep-water halibut fleet didn’t impress many last week.
Sturgeon fishing is excellent in the lower Columbia, but tides aren’t great for waning numbers of summer Chinook or growing numbers of summer steelhead this week.
Ocean crabs are nearing the molt, but plenty of hard-shelled keepers can still be found.
See the full report and forecast for Members right here.
Central Oregon Fishing Report – Contributor Glenn Zinkus reports:
ODFW News – Angling Restrictions
Deschutes River: ODFW announced, “With another low run of summer steelhead forecast, angling closures for steelhead, bass and salmon will be in effect for parts of the Deschutes River this summer starting as early as June 1.
The closures are in keeping with the Deschutes River steelhead fishery framework that fishery managers presented earlier this year due to continued low forecasts for Threatened summer steelhead runs to areas upriver of Bonneville Dam in the Columbia and Snake River Basins.
Last year’s upriver steelhead run to Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River was the lowest since records began in 1938, resulting in the first steelhead fishing closure on the Deschutes since 1978. Encounter rates from sport anglers that catch and release wild summer steelhead are typically high in mid-Columbia tributaries like the Deschutes, where fish stage before migrating to spawning areas throughout the Deschutes and Columbia Basin.
Pre-season forecasts for 2022 are similar to last year’s returns, so closures are necessary in these mixed stock fisheries even though anglers may be targeting hatchery steelhead.”
The good news amongst the bad is that the trout fishery will remain open.
At the time of this writing on 7/7, there have been 5,705 unclipped steelhead over Bonneville, raising some hope that we may surpass the 9,900 minimum required by July 31 to reopen the Deschutes to steelhead. I won’t go so far as to speculate on whether we will approach the 23,100 fish needed to reopen steelhead on the Deschutes for the entire season. Stay tuned!
And yet there is a lot more for Members. Check out Glenn’s detailed reports and forecasts right here for Chinook and Steelhead Members both!
SW Oregon Fishing Report – Contributor Jeff Rome reports:
The weather is finally heating up (again) after putting a damper for anglers with numerous weekend rains, but there’s still plenty of fishing going on. The ocean salmon season has been very good so far for both coho and Chinook as well as bottom fish out of most all SW Oregon ports.
Bass anglers are happy since the late Spring like weather is turning into Summer and warming up the water in various ponds and lakes spurring on a bite such as Eel, Empire, Tenmile lakes and the Coquille.
Chinook anglers are picking up a few in the Rogue Bay as well as the upper Rogue above Shady cove. The Summer steelhead action is still a bit slow, but should improve with the continued flow of around 3000 cfs at Grants Pass.
Winchester bay has been producing some nice Chinook and good crabbing
Surf perch action is still good on lots of the deeper indents on the beaches and the South jetty in Brookings and up by Winchester bay.
Cutthroat trout are in both the Elk (upper) and Winchuck rivers near Brookings. RV’ers and campers over at the coast should try for these with worms and spinners for a great trout meal.
Good to excellent trout fishing is still happening at Lost Creek, Diamond, Galesville, Applegate, and Lemolo lakes. Left over and recently stocked fish abound!
Best bets for the weekend since it’s supposed to be hot in the Rogue valley would be to hit the lakes (as mentioned above), head to the coast for some great bottom fish and salmon action and maybe try for some cutthroat, head up above Lost Creek dam where plenty of trout have been planted, or even the Umpqua hike in lakes which also have lots of trout in them.
Be safe, be nice and enjoy!
Jeff’s detailed report, multiple lake updates, and forecast in this week’s version for Members!
SW Washington by Ian Carter
Hoping that everyone had an awesome 4th of July weekend. Lots of great fishing opportunities are around right now. The high point being the Sockeye run and permission granted for us to catch a few. Good luck everyone during this final upcoming week of Chinook fishing. Steelhead are kicking off full blast this summer with larger average fish sizes being reported. There are some awesome coastal salmon fishing opportunities heating up out of Ilwaco and Westport.
REMINDER, please verify the regulations before fishing any body of water
The Guides Forecast
BEST BET – Westport would be my first choice and if that’s not doable, upper Cowlitz.
Lewis Report
Immediately through July 31, 2022, from the mouth to the overhead powerlines below Merwin Dam: The daily salmon limit is 6, up to 2 adults may be retained. Release all salmon other than hatchery Chinook and hatchery Steelhead. A three fish hatchery Steelhead bag limit is good year-round. WDFW creel checks showed 24 bank rods kept three steelhead and one boat fishing one rod released a steelhead.
The gauge level at Ariel has lowered to 2.4ft. and holding. Water flow is dropping and is currently 2,570cfs and consistent day in and out. At that rate it is still above the 10-year average. The gauge in Woodland is just below 10ft, meaning things are back to normal from the effects of the previous Columbia River high water event.
