The biggest news at Winchester Bay is the improved crabbing success by dockbound crabbers. Of course, boat crabbers in the lower portion of Half Moon Bay and in the ocean at depths of 50 to 60 feet are doing even better. With the continued decrease in Umpqua River flows, sublegal crabs are a decreasing nuisance as the salinity of the lower river gradually increases. Large, but unkeepable female crabs continue to be a nuisance.
Ocean salmon anglers can only keep Chinook salmon of at least 24-inches in length and ocean salmon fishing has been disappointing. Salmon fishing on the Umpqua River between Winchester Bay and Reedsport has generally been slow, but some of the Chinook salmon recently hooked have been hogs. Last Saturday, several salmon were landed that weighed more than 30 pounds. A few of the salmon have had their upriver migration thwarted by warm water near Reedsport and have been in the river long enough to start showing color.
Anglers casting spinners from the bank at such locations as near the Gardiner Boat Ramp, Half Moon Bay and Osprey Point are hooking a few salmon each day. Some of these salmon, virtually all of which have been Chinooks, have been big and most have escaped, sometimes after a lengthy battle with plenty of witnesses. But not all of them have got away.
Last Saturday, Mike Yeoman of Eugene used a green one ounce spinner to hook and land a bright 32 pound Chinook while fishing at Osprey Point. Fishing should continue to improve as coho salmon will begin supplementing the yet to peak Chinook fishery.
While visiting the ODFW office in Charleston last Friday, I was quickly convinced that there was absolutely no chance of there being a wild coho season on Oregon’s coastal rivers I was also convinced that there would not be a quota adjustment to the upcoming nonselective ocean coho season, despite the fact that ninety four percent of the 26,000 ocean finclipped coho quota were uncaught. The quota for the upcoming nonselective ocean coho season will remain at 7,500 cohos and the season will begin on September 3rd. Good fishing conditions may mean it will be a very short season.
Quite a few anglers have bought 2-rod fishing licenses now that they are legal on the lower Umpqua River and other rivers on the Oregon coast. I can hardly wait to see how different fishing the “Mud Hole”, where Winchester Creek enters Winchester Bay’s East Boat Basin, will be when most of the peope fishing it will be using two rods. Some will be casting spinners or spoons while fishing a bobber and bait rigged second rod and others will be using two bobber and bait rods – perhaps one using salmon roe and one using sand shrimp or anchovies. It should be interesting and crowded when the salmon arrive.
Tuna have moved farther offshore and will most likely not be a viable option for anglers fishing the upcoming summer halibut opener this Friday and Saturday. Only 9,482 pounds of haliubut were landed on the first two day summer opener and 40,062 pounds, or 81 percent of the summer all-depth quota remains.
The nearshore halibut season, which opened June 1st has 9,000 pounds or 36 percent of the quota remaining. The nearshore halibut taken this season have averaged 27 pounds in weight – which is quite a bit heavier than the average halibut taken during the all-depth season. However, it is difficult to effectively target nearshore halibut and they are usually an incidental catch by anglers targeting other fish species.
Steelhead guides on central Oregon’s Deschutes River are complaining that this season they are catching more smallmouth bass than they are summer steelhead. Warmer water temperatures in the lower Deschutes is the likely reason that many Columbia River smallmouths have moved up into the lower Deschutes. Some central Oregon anglers are blaming changes made to the way water now leaves Lake Billy Chinook and Lake Simtustus to aid the new salmon program intended to bring salmon back to the Deschutes River system above Lake Billy Chinook.
Usually when a state record bass record is broken, it is broken by a few ounces – so it was most unusual that the new record Largemouth bass for Washington State caught last Thursday from Bosworth Lake beat the previous state record from Banks Lake by more than 15 ounces. Even more unusual, the 12.53 pound lunker was an incredibly chunky post-spawn fish that only measured 23-inches in length and bit a Senko-type lure.
Bosworth Lake is a 103 scre Snohomish County lake that is relatively deep with a seasonal closure. If the seasonal closure was a factor in producing the state record bass, it bodes well for Oregon’s next state record coming from Crane Praire or Wickiup reservoirs which also have seasonal closures.
For most of the last six decades, Washington’s state record largemouth has been heavier than Oregon’s. But since 2002, a 12 pound 1.6 ounce largemouth from Ballenger Pond in Springfield, Oregon topped anything Washinton has produced. But now, once again, Oregon is trailing Washington when it comes to the size of its state record largemouth bass.
There is hope. The state record largemouth bass from Massachusetts, considered by most to be a northern state, is 15 pounds eight ounces – and it was caught by an angler fishing through the ice. So it is unlikely that Oregon’s largemouth bass record is maxed out.
from Pete’s Blog – PeteHeley.Com
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