Pete’s Blog – PeteHeley.Com

Salmon fishing at Winchester Bay was much improved this last week. For the last few months, the catch has been comprised almost entirely of Chinook salmon, but last week coho salmon began entering the lower river and definitely improved the overall fishing. Unfortunately, about eighty percent of the coho salmon being landed in the lower river are unclipped and not legal to keep. The ocean coho season is still in effect and a few anglers have been casting spinners into the ocean off the south side of “The Triangle”, since both wild and clipped cohos at least 16-inches long are legal to keep in the ocean. But anglers doing so must adhere to ocean regulations – which means single barbless hooks only – and they should avoid fishing the lower river after keeping an unclipped coho from the ocean if they don’t enjoy having to do a considerable amount of explaining.

After catching nearly 13 percent of the ocean coho quota in the first few days, the ocean coho catch slowed with about 17 percent of the quota landed during the next seven days. Through Sunday (Sept. 11th), 29.4 percent of the quota had been caught and kept. By the time you read this, it’s almost a certainty that more than half the ocean coho quota will have been caught and kept, but there is also a chance that the the season will run through September and not close early.

Most of the spinner sales are still green or chartreuse, but as more coho salmon enter the Umpqua River, the sales of pink spinners will increase.

With the improvement in the salmon fishing and the continued good crabbing, South Jetty bottomfishing has been very much overlooked, but still productive for greenling and striped surfperch. A few anglers have taken advantage of the much improved Sparrow Park Road to fish the beach for redtailed surfperch and some good catches of nice-sized “pinkfins” were made last week.

A New Zealand brown trout was recently certified by the IGFA as a new world record. The 42 pound one ounce fish was caught by 71 year old angler Otwin Kandolf while fishing the Ohau B hydro canal on New Zealand’s South Island. The lunker was caught below a commercial salmon farm and there is some speculation that it owed its incredibly fat physique to feeding on food pellets that drifted downstream from the salmon farm. The record brown only measured 36.6-inches in length.

By comparison, the last two world record brown trout, a 41 pound eight ounce fish from the Wisconsin portion of Lake Michigan and a 41 pound seven ounce fish from the Big Manistee River, a tributary to the Michigan portion of Lake Michigan, measured 40.6-inches and 43.75-inches respectively. If the record brown from Michigan had the same body shape as the New Zealand lunker, it would have weighed more than 70 pounds.

An Oregon bow hunter was arrested in Deschutes County last week for fatally shooting his hunting companion in the stomach. Where things went wrong was when Michael Shawn Pekarek, after going to full draw, but not getting a shot at a deer he spotted, turned around while still at full draw and “accidentally” released the arrow which struck his hunting partner. The case is still under investigation.

A fishing trip to Woahink Lake last week ended up with a surprising variety of fish species landed.

I was fishing with Reedsport resident Dwayne Schwartz in his bass boat and we quickly landed several smallmouth bass and a few largemouths and when Dwayne landed a foot long pike minnow, we decided to see how many fish species we could catch. The first weed bed we spent any time on resulted in a couple of dozen yellow perch hookups and about a half-dozen bluegills and when Dwayne caught our first rainbow trout, we were up to a six fish species.

Try as we might, we couldn’t add any additional fish species, but then the cutthroat trout, black crappies and brown bullheads in the lake are rather rare.

We didn’t land any lunkers. Our biggest yellow perch was about eight inches long and the biggest bluegill between six and seven inches, the rainbows topped out about 12-13-inches as did the two pikeminnows. None of our smallmouth bass weighed more than a pound and the heaviest largemouth weighed about two pounds. But it was a fun half-day of easy light tackle fishing.

Bill Taylor dropped off some additional info concerning the Labor Day STEP Salmon Derby. 135 salmon were caught and turned in by 400 anglers (some of which fished two and a half days.). 83 salmon were weighed in at the Reedsport Boat Ramp and 52 were weighed at the East Basin Boat Ramp in Winchester Bay. Two of the salmon weighed in were finclipped Chinooks from our local STEP Chapter. The heaviest salmon turned in on Saturday weighed 27.9 pounds and was caught by Marcus Thedford of Sutherlin. The heaviest salmon turned in on Monday weighed 28.1 pounds abd was caught by Kaitlynn Baines of Albany.

