fishing

Pete Heley Outdoors 7 / 27 / 2016

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The pinkfin fishery in the Umpqua River above Winchester Bay has slowed way down. There are still fair numbers of surfperch in the spawning area of the river, but they are getting more difficult to find and the bite is definitely becoming less predictible. The surfperch bite on area beaches is still going strong, but windy conditions often make fishing the the surf difficult.

Ocean salmon fishing has generally not been good. Of course there are the rare exceptions each day where a few anglers achieve boat limits, but overall, the fishing is very slow. The last report on the ODFW website with data through July 17th, showed that only 4.2 percent of the 26,000 finclipped coho salmon quota had been caught and retained. It definitely appears that the season will not be ending early since the quota will not be met and the season will run through August 7th. Ocean fishing for Chinook salmon will remain open through October 15th.

Not only have finclipped cohos been hard to find. but they seem to be running smaller than the unkeepable wild cohos. A few anglers have reported catching fair numbers of Chinook salmon too small to keep, but some of them measured 23-inches and should meet the 24-inch minimum length limit for the ocean if hooked again in a couple of weeks. Ocean coho salmon have to be finclipped and at least 16-inches in length to be legal to keep.

Over the next several weeks salmon fishing will improve in the lower Umpqua River and while jack or immature salmon are not recognized in the ocean, they are in the river. A jack coho salmon must be at least 15-inches in length, but no more than 20-inches in length – if it is longer than 20-inches it is considered an adult and must be marked on the angler’s combined anging tag. All kept coho salmon, jacks or adults must be finclipped, except when relatively short seasons that allow keeping unclipped cohos in the ocean or rivers are in effect and those seasons are well-publicized.

Chinook jacks in the river must also be at least 15-inches in length and up to 24-inches. Over 24-inches and they are considered an adult Chinook salmon and must be promptly marked on an angler’s combined angling tag if kept. Chinook salmon do not have to be finclipped to be legal to keep.

Some of the more surprising statistics regarding this season’s ocean salmon fishing is that Garibaldi continues to lead in angler trips with 3,255 (more than twice as many as Winchester Bay (1,508) or Newport (1,378) and Newport has produced more Chinooks than Winchester Bay (126 to 84). In fairness to Winchester Bay – most of its Chinooks have come out of the river between Winchester Bay and Reedsport and were not counted as part of the ocean catch.

The best reports out of Winchester Bay have come from boat crabbers. Jim and Jinny Pardee, of Eugene crabbed the lower end of Half Moon Bay late Saturday afternoon and caught fourteen good-sized male crabs in less than two hours. Also on Saturday, several boats made very good catches while crabbing the ocean in 55 feet of water. While dock crabbers have yet to enjoy the same levels of success as enjoyed by boat crabbers, dock crabbing should impove steadily through late summer and fall.

Early morning bass and panfishing is very productive and very warm days often mean that bass won’t become active until well after dark. If a bass angler wanted to cherry pick a productive two hour time period, the last hour before daybreak through the first hour hour after dawn would be a good choice.

Which brings me to one of the most common mistakes many anglers make on a fishing trip – expecting the fish to adjust to your time schedule. or preferences. A lot of anglers make this mistake and, in private, I refer to them as under-achievers. The most successful anglers plan their fishing efforts for when their targeted fish is likely to be active or likely to bite.

Kudos to the Coos County Bass Masters, an online facebook bass club that has managed to ferret out some very-much-overlooked fishing spots and then through practicing catch and release, make sure they don’t ruin them for others. I commend them for realizing that area bass fishing does not begin and end at Tenmile Lakes and for some of the genuine lunkers they have hooked in seemingly insignicant waters.

from Pete’s Blog – PeteHeley.Com

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Oregon Fishing Report for July 22

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Willamette Valley – Chinook passage at Bonneville is starting to taper but catches were fair to good for gorge boats participating in the fishery. The run is over here so catch rates won’t improve again for at least another month. Summer steelhead anglers working the mainstem remain pleased with their catches and although passage numbers are above last year at this time, they remain below the 10-year average.

Lower Willamette water temperatures are in the 70s with little change over the past week. Fish counts at the Falls,
while good for the most part, are backed up to the 8th of the month. Fish shad as the run winds down or catch-and-release sturgeon.

Water level and flows on the McKenzie are expected to settle down and stabilize over the coming weekend and fish well for fly casters.

With a majority of the fish being counted heading for the Santiam system, it’s a decent destination for anglers targeting summer steelhead or spring Chinook.

Clackamas water levels are low and clear, having been uneffaced by recent showers. It has summer steelhead in good number and spring Chinook to a lesser number so fishing is expected to be good for stealthy anglers.

Despite summer weather triggering a glacial event on the Sandy, turning the water gray green, there are good numbers of steelhead of the summer variety and Chinook of the late spring vintage.

Northwest Oregon – Offshore salmon anglers are still scratching their heads, wondering if any number of coho will show in the fishery this year. Catch rates remain low but improving, with little time left to fill the quota. The next 3 weeks is peak season for most northern ports.

Thankfully, albacore action is keeping anglers busy out of most ports with no one port consistently producing more than another. Tuna are still taking trolled tuna clones but are becoming more receptive to live bait.

Ocean crabbing is good but crabbers are still talking about a high percentage of softshells in the catch.

