The South Jetty/ Triangle continues to fish well when conditions are calm enough to actually fish it. Fishing pressure has been low for a couple of reasons. One reason is that sand shrimp has been in short supply and it is the best bait for greenling and striped surfperch which dominate the catch of jetty anglers. Anglers using plastic baits on small jigheads miss most of their perch and greenling bites.
The other reason is that Douglas County now requires a daily pass ($30 yearly) to park or use many areas that used to be free. The reason for the newly required pass is ostensibly to raise money, but the pass is very difficult to purchase, When I tried to purchase one at the Dunes NRA building, they had no idea where or how I could get one. I’ll try to purchase one in Roseburg this week, but if I have to pay in advance and then wait to receive to have the pass sent to me, I won’t purchase it. Without it, I will definitely be inconvienced as I will have to spend more time in Coos and Lane counties.
Presently, I view the situation as Douglas County trying to raise additional revenue – and then doing everything they can to make sure they don’t.
February is usually a good month for steelhead fishing on most of our local streams as even the smaller streams have good numbers of fish present and stream flows are usually more stable than they are in December and January. The best places to catch steelhead can change quickly as such fishing conditions as stream flows and water clarity can change daily. Usually, the best fishing takes place after a stream rises and then starts to drop.
About the only area with any fishing pressure directed towards yellow perch is is off the fishing dock at the county park on South Tenmile Lake in Lakeside. Recent fishing pressure is still light, but has gradually been increasing and some perch are being caught, but it is definitely slower than last year. Almost all the perch have been caught on worms or perch meat and fishing is still very slow for those fishing with micro jigs. A few serious bass fisherman are starting to show up prior to the “Frostbite Open”, a popular early season bass tournament that is scheduled this year for February 20th and 21st (Saturday and Sunday). This tournament always seems to give up lots of bass and the weigh-ins are always interesting as some of the bass are real lunkers.
As I am writing this on Sunday evening, the ODFW website shows that the trout stocking schedule for the Umpqua District is available. Unfortunately, it is not. When one clicks on it, the message that pops up states: “The resource you are looking for has been removed, had its name changed, or is temporarily unavailable.” What I hope this message means is that the Umpqua District stocking schedule will be available very, very soon.
Most of the smaller lakes between Reedsport and Florence will be stocked during the second week of February. To more effectively fish for these planted trout, one should know the size of the water being planted as well as the number of fish being stocked.
For instance, North Georgia is a tiny lake of less than a half acre that is slated to receive only 150 rainbow trout. But the stocking density is 300 trout per surface acre – and those trout will be easy to find. Nearby Georgia Lake is slated to receive the same number of trout, but is about four times as large. However, Georgia also contains largemouth bass and some yellow perch and its forage base includes crayfish. The logical angler should surmise that while North Georgia would fish better immediately after being stocked, Georgia would probably fish better between trout plants and it’s forage base would better allow healthy growth rates of its fish.
A different example of stocking density would be Siltcoos Lake which is slated to receive 1,000 12-inch trout in mid March. Since Siltcoos covers more than 3,000 surface acres, the trout plant will amount to less than one trout for every three surface acres. Once those trout spread out they will be difficult for anglers to target and in year’s past, these trout carried over relatively well and reached large sizes. However, since Siltcoos has become a popular fall coho salmon fishery, many of its largest trout have become incidental prey to salmon anglers.
Another factor in targeting planted trout is lake depth. Because of the vertical options afforded trout in a deep lake, the trout will be more difficult to find than they would be in shallow lake with the same surface acreage. It should be obvious. You can find the fish in a deep lake and still fish at the wrong depth in the water column and not catch them.
from Pete’s Blog – PeteHeley.Com
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