The stream flow data can be found here: USGS-North Fork Lewis.
Kalama Report
Korey at Bob’s Sporting Goods said that things aren’t very exciting right now on the upper river. John from Sportsman’s Warehouse in Vancouver indicated that fishing in the lower river is ok. Angler checks by WDFW reported by WDFW 16 bank rods kept one steelhead. One boat fishing three rods kept one steelhead. Kalama spirits and tobacco carries millennial coon shrimp again.
Cowlitz Report
Summer steelhead are in full swing. I spoke with an angler earlier this week. He said that they had a terrific weekend back bouncing eggs and coon shrimp. He was fishing the Blue Creek area and had 3 days of Steelhead limits for his boat. Boat traffic was surprisingly light, but the bank fishing areas were packed. Nathan from Sportsman’s Warehouse in Kelso says that the Steelhead fishing better higher up. He went on to say that there are still a few Chinook in the mix.
WDFW angler check data reported that Cowlitz River I-5 Br downstream – 49 bank rods kept one jack and 10 steelhead. Cowlitz River Above the I-5 Br – 24 bank rods kept four steelhead. 11 boats/38 rods kept 53 steelhead and released three steelhead.
Chinook counts are climbing again, and steelhead counts doubled from previous weeks report. Last week, Tacoma Power employees recovered 579 spring Chinook adults, 55 spring Chinook jacks, 224 spring Chinook mini-jacks, and 193 summer-run steelhead adults over five days of operations at the Cowlitz Salmon Hatchery separator.
Columbia Gorge and Tributaries
The tributaries have little to report right now and participation is low. WDFW reported the following: Drano Lake – 2 boats/4 rods had no catch. Klickitat River below Fisher Hill Bridge – No report. Klickitat River above #5 Fishway – No report.
Sockeyes are still going over the dam in large numbers with over a half million counted so far. Shad fishing is beginning to wane.
Reservoir Report
Swift and Yale are fishing great with best action in the 30ft-50ft depth range. John at Sportsman’s told me that June is a good month to target large bull trout. All wild trout in this area must be released. You should be able to see fish in the river at Eagle Cliff bridge. Fly fishing this portion is good. Consider using a San Juan worm or other terrestrial fly.
All three reservoirs have stayed about the same level as last week. Merwin adjusted by one foot both ways. Currently as of Wednesday July 6th,the levels are Merwin: 237ft, Yale: 479ft and Swift: 999ft.
Reports currently have early morning limits coming at 25 to 45 on the downriggers and out 75ft with 3oz of weight without downriggers. Super short leaders (8”) seem to be working the best.
Since the end of June, Mayfield Lake has received over 7,000 stocker rainbows.
Columbia Summary
With just a week remaining on the extended summer Chinook fishery pressure is heavy in the lower river. Both bank and boat anglers are having great success for the trio of species, Chinook, Sockeye and Steelhead. Nathan from Sportsman’s Warehouse concurs about the lower Columbia fishing well. He states that early in the tide folks are finding fish closer to shore and progressively moving deeper. It’s about a 50/50 split between boats anchoring and trolling. Anchor fisherman are using Kwik fish and the trolling guys are doing well the 360’s with spinners.
The WDFW creel checks Fishery Reports for Mainstem Columbia River:
Coastal
Reports out of Westport and Ilwaco indicate a robust Chinook bite. Anglers from Westport are finding fish at the 300fow line down around 225ft. Once finding the bait, birds and rips, fishing is excellent. Coho are being caught at the 225fow mark. Hot lure was the green speckle back hoochie at 90’ on the rigger. Tomic plugs are also a tried-and-true winner for these Chinook.
Photo credit to Jered Cottell
Vancouver Metro Area Lakes
The Independence Holiday fishing pressure was heavy this past weekend and there haven’t been any meaningful stocking of planter trout for the metro area lakes since early June. Success will become more difficult as the summer progresses for stocker trout. The good news is that warm water fishing is picking up. Bullhead catfishing should be getting good. There are lots of opportunities in the lake river and salmon creek watersheds.
This Weeks Feature
WDFW is sponsoring a Bass celebration next week. If you like to fish for bass, you’re going to want to hear about the upcoming Bass Battles Tournament that WDFW is partnering with Anglers Atlas and the American Fisheries Society on to benefit fisheries science. Click on the WDFW webpage for more details on bass.
During Bass Week we’ll highlight some of the best bass waters in Washington, provide bass fishing tips, and answer your questions on all thing’s bass. Submit your best bass fishing photos to be featured on our Facebook and Instagram.
Closing Remarks
Please contact me by email or text with any questions or comments. You can also find me on Facebook or Instagram @washingtonhomes.realestate
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