The Nehalem fishery is becoming a better option but it’s far from limit fishing. Stronger tides have anglers focused on the Wheeler fishery but we’re still weeks away from peak season here.

Cool, cloudy weather is keeping summer steelhead anglers on the Wilson, Nestucca and Siletz systems interested. Anglers still have to stealthily approach their favorite holes, flows remain very low.

Central & South Coast Reports – During the past week, offshore winds prevented ocean launches for many boats. By the look of offshore
forecasts, launching will be a pleasure for the next several days.

Winchester Bay anglers are trolling around the town of Reedsport and catching Chinook on occasion.

Ocean fishers a catching good numbers of albacore out of every port from Newport south with some of the best catches
and shortest trips offshore occuring out of Charleston.

Professional angling author, publisher and blogger of all things fishy, Reedsport’s Pete Heley (peteheley.com) reveals this week some of the most likely State Fishing Records are to be broken in the Pacific Northwest.

Rogue Bay trollers are catching a mix of late spring and early fall fish. With better flow and cooler water temperatures, these fish will move upriver. Fishing has been slow to fair in the lower Rogue, better in the middle river as steelhead move upstream. The upper Rogue remains productive.

Bottom fishing has been fair to excellent out of the Port of Brookings. Tuna are being caught but they’re more offshore.

Trout fishing continues to produce plenty of rainbows at Diamond Lake.

Central & Eastern – Trout fishing has been fair but steady on the lower Deschutes River for those who know what to use and where to fish. Summer steelhead have started to enter the river.

The fishery that almost didn’t happen, that for spring Chinook on the Wallowa River, will close on July 24th according to an announcement from the ODFW.

Often certain bodies of water are associated with a certain type of fishing. Paulina, usually associated with kokanee fishing, has been producing good catches of trout this week.

Wind, which can sometimes cause the worst problems for fly casters on a lake, has been no problem at all at Cultus Lake where deep trollers are taking Lake Trout.

While this is not the best time of year for trophy bass on the John Day, it a great time to catch a lot of them.

SW Washington – The Cowlitz River remains the best option for tributary summer steelhead anglers and catches can be good at times. Still, most anglers remain focused on a productive mainstem Columbia steelhead fishery and the tides are ripe for good action this weekend. Summer Chinook are becoming scarce however.

Drano Lake steelhead anglers are doing well, especially from boats. Good fishing should remain through mid-August.

Merwin Reservoir received a fair planting of larger rainbow trout last week, action should be good.

from Oregon Fishing http://ift.tt/29Yr3qy

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Pete Heley Outdoors 7 / 20 / 2016

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A friend of mine talked me into watching a fishing show last week in which the featured guide twice made statements about the size of the yellow perch in Idaho’s Cascade Lake that were obviously untrue to the point of being ridiculous. The guide stated that the record yellow perch was more than eleven and a half pounds (11.688 to be exact).

The world record for yellow perch is a New Jersey fish of slightly more than four pounds – a record that has not even been threatened in more than 150 years.

While the guide’s claim might get him a few new clients, it will almost certainly cost him clients that realize he is completely disconnected from fishing reality. The current record perch from Cascade Lake and the Idaho state record weighed 2.96 pounds and was caught in late February of this year. The incredibly fat fish only measured 15.63 inches in length.

The wild claim from from the Idaho fishing guide started me thinking about some other ridiculous state record fish claims. One such record is for brown bullhead catfish for Washington state. The 11.04 pound state record is nearly fifty percent heavier than the IGFA world record of seven pounds and six ounces.

Perhaps to make up for it – the Washington state record for blue catfish is ridiculously small at 17 pounds 12 ounces for North America’s largest catfish. In fact the weight of the Washington record blue cat is less than thirteen percent of the weight of the IGFA record blue cat of 143 pounds from Virginia. My opinion is that Washington’s record blue cat was a misidentified channel catfish and their record brown bullhead was a misidentified channel, flathead or white catfish.

Oregon is not immune to misidentifying jumbo fish. Years ago, a Bend area ODFW district biologist identified a trout of more than eleven pounds from Suttle Lake as a brook trout – even though a black and white photo of the fish definitely appeared to be of a brown trout. At the time, Oregon’s record brookie was an uncertified five pounder from Mink Lake. It is possible that one of the rare brookies in Blue Lake jouneyed down Link Creek into Suttle lake and then grew to incredible size amid Suttle’s healthy brown trout population, but that scenario is so extremely unlikely that I cannot bring myself to even consider it.

While on the subject of state fish records, here are some of the most likely to be broken in the Pacific Northwest. Washington warmouth, Washington flathead catfish, Washington white crappie, Oregon yellow perch, Oregon pumpkinseed sunfish. Washington’s record warmouth weighed .53 pounds and it was caught only an hour’s drive of Oregon’s record warmouth of one pound 14.2 ounces caught in Columbia Slough. I’ve talked to a couple of serious anglers that fish southwest Washington’s Silver Lake where the record warmouth was caught and they stated that they have caught warmouths of about a pound – but like almost every other angler, they did not bother to get it officially weighed for record consideration. Still, the fact that Oregon’s record warmouth weighs more than three and a half times what the Silver Lake record weighs should bother more than a few Washington state anglers.

