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Willamette Valley – From last week: ” Robert Campbell at Fisherman’s Marine in Oregon City (503-557-3313) predicts “The first Willamette Springer will be caught any day now. It may just come from Meldrum Bar this year, I dunno, it’s just a feeling. But I know that first springer is going to happen soon. I feel it in my bones!” You read it here, folks. Be sure to visit the Fisherman’s Marine booth at the Sportsman’s Show. The gift certificate has been claimed (by and angler taking a Columbia fish, actually) but springers have been taken this week in the lower Willamette. The excellent catch-and-release sturgeon fishing seems to be a lower priority to anglers now.

McKenzie River fly anglers should do well for trout once the river starts dropping and clearing after rain this week.

Winter steelhead have started entering the North Santiam but it will be several days until the water level will allow fishing.

Clackamas steelheaders have had a very good week and, with the exception of rising water, should continue to do well.

Winter steelheading, which had been excellent on the Sandy, has slowed down somewhat but is still worth the trip.

NW Oregon Fishing Reports- Steelheaders continue to be impressed with the winter season. Consistent action seems to come after each and every rain event. Weekend anglers that braved higher water conditions did well and action stayed fair into Monday. Water levels are on the drop however and action should taper as we enter the lull between early and late season fish.

The Wilson and Nestucca remain best bets, with both wild and broodstock fish available into early April. As flows drop, anglers will want to focus their efforts on the lower reaches of these systems. Plugs may become more effective in the lower flows.

Smaller systems will start to taper but spawned out fish will still be available although will make poor table fare. Paul and Jackson Curran of Portland came across 3 hatchery keepers on the North Fork Nehalem on Wednesday that were still in great shape!

The Nehalem may drop in enough to find some quality wild fish by the weekend, of not sooner.

A softer tide series this weekend may bolster crabbing catches in north coast estuaries. Good clamming last weekend won’t be there this weekend though, we need a minus tide!

The offshore option still won’t be an option for a while. Rough seas continue to be in the forecast.

Central & South Coast Reports – The ODFW announced halibut fishing dates this week, while these dates are unlikely to changed, they will be finalized in April. The ODFW sport halibut webpage can be found here.

Offshore bottom fishing has been reported as fair to good for charters and good or better for sport baits catching rockfish and ling cod.

The entire coast is open for crabbing now both in the ocean as well as in bays and estuaries,

As days get longer, warmwater fish such as bass and panfish become active. Some good catches were made in Tenmile Lake recently.

Winter steelheading has been good on the Umpqua mainstem as well as on the South Umpqua. While only hatchery steelhead may be kept here, it should remain good through March/

Following high water earlier this month, level and flow of the Rogue River have moderated. The lower river will be good for fly fishers but the Grants Pass stretch is expected to be best overall.

The Chetco is not expected to be effected much by rains this week so it should continue to fish well for winter steelhead.

Central & Eastern – With summer steelhead fishing wrapped up and no winter run on the Deschutes, it’ll be a trout fishery here for quite a while.

Kokanee fishing has been sow at the snowy, icy Odell Lake. It’s recommended too wait for this one to warm up.

Alternately, kokanee trollers looking for winter action might try Lake Billy Chinook where results have been reported as good recently.

While Detroit Lake has been an easy troll fishery recently, it has been a rare experience to actually hook a koke here.

SW Washington Fishing Reports – Steelhead fishing remains challenging in SW Washington streams. The Cowlitz has yielded some steelhead but the news of the week is the season’s first spring Chinook. That shouldn’t be a huge surprise, given the whopper return predicted for this system this year. Smelt dipping in the Cowlitz was productive for many, especially those dipping in the higher reaches of the river. No more seasons are on tap for the Cowlitz, citing a lower return than in the previous 2 years.

Spring Chinook have also been tallied at Bonneville Dam. Surely a good sign for the season ahead.

Razor clam digging was productive on the last tide series along the Long Beach Peninsula. The next minus tide series won’t happen for several more days.

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Willamette Valley – While the Willamette has yet to show signs of rising due to rainfall, it will start soon enough. No reports of spring Chinook activity but according to Robert Campbell at Fisherman’s Marine in Oregon City (503-557-3313) someone will hookup soon.

Waters of the McKenzie are expected to be too high to fish well over the coming weekend.

The Santiams are also rising but complicated the potential fishery here is a lack of fish, or rather too few this early in the season.

While the Clackamas River has not been spared from the freshet resulting from rain storms, it is expected to fish well for winter steelhead once the water starts to drop and clear.

Pro guide Jeff Stoeger of O2BFISHN Guide Service (503-704-7920) assures anglers that the Sandy will produce steelhead again but the coming week looks like a tough one as rainfall will turn to clear skies and warmer weather, adding glacial runoff.

NW Oregon Fishing Reports- Steelheaders have had a productive week on the north coast, despite being in-between the peak returns for most district systems. Pro guide Chris Vertopoulos (503-349-1377) reported good success on Sunday and Monday on the Wilson although recent days have produced inconsistent action. Stable river levels should keep systems fishable through the weekend.

Many rivers will start to see higher numbers of spent, downstream running steelhead. Anglers are still allowed to keep these fish as long as they are adipose fin-clipped but they make better smoked steelhead than fresh table-fare. Wild fish will begin to show in better numbers in the coming weeks and the Wilson and Nestucca will harbor the best opportunities for a take-home option.

Crabbers did fair last weekend but stronger tides this weekend will likely limit success. If the surf swells down, razor clam digging should be fair by early next week, maybe Sunday.

The ocean looks to remain off limits due to weather conditions.

Central & South Coast Reports – Winter fishing for rockfish and ling cod is almost always excellent. Unfortunately, windows of opportunity to launch are few this time of year.

