Spring chinook fishing on the lower Umpqua River continues to be productive for anglers casting large spinners at Half Moon Bay. The most consistent fishing is usually close to high tide, but salmon have recently been caught at all stages of the tide. In fact, more spring Chinooks have been caught at Winchester Bay this spring than any year in recent memory. Last Saturday, Reedsport resident Randy Walters, stopped by the Stockade Market while I was working to ensure that I got a good look at the salmon he had caught that morning. The 17 pounder was the fourth salmon he had landed in five days of spinner flinging at Half Moon Bay. Randy’s recent salmon-catching success has pretty much ensured that he will have company on fishing trips to Half Moon Bay in the near future.
While the lower river has been unusually productive for salmon, there is still a good number of springers being caught from Scottsburg upriver all the way to just below Winchester Dam on the North Umpqua – and the season is barely half over. The heaviest springer turned in at the Wells Creek Inn’s springer contest now stands at 39.7 pounds.
However, suspended weeds and moss are starting to become a nuisance for the Umpqua’s spring Chinook anglers fishing above Scottsburg.
Shad are in the river and are probably accounting for most of the springer fishermen’s bites that don’t result in hookups. Expect shad fishing to improve over the next several weeks as the Umpqua River continues to drop and clear.
Those redtailed surfperch caught last week above Winchester Bay have not yet turned into hordes of spawning “pinkfins”. However the run should be imminent.
The hot fishing for striped surfperch off the South Jetty at Winchester Bay has largely been replaced by improved fishing for greenlings and rockfish. Crabbing remains slow for legal crabs at Winchester Bay, but there are enough small crabs for folks to entertain their young children.
Crappies and bluegills continue to provide light tackle action at the upper end of Loon Lake, but most area waters that contain warmwater fish are fishing well. Crappies should be finished spawning very shortly – and will definitely become harder to find. The bluegills be in the shallow areas of most area lakes and be easy to see and catch through the rest of the summer. Largemouth bass are now spawning in most of the coastal lakes and fishing shallow or near-shore waters will generally produce best.
Most area waters have fair numbers of uncaught stocked rainbow trout, but the waters that will be stocked this week are Millicoma Pond and Bluebill Lake. Bluebill Lake, the extremely shallow lake on the west side of the road to Horsfall Beach, is slated to receive 3,000 legal rainbows in its only trout plant this year. Many of the lakes in Coos, Douglas and Lane counties will be stocked during the first week in May.
from Pete’s Blog – PeteHeley.Com
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