Washington’s state record flathead catfish came out of the same Snake River system that produced the Oregon and Idaho flathead records. But at 22.80 pounds, it is barely one-half the size of the Oregon record (42 pounds) or one-third the size of the Idaho record (58.5 pounds).

Washington’s state record white crappie of 2.80 pounds is smaller than Idaho’s (3.0 pounds) and Oregon’s (4.75 pounds) and much smaller than Washington’s state record black crappie of 4.5 pounds.

Of course the easiest way to get a state record fish is to catch a fish species that is newly eligible for state record consideration – and Oregon does not keep records on a bunch of fish species including virtually all saltwater species as well as common carp. Oregon also does not differentiate between the various species of bullhead catfish – instead lumping the various species under the catagory of bullhead catfish.

The biggest recent news flash regarding Oregon fishing is the bottomfishing closure for waters more than twenty fathoms or 120 feet deep that went into effect on July 15th. The reason for the closure is to protect yelloweye rockfish which usually inhabit deeper water but were being hooked often enough by anglers fishing near the thirty fathom line to justify amending the restriction, which is expected to be in effect through the end of this year.

The Umpqua River pinkfin run is starting to wind down and while there is plenty of perch still hanging out in the spawning area above Winchester Bay it is getting harder to find the perch or entice them to bite. While there are still good catches made daily, the fishing success is becoming less consistent.

Crabbing seems to have hit a plateau at Winchester Bay recently, but should continue to gradually improve through mid to late fall and while river crabbing is legal the entire year, ocean crabbing will close the last half of October and the entire month of November.

Rough bar and ocean conditions have limited the ocean salmon catch and the 26,000 fish quota for finclipped coho salmon has hardly been touched. Most of the fishing pressure and salmon catch for our zone has been out of Garibaldi, but as of July 10th, less than two percent of the ocean finclipped coho quota has been caught.

An Umpqua River exception was Chris McAyeal who trolled from the Umpqua River Bar north to Tahkenitch Creek on Saturday and Sunday with one partner and kept a two-day boat limit of two Chinooks and six finclipped cohos. However the largest salmon taken recently have been Chinooks in the 25 pound class taken on the Umpqua River within a couple miles downriver of Reedsport.

Unfortunately, warm river temperatures and windy ocean conditions mean the best time to fish both the river and the ocean is early morning – making it less feasible to fish both.

from Pete’s Blog – PeteHeley.Com

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Winchester Bay Chinook Salmon

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Leona Morby landed her first Chinook salmon this year while fishing near Reedsport with Jamie Standifer.

Leona Morby landed her first Chinook salmon this year while fishing near Reedsport with Jamie Standifer.

Randy Walters and son Justin cast spinners from the bank at Half Moon Bay for these Chinooks.

Randy Walters and son Justin cast spinners from the bank at Half Moon Bay for these Chinooks.

from Pete’s Blog – PeteHeley.Com

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Oregon Fishing Reports for July 15th

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Willamette Valley – Salmon anglers working the mainstem Columbia are not that impressed with results above Longview. Catchable numbers remain present but it’s clear the run is not living up to expectations. Some anglers are reporting good success however, especially for summer steelhead fishing, which is peaking right now. Shad and sockeye action is also quickly fading.

This week, the ODFW contacted TGF to ensure us that spring Chinook were indeed being caught in the lower Willamette and report over 20 in a day.

McKenzie fly fishers should do fine over the coming weekend despite a few showers.

The Santiams will remain in good condition through the weekend with summer steelhead and spring Chinook available.

Steelheading on the Clackamas may get a little boost from precipitation this weekend even though flows won’t change much.

According to Pro Guide Jeff Stoeger of O2BFISHN Guide Service (503-704-7920), the water on the Sandy River will be clear until the weather turns hot again.

Northwest Oregon – With most anglers focused on ocean opportunity, it hasn’t been a great week for those that prefer nicer weather. Furthermore, action has slowed for offshore coho and Chinook seem to be scarce out of the mouth of the Columbia. Bottomfish remain an option on the sunken jetty during soft tide exchanges and calm seas, which hasn’t been recently.

Furthermore, the catch and release sturgeon fishing has become a bit more sporadic recently. Action remains best above the Astoria/Megler Bridge, using fresh anchovies for bait but 50 fish days are a bit more challenging to come by, especially with the recent winds the area has been experiencing.

The river fishery for salmon near Astoria is far from impressive. Although a rare Chinook is coming from the above Astoria/Megler Bridge, it is a rare occurrence and won’t change anytime soon.

Estuary crabbing in the lower Columbia is also fair at best.

South of Cape Falcon, again, calm seas have been all too rare lately. Most boats are sticking to estuary opportunity and the Nehalem fishery should be improving in the coming weeks. Effort has yet to ramp up however.

Tillamook County rivers remain low and clear and spring Chinook are deteriorating. Summer steelhead are in the Wilson and Nestucca/Three Rivers systems but you have to be sneaky to target them.

Crabbing has been good in Netarts Bay, especially if you have quality bait. Tillamook and Nehalem are a distant second.

Central & South Coast Reports – Tuna have been caught out of most Oregon ports but fishing has been better generally for those launching further south.

Bottom fishing has been good out of central coast ports. Crabbing is producing good numbers, but they still show signs of summer molting.