With most southern Oregon Rivers receiving wither steelhead now, anglers are advised to keep a sharp eye on water conditions. Smaller streams will naturally drop, clear and fish earlier than large rivers.

Anglers may use only artificial lures and flies to fish the Illinois River where winter steelhead fishing results have been improving.

Crabbing has been slow in Winchester Bay due to high, muddy water pumping into the bay from the river. The Umpqua has been fair to good for winter steelhead. Prospects will improve as the water drops and clears.

w3aters of the lower Rogue River remain too high to fish at this time. The Grants Pass stretch may drop and clear to fish over the coming weekend. Upper Rogue steelheading is expected to pick up as more fish make the trip.

The Chetco is expected to rise only a little, then drop through the weekend, making is a good possibility for winter steelheaders.

Central & Eastern – Summer steelhead, which are all dark and unattractive anyway have started spawning so that season is wrapped up here.

There are a few steelhead reported in the Hood River but results for winter here have been slow.

Because large populations of kokanee at Green Peter has caused the fish to stunt, there will be no planting in 2016.

Ko0kanee anglers are trolling the waters of Detroit Lake but fishing has been poor. Still, it’s a nice getaway.

SW Washington Fishing Reports – There aren’t many hopeful anglers fishing SW Washington streams but the Cowlitz remains one of the better bets. Catches did improve this week on the Cowlitz with both boat and bank anglers yielding some fish. As you can see by the table below, don’t plan on fishing on top of gobs of fish. Hatchery plants are down to pathetic levels, let alone terrible returns: 2015 compared to 2016 returns.

Smelt

Good numbers of smelt were reported caught in the commercial fishery near Longview today. Prospects look good for the Cowlitz sport fishery this Saturday.

Cowlitz River – Smelt fishing with dip nets from the riverbank will be allowed ONLY from 7 a.m. until 1 p.m. Saturday February 6. Each dip-netter may retain 10 pounds of smelt (about ¼ of a five-gallon bucket) per day with no more than one day’s limit in possession. No dipping is allowed from boats.

Flows at Castle Rock are 19,500 cfs today, nearly twice the long-term mean of 10,700 cfs.

All other waters in the state of Washington remain closed to fishing for eulachon (Columbia River smelt).

From The Guide’s Forecast

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Willamette Valley – Conditions on the lower Willamette have changed little in that it is still high and muddy. This means sturgeon fishing is expected to be good but with the extra water comes debris washing downstream. Use caution if boating.

Waters of the McKenzie are on the rise and with the exception of a few slight increases and decreases over the coming week, it is expected to remain too high to fish.

The Santiams have too few winter steelhead to yet create a fishery, even if they were in good enough shape to fish.

Clackamas water levels are forecast to be fairly high into the coming week but the river could continue to produce winter steelhead if the color is good.

While the Sandy has been a productive winter steelhead fishery, the combination of natural elements over the week to come is expected to keep it high and off-color.

NW Oregon Fishing Reports- NW stream conditions have been out of reach for steelheaders this week. Even the smaller systems have been relatively high and out of shape, keeping anglers home instead of out in the weather. Predictably, even if they were fishable, anglers would likely find a lull on most of the early season producers as that run is slowing.

Larger systems, especially those with broodstock programs (The Wilson and Nestucca Rivers) should continue to produce fair results when river systems fall back into shape but that may not be until Sunday or Monday at the earliest. Like the systems that see the bulk of their hatchery returns by mid-January, these systems too will suffer a lull until the peak of the native and broodstock run in late February and March.

Offshore swell is predicted to remain significant, keeping Bottomfishing and ocean crabbing off the table for the foreseeable future.

This weekend’s minus tides would have been a good idea for razor clam diggers but a high ocean swell will keep clams from feeding near the surface; it’ll be a waste of time.

Bay crabbing won’t be overly productive either as a gale force wind is predicted and the estuaries are full of freshwater.

Central & South Coast Reports – The Fish and Wildlife Commission met on Monday in Salem to announce the rules for bottom fish would remain mostly unchanged in 2016.

An online meeting will be held by the ODFW to determine halibut fishing rules in the coming year. Visit their website for details on how to voice your opinion.

While the ocean and bays are open for crabbing coast-wide, we advise crabbers to stick to deep bays in the coming week. These will be most productive and offshore conditions are predicted to be rough.

The lower Rogue is expected to get walloped by a storm front in the next few days which will keep it high into the coming week. This makes the Grants Pass stretch and the upper Rogue better bets for steelheaders.

Winter steelheading has ceased due to high water on the Chetco River but is expected to resume in the coming week. This sort of prediction relies on both weather and river forecasts to remain accurate. Prior to the current freshet, fishing was quite good here, though.

Reports from Diamond Lake Resort indicate the warmer temperatures and rainfall have put a stop to ice fishing here.

Central & Eastern – Winter fishing in large lakes on the east side usually means trolling in frigid weather. So it has been at Lake Billy Chinook although catches have been decent.

Early trollers at Odell Lake have been trying for kokanee with mixed results although deep trollers have taken lake trout.

Fly anglers targeting trout have been catching some on the Metolius River.

SW Washington Fishing Reports – Prior to the high water, anglers noted an up-tick in winter steelhead production on the Cowlitz River. It’s likely this system will produce fair results when flows subside with the bulk of the fish returning a bit later than history dictates on the Cowlitz.

The Kalama should also fish fairly when flows subside, even though success in recent years for winter steelhead has been dismal.

A series of Razor Clam digs is slated to begin this week. Although the swell will likely impede success, the lower gradient on the Long Beach Peninsula doesn’t preclude digging success like it does on the Oregon side.

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