Trolling herring and spinners cast from the bank have taken Chinook at Winchester Bay over the past week. The pinkfin surf perch fishery is still producing here.

While the lower Rogue River is slow, trolling in the bay has been effective for a few Chinook. Middle river anglers are catching summer steelhead occasionally while winter steelhead are being caught on the upper Rogue along with some springers.

Boats launching out of Brookings can catch halibut seven days a week. Some salmon have been landed this week.

Trout fishing remains good at Diamond Lake where large trout are taken on occasion.

Central & Eastern – Metolius trout fishing has been good for those familiar with this tricky river.

East Lake has been productive for fly anglers targeting trout with Caddis imitations and large streamers.

Wickiup has been fishing well for kokanee and has delivered some large ones to anglers over the past week.

“Kokanee have been small, but numerous at Green Peter to the point of a running gag. This week it has been slow.

SW Washington – The Cowlitz remains the best option for summer steelhead but effort is slowing. The Kalama and Lewis are poor.

The mainstem Columbia remains the main focus for most anglers. Catches remain good for both boaters and bank anglers, even during this time when tides are not strong.

The Drano Lake steelhead fishery is improving and should produce good catches for the next 4 weeks, especially if water temperatures remain subdued.

from Oregon Fishing http://ift.tt/29NhIDj

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Pete Heley Outdoors 7 / 13 / 2016

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The Umpqua River pinkfin run is still happening and should last until the first week of August, but as the fishery winds down, the fishing will become increasingly inconsistant. Right now there are plenty of female pinkfins in the river above Winchester Bay. The South Jetty is fishing well for striped surfperch and fishing for pile perch in the Umpqua River and Coos Bay has been better than normal this year.

Other fish being caught by anglers fishing Winchester Bay’s South Jetty include greenling, black and blue rockfish and a few cabezon and lingcod. Cabezon have been legal to keep since July 1st and the daily limit is one cabezon at least 16-inches in length.

When bar and ocean conditions permit, tuna fishing has been productive with fair numbers of fish less than 40 miles out with a few as close as 20 miles offshore. A recent ODFW report suggested that anglers try to fish water with a surface temperature warmer than 58 degrees with a chlorophyl content of about .25 milligrams per cubic meter.

Eel Lake has been fishing fair for rainbow trout and a few cutthroat trout. The lake also has a good largemouth population with a few smallmouth bass, brown bullheads and black crappies also present. The coho salmon in the lake are not legal to keep. Area anglers wanting to target freshly stocked trout are going to have to wait until the third week of August when Lake Marie is scheduled to receive 800 trophy rainbows.

On Saturday, Jamie Standifer and a couple of friends trolled herring near Reedsport for a boat limit of Chinook salmon weighing between 13 and 21 pounds. On Sunday, two anglers casting spinners at Half Moon Bay caught Chinook salmon weighing 15 and 20 pounds and brought their fish in for photos, but were quite evasive as to color pattern of their spinners. Anglers trolling the ocean for fin-clipped cohos are usually fishing north of the Umpqua River Bar and catching more native cohos than finclipped ones.

Tenmile Lake has been fishing well for largemouth bass and the current issue of Bassmaster Magazine has the lake rated as the seventh best bass fishery in the western United States. However, when stating the lake’s surface acreage, the magazine seems to have only included the surface acreage in South Tenmile Lake. The magazine also seems to have cut by half, the surface aceage of Potholes Reservoir which is also on the list of top bass fisheries in the western United States.

The Coquille and Umpqua rivers are fishing very well for smallmouth bass. Both rivers are receiving fair to heavy amounts of fishing pressure and the numbers of larger bass seem to be greatly reduced in the areas of greatest fishing pressure. Anglers on float trips that cover fair amounts of river mileage are still finding good-sized bass as they float through river sections that have reduced fishing pressure.

Dwayne Schwartz and I fished the pond formed by the confluence of the North Umpqua and South Umpqua rivers. Our targeted fish species was pumpkinseed sunfish, but we hoped to catch a variety of the pond’s warmwater fish species. However, the pumpkinseeds proved most cooperative.

Almost immediately, Dwayne caught a pumpkinseed at least eight inches long and decided to release it without weighing it. One of Dwayne’s fishing goals is to catch a state record pumpkinseed and the current Oregon state record from Lake Oswego only weighed 7.688 ounces and that fish should not have been eligible for an Oregon record since Lake Oswego is not open to the angling public.

The ODFW policy is that large fish caught in Oregon waters not accessible to the angling public are not eligible for state record consideration – and the Lake Oswego pumpkinseed is not the first time the ODFW has ignored its own policy. Oregon’s current state record largemouth bass replaced a state record largemouth that was caught from a private pond in the Butte Falls area.

Oregon state records for warmwater fish are now being kept by the Oregon Bass and Panfish Club and they should follow ODFW policy and de-certify the Lake Oswego pumpkinseed.

So, although Dwayne did not actually weigh his jumbo panfish, there are ways and formulas that allow weight estimates of surprising accuracy. My favorite method involves memorizing a few weight / length ratios for different fish species.

So if you know that a normally shaped 14-inch rainbow trout weighs one pound, then a reasonable level of math skill should allow you to closely estimate the weight of any rainbow trout of similar body shape once you know its length. For examle, a 21-inch trout would weigh three pounds and six ounces – an estimate arrived at by first comparing their relative lengths. The 21-inch trout is one and a half times as long as the 14-incher. It’s also 1 1/2 times as deep (top to bottom) and 1 1/2 times as thick (side to side) So take the 3/2 ratio and cube it. 3/2 times 3/2 times 3/2 equals 27/8 which equals 3 and 3/8. Since the weight of the anchor fish – the 14-inch trout is one pound, the estimate of the 21-inch trout is three pounds and six ounces. The same formula would give you an estimate of eight pounds for a 28-inch trout of similar shape.

Keep in mind that as fish get older and longer, they tend to get chunkier, which can make weight estimates using this formula less accurate and much lower.

To get an estimate of the weight of Dwayne’s pumpkinseed, let’s assign a weight of one pound for a fat ten inch sunfish and Dwayne did say his fish was very fat.

Cubing the length of his eight-inch pumpkinseed we get 512. Cubing the length of a ten-inch sunfish gives a figure of 1,000. To arrive at a weight estimate for a fat eight eight inch pumpkinseed , we divide 512 by 1,000 and then multiply by 16 ounces. The estimated weight is 8.192 ounces.

So if the original premise of a fat ten inch long sunfish is accurate and Dwayne could somehow get his fish to a business with a certified scale without it losing weight and he took the requied photo and got signatures to the weighing – he could have had a state record for a fish species not many people worry about.

But if a fat one pound sunfish was actually ten and one-quarter inches long, rather than ten inches,the estimated weight for Dwayne’s pumpkinseed drops to 7.607 ounces – nothing more than a near miss.

from Pete’s Blog – PeteHeley.Com

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Oregon Fisheries Update for July 7th

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Willamette Valley – During a time when summer Chinook abundance at Bonneville should be peaking, numbers seem to be lagging right now. Catches mimic passage, in that action for both boat and bank anglers has been fair at best in the Columbia River Gorge. Action typically starts to taper after the 1st week of July but only time will tell. Summer steelhead numbers are starting to climb and action should begin to pick up dramatically, especially if water temperatures remain in check. Sockeye numbers remain good.

The ODFW is confident that springers are still being caught on the lower Willamette River although TGF has been unable to confirm. Shad and sturgeon? That’s a different story. Those you can catch.

McKenzie level and flow will be little affected by rainfall which is forecast to fall over the next several days. It is expected to fish well.

The Santiams are stable, and. With the exception of the slightest bump in levels on the North Santiam, will not rise due to rainfall. Fishing is fair to good.

While there will be little physical effect from showers, the Clackamas is expected to benefit from cooler weather and a bit of fresh water. It is expected to produce steelhead.

Pro Guide Jeff Stoeger (503-704-7920) of O2BFISHN Guide Service reports that the sandy has fish with room on the lower river if the rain shows up as predicted for the sunbathers won’t show up!

Northwest Oregon – Columbia River in-river salmon trollers continue to come back to the dock disappointed. You shoulda been here last year. Offshore trollers however are producing good catches SW of the river mouth, mostly for coho. Chinook are scarce, even along the historically productive Long Beach Peninsula. It seems more like a normal year this year.

Tuna is all the rage out of northern ports with most anglers reporting the best catches in years. Good numbers of tuna were reported 28 to 35 miles west of Astoria on Wednesday, it’s going to be a banner albacore year.

Bottomfishing is slowing along the south jetty out of Hammond

Sturgeon fishing remains productive in the lower Columbia estuary, they are a bit more spread out however. Fresh anchovies remain the bait of choice but reserve by 2:00 p.m. by calling World Class Fishing at (503) 741-1407.

Sport boats out of Garibaldi reported good catches of Chinook in the ocean near the mouth of Nehalem Bay. Nehalem itself should start to see some returning adults with the peak closer to the end of the month. Coho are a bit scarce but the few that anglers are finding, appear to be in great shape.

Nearshore halibut is predictably hit-or-miss. Sport angler Ed Hoelz of Oregon City reported a 35 pounder in about 90 foot of water off of the mouth of the Nehalem. Ed reported that crabbing was also productive and a good percentage of the keepers were in hard-shell shape.

Precipitation and cloud cover this weekend may bolster salmon, steelhead and cutthroat trout fishing on north Oregon streams. Only slight river rises are in the forecast however.

Central & South Coast Reports – The Annual Oregon Rockfish Classic takes place at Depoe Bay on Saturday, July 9th, when anglers will be fishing from kayaks.

It’s time and the Pacific Ocean off the Oregon coast is the place! Tuna are being caught out of most south coast ports with many choosing Charleston. This is a sport requiring special 3equipment and knowledge. Know before you go.

Pete Heley, an Oregon author, publisher and blogger (peteheley,com) reports from Reedsport that Salmon fishing has been improving for anglers launching out of Winchester Bay. Limits of salmon have been taken by boats this week with Chinook up to 20 pounds.

As waters in the lower Rogue River are running quite low, clear and warm, trollers are taking the first fall Chinook in the bay. Fishing on the middle Rogue is poor but somewhat better in the upper river.

Boats launching out of the Port of Brookings have been making good catches of rockfish, ling cod and salmon.

Trout fishing has been good at Diamond Lake for those using bait. It’s been slower for trollers.

Central & Eastern – Lower Deschutes trout anglers have been hooking fair numbers of redsides with fish responding well to certain fly patterns.

Trout anglers on Fall River are expected to do well as the ODFW has been planting here regularly.

Paulina has been producing fine numbers of kokanee with best results coming to those who fish early in the day.

Kokanee catches have remained good at popular Odell Lake. Both trolling and jigging have been producing recently.|

Green Peter has continued to produce lots and lots of small kokanee. Then again, it we don’t catch the little ones, we’ll never have big ones.

SW Washington – District anglers are most likely to continue to focus on the mainstem Columbia River, especially as we enter peak season for summer steelhead. Cooler air and water temperatures are likely to keep them on the bite.

Both bank and boat anglers working the Cowlitz River are scoring better numbers of summer steelhead. Some spring Chinook remain available but the quality will begin to degrade.

The Kalama remains poor for summer steelhead and won’t likely improve.

The Drano Lake fishery is not producing good numbers either, despite improving passage at Bonneville Dam.

from Oregon Fishing http://ift.tt/29ms35p

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Pete Heley Outdoors 7 / 06 / 2016

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Salmon fishing in the ocean off Winchester Bay showed a marked improvement over last week. On Saturday, Chris McAyeal, of Eugene, while fishing with two friends landed a boat limit of six keeper salmon. Their catch consisted of a finclipped coho and five Chinooks to 20 pounds. They also released a couple of unclipped cohos which seem to be running larger than the clipped cohos and a couple of Chinooks just shy of the 24-inch length required to be legal. Chris said they trolled herring at a depth of 55 feet and caught their salmon north of the Umpqua River Bar.

Other salmon anglers were not so lucky. One of the area’s more successful guides could not get out of the wild cohos and had little to show for a lot of action. A few Chinooks are starting to venture up the Umpqua River and their numbers should continue to increase over the next several weeks. A large Chinook salmon was hooked and lost Sunday morning to a spinner flinger at Half Moon Bay.

Rough bar conditions have put a tempory halt to what has been a very productive tuna fishery about 30 miles offshore and delayed early morning salmon fishing. But there are a few fall Chinooks in the river as far upstream as Reedsport.

There has been very few reports of striped bass catches. A friend of mine has spent several nights targeting stripers on the Smith River and only had a few boils and missed strikes to show for it. The first night he used live bait, he landed two. He caught an 18 pound ten ounce fish on a pikeminnow and a fifteen pound three ounce fish on a sculpin.

For the last few weeks, stripers have been tough to find on the Coquille River which has a surprising amount of tidewater. The river’s smallmouth fishery is holding steady with an impressive number of bass caught weighing at least two pounds. As expected, the river’s largemouth bass population seems to have shrunk and they seem even harder to catch.

Crappie anglers are having fair success at daybreak and dusk as long as they are in the Eugene or Roseburg area. In western Oregon the yellow perch seem to outcompete the crappies. However, fishing for yellow perch remains very slow on Tenmile Lakes, but is fair on Tenmile Creek just below South Tenmile Lake, but few of the perch will measure eight inches in length. Tenmile Creek still has a logjam on it about a mile and a half below the lake, which keeps all but the most reckless from floating it. But this year, the shallow faster current seems especially suitable for trout. The fishing for largemouth bass also seems much improved – possibly due to less fishing pressure due to the logjam.

The Umpqua River pinkfin run is still going on, but is winding down. A guide and his clients landed a boat limit of perch before 9 am last Sunday (7 rods and 105 perch). On the 4th, several more boats had boat limits by 8 am. What they all had in common was they all used sand shrimp for bait and they were all fishing less than two miles up river of where Winchester Bay’s East Boat Basin connects to the Umpqua River. As this fishery approaches it’s conclusion, the fishing will become even more inconsistent.

Umpqua River smallmouth bass are biting well, but the river is very clear and smaller soft plastics or nightcrawlers are more productive than crankbaits.

Umpqua River shad fishing is pretty much over although a few fish are still being caught near the chute at Sawyers Rapids.

Tenmile Lakes has been fishing well for bass and its popularity ensures that almost every other bass fishery in Coos and Douglas counties is underfished. However all of the area bass fisheries are turning into early morning or after dark fisheries.

Rough ocean and bar conditions have limited crabbing options, but some boat crabbers have made decent catches near the lower end of Half Moon Bay. There has been some tuna carcasses in Winchester Bay’s East Boat Basin, which seems to have improved crabbing success for those crabbing off the end of “A” Dock.

from Pete’s Blog – PeteHeley.Com

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Oregon Fishing Report for June 24th

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Willamette Valley – The summer Chinook run is underway on the mainstem Columbia, but in consistent fashion, the action is inconsistent. There have been some flurries of action at Davis Bar for trollers but gorge anchor anglers are coming up with more consistent results. Spinners are the key, no matter if you’re trolling or anchor fishing. Peak passage often happens the first week of July so we’re nearing peak. Summer steelhead are also starting to show in greater numbers as well and some sockeye, falling to smaller gear too.

No one has shared the end of the spring Chinook season with the couple of boats still trolling on the lower Willamette. It’s really slow but they’re catching occasionally. Better fishing is available for shad or catch-and-release for sturgeon.

Recent rainfall had little effect on water conditions on the McKenzie River, but this one fishes well over most seasons and many different conditions. It’s expected to fish well for trout.

The Santiams will be dropping slowly over the coming week. The greatest percentage of fish counted at Willamette Falls are headed here. Fishing has been slow, however.

Rainfall over the past week did little on the Clackamas other than prevent it from dropping; water levels changed very little. Expect to see it drop in the coming dry week. Summer steelhead and spring Chinook are available here.

Water conditions have been good this week thanks to lower temperatures and a little rainfall. This is likely to change with the water getting some color as the weather turns hot. Steelhead and springers are scattered throughout the river.

Northwest Oregon – Summer Chinook fishing in the Astoria area remains surprisingly disappointing, especially after last years success. Action may pick up but it doesn’t look hopeful in the near future. Last year’s thermal block may have had a lot to do with estuary success. Water temperatures are much more tolerable at this point.

Sturgeon fishing in the estuary is off the hook. Action is intense for those using fresh anchovies and World Class Fishing has the highest quality bait. Call (503) 741-1407 at least a day in advance of your trip to secure your bait reservation. Taylor Sands above the Astoria bridge remains the best bet as crabs are stealing bait frequently downstream, although there are sturgeon present.

Clam diggers along Clatsop Beaches remain plenty happy with their results. Although action is likely to slow on the 2nd half of this minus tide series, limits can still be attained by those most experienced.

Tillamook Bay is still putting out brief flurries of action. It’s towards the end of the season for sure so action should continue to taper. Stronger tides this week should produce results in the upper bay, especially during high tide.

Although we’re experiencing needed rainfall in NW Oregon right now, only a slight bump in river levels is expected. None-the-less, that’s all desperate spring Chinook need in water-starved Tillamook County streams. It should provide a fresh batch of Chinook to the Trask, Wilson, Nestucca and Three Rivers systems. Summer steelhead action should also bolster.

The ocean swell looks quite tolerable this week but wind waves will inspire offshore anglers to make quick work of a bottomfish limit. Garibaldi Charters (503-322-0007) is reporting excellent success for sea bass and they’re recently spotted orca’s and grey whales inside of Tillamook Bay! Ocean crabbing is also picking up but there are a fair percentage of soft shells in the catch.

Central & South Coast Reports – Surf perch fishing off Oregon’s south coast beaches continues to yield lots of fish. The limit is 15 but take only what you need, please.

While ocean Chinook fishing has been open since mid-March, starting June 25th, hatchery (fin-clipped) coho maybe added to the salmon bag. It stands to reason that having more fish to catch means more fish in the boat, right?

More to enjoy offshore! Watch for Orcas and Grey Whales which have been sighted frequently by boats as they head to the fishing grounds.

Fishing for pinkfin surf perch has been quite good as they make their spawning run into Winchester Bay and or the lower Umpqua. Bay crabbing has improved to the point that bottom fishers in the bay have started complaining about the numbers.

Tuna fishing started early this season and has made a good showing right out of the gate, both in numbers and size of albacore. While they’re being caught out of almost every port now, Charleston has been one of the best.

Steelheaders and spring Chinook anglers have been struggling on the lower Rogue River where high water temperatures have combined with low water levels to create difficult conditions. A few are being taken by trollers in Rogue Bay. Use anchovy on a spinner rig to try this. Better fishing has been on the upper Rogue.

Trout seem to be scattered everywhere at Diamond Lake and anglers can attest to the good fishing as ‘most everybody is catching limits.

Central & Eastern – Results for redsides have been good over the past week on the lower Deschutes. Improvements have been made at Macks Canyon Campground, including a new boat ramp

Some river fish better than others in the summertime. So it is with the Metolius which is challenging to fish but has been productive this week.

Fly fishers have been taking good numbers of trout at East Lake where hatches have been occurring in the evenings.

While few trollers are taking limits at Wickiup Reservoir, these are some of the larger kokanee available to Oregon anglers.

SW Washington – District anglers remain focused on the Cowlitz River, where anglers are still finding success for spring Chinook and some summer steelhead. Action is likely to taper for Chinook and improve for steelhead in the coming weeks. Bank anglers are faring better than boaters.

The Lewis and Kalama remain poor.

The Drano Lake fishery will quickly convert to steelhead and regulations for Chinook change towards the end of the month. As we’ve stated in recent weeks, focus will change to the mainstem Columbia and the tides are right for successful beach plunking.

Trout have recently been stocked in good numbers in area lakes. Check the WDF&W web site for more details.

Bill Monroe of the Oregonian writes, “For the first time in two decades, anglers can keep up to two sturgeon per day. The sturgeon must be between 38 and 72 inches fork-length and do not have to be recorded on the state’s catch-record card (????)

“The state released several thousand hatchery sturgeon into the upper Columbia in 2003. Biologists now estimate 4,000 of them are in Wanapum Reservoir and another 2,000 are in Priest Rapids Reservoir.

“The hatchery fish weren’t marked. All within the legal-retention size window are considered hatchery origin sturgeon. The fishery is intended to reduce interaction and competition for food between the hatchery fish and larger native sturgeon.

“The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife will closely monitor the season and decide later whether to repeat the fishery.”

from Oregon Fishing http://ift.tt/28TDWUI

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Oregon Fishing Report for June 17th

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Willamette Valley – The Columbia River is coming on surprisingly strong in recent days. There have been reports of impressive bites for trollers in the Davis Bar area, not quite to the magnitude of the September fishery but for the amount of pressure and a mid-June fishery, it is worth your while. Furthermore, Chinook numbers crossing Bonneville Dam have also showed an impressive bump in recent days, eclipsing over 4,000 adults at mid-week. In addition, sockeye salmon, summer steelhead and shad are also entering the Columbia River system in fine fashion. It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

While the ODFW stated in their fishing report that spring Chinook are still being caught in the lower Willamette, we’re pretty sure it’s not many. Shad fishing has been quite good as has catch-and-release sturgeon fishing. But you have to fish for springers in order to catch one.

McKenzie River fly anglers have been doing well with success expected to continue with weekend showers having little effect on excellent water conditions.

The Santiams are starting to show their stuff now that data at Willamette Falls shows good nubers of spring Chinook and summer steelhead moving upriver and heading for tributaries.

Fishing has been slow to fair on the Clackamas River. Levels will rise over the coming weekend to drop in the week to come. Catches of summer steelhead many times outnumber those of springers.

Water conditions turned silty and off-color on the Sandy River during the heat wave but cleared with lower temperatures and rainfall. Fishing improved with this change.

Northwest Oregon – The Tillamook Bay spring Chinook fishery never gained great momentum this season. For the most part, action for estuary Chinook starts to wind down by mid-June. The fishery switches to a tidewater and river program and fair action should maintain the fishery through early July or later. Given the current water conditions however, action will remain challenging. A recent slight bump in water levels certainly brought in better numbers of adults into the Trask, Wilson, Nestucca and Three Rivers.

Summer steelhead numbers should be growing as well, the Nestucca, Three Rivers and Wilson will offer the best chance but use small baits or muted spinners to attract biters. They will likely be in the swifter, broken surfaced waters.

As the spring Chinook fishery fades, and the Pacific Ocean offers more friendly seas, anglers will switch focus westward, in pursuit of halibut, nearshore bottomfish, salmon and soon-to-be tuna. Peak action for salmon and albacore is still weeks away but bottomfishing and halibut opportunities are what to focus on this weekend, friendly seas are ahead.

To the north, Columbia River sturgeon anglers are having a great time with ample numbers of large fish, eagerly taking anchovies and sand shrimp in the estuary. The best fishing remains upstream of Tongue Point.

The soft tide series is producing good catches of bottomfish along the sunken and south jetty of the Columbia River estuary but lingcod remain scarce.

The estuary Chinook salmon fishery should begin to take off but anglers are restricted to fish upstream of the Astoria/Megler Bridge.

Central & South Coast Reports – Tuna were caught this week out of Charleston/Coos Bay in pretty good number and decent size for so early in the season. So it begins.

Deep water halibut fishers will have more opportunities on Friday, June 17 and Saturday, June 18 as sufficient quota remains for this opening. With 92% of the quota remaining to be caught, the inshore halibut fishery will continue seven days a week.

Regular weekly contributor Pete Heley (peteheley.com) reports that the pinkfin perch fishery caught fire this week, producing many limits for anglers in Winchester Bay and on the lower Umpqua. Heley also reminds us that the smallmouth bass fishery on the Umpqua is strong now.

Spring Chinook catches have been slow on the lower Rogue due to warm water but improved this week as rain provided fresh water but also served to lower water temps. Fishing has been poor on the middle Rogue while the upper river is producing some spring Chinook as summer steelhead start to show.

Surf fishing for pinkfin perch has been excellent off beaches in the Brookings and Gold Beach areas. These fish bite best during last two hours of the incoming tide.

Salmon trollers have finally started scoring out of the Port of Brookings. Now that they’ve broken the ice (so to speak) fishing is expected to improve. Hatchery coho may be taken starting June 25th, Halibut fishing, open seven days a week here, has been slow to fair.

Since the water temperature improved at Diamond Lake, trout fishing has remained pretty good. Be certain to release any tiger trout (they’ll be small).

Central & Eastern – The Stonefly hatch on the lower Deschutes has concluded for the year. Fly fishers continue to take trout on other patterns.

Trolling at Green Peter Reservoir has been producing great numbers and usually limits of kokanee but these fish are running small.

Trout fishing has been worthwhile at Lava Lake this week.

East Lake has been producing decent catches of trout to bait anglers.

This is a great time to fish almost any of the Cascade Lakes as the majority are fishing well.

While not totally resolved, the gate at Starvation Lane which is used for public access to Starvation Point on the John Day is now open.

SW Washington – As Chinook opportunity winds down, summer steelhead numbers are climbing, especially for Cowlitz River anglers although the Lewis and Kalama will also remain options.

Serious Chinook and steelhead anglers will begin to focus most of their effort on the mainstem Columbia, which should pay dividends given the large return size that’s in the forecast. Beach fishing is soon to peak and Washington beaches, especially on the stronger outgoing tide series, often pays dividends during this time of year.

The Drano Lake and Wind River steelhead fisheries should also begin to light up. The action is often best at night.

from Oregon Fishing http://ift.tt/1W2KpOj

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