As reported last week, the overall Derby winner was a 33.7 pound Chinook caught on Sunday by Dana Castle right in front of the Reedsport Boat Ramp and viewed by numerous witnesses. It was Dana’s only bite during the entire tournament.

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Salmon fishing at Winchester Bay was much improved this last week. For the last few months, the catch has been comprised almost entirely of Chinook salmon, but last week coho salmon began entering the lower river and definitely improved the overall fishing. Unfortunately, about eighty percent of the coho salmon being landed in the lower river are unclipped and not legal to keep. The ocean coho season is still in effect and a few anglers have been casting spinners into the ocean off the south side of “The Triangle”, since both wild and clipped cohos at least 16-inches long are legal to keep in the ocean. But anglers doing so must adhere to ocean regulations – which means single barbless hooks only – and they should avoid fishing the lower river after keeping an unclipped coho from the ocean if they don’t enjoy having to do a considerable amount of explaining.

After catching nearly 13 percent of the ocean coho quota in the first few days, the ocean coho catch slowed with about 17 percent of the quota landed during the next seven days. Through Sunday (Sept. 11th), 29.4 percent of the quota had been caught and kept. By the time you read this, it’s almost a certainty that more than half the ocean coho quota will have been caught and kept, but there is also a chance that the the season will run through September and not close early.

Most of the spinner sales are still green or chartreuse, but as more coho salmon enter the Umpqua River, the sales of pink spinners will increase.

With the improvement in the salmon fishing and the continued good crabbing, South Jetty bottomfishing has been very much overlooked, but still productive for greenling and striped surfperch. A few anglers have taken advantage of the much improved Sparrow Park Road to fish the beach for redtailed surfperch and some good catches of nice-sized “pinkfins” were made last week.

A New Zealand brown trout was recently certified by the IGFA as a new world record. The 42 pound one ounce fish was caught by 71 year old angler Otwin Kandolf while fishing the Ohau B hydro canal on New Zealand’s South Island. The lunker was caught below a commercial salmon farm and there is some speculation that it owed its incredibly fat physique to feeding on food pellets that drifted downstream from the salmon farm. The record brown only measured 36.6-inches in length.

By comparison, the last two world record brown trout, a 41 pound eight ounce fish from the Wisconsin portion of Lake Michigan and a 41 pound seven ounce fish from the Big Manistee River, a tributary to the Michigan portion of Lake Michigan, measured 40.6-inches and 43.75-inches respectively. If the record brown from Michigan had the same body shape as the New Zealand lunker, it would have weighed more than 70 pounds.

An Oregon bow hunter was arrested in Deschutes County last week for fatally shooting his hunting companion in the stomach. Where things went wrong was when Michael Shawn Pekarek, after going to full draw, but not getting a shot at a deer he spotted, turned around while still at full draw and “accidentally” released the arrow which struck his hunting partner. The case is still under investigation.

A fishing trip to Woahink Lake last week ended up with a surprising variety of fish species landed.

I was fishing with Reedsport resident Dwayne Schwartz in his bass boat and we quickly landed several smallmouth bass and a few largemouths and when Dwayne landed a foot long pike minnow, we decided to see how many fish species we could catch. The first weed bed we spent any time on resulted in a couple of dozen yellow perch hookups and about a half-dozen bluegills and when Dwayne caught our first rainbow trout, we were up to a six fish species.

Try as we might, we couldn’t add any additional fish species, but then the cutthroat trout, black crappies and brown bullheads in the lake are rather rare.

We didn’t land any lunkers. Our biggest yellow perch was about eight inches long and the biggest bluegill between six and seven inches, the rainbows topped out about 12-13-inches as did the two pikeminnows. None of our smallmouth bass weighed more than a pound and the heaviest largemouth weighed about two pounds. But it was a fun half-day of easy light tackle fishing.

Bill Taylor dropped off some additional info concerning the Labor Day STEP Salmon Derby. 135 salmon were caught and turned in by 400 anglers (some of which fished two and a half days.). 83 salmon were weighed in at the Reedsport Boat Ramp and 52 were weighed at the East Basin Boat Ramp in Winchester Bay. Two of the salmon weighed in were finclipped Chinooks from our local STEP Chapter. The heaviest salmon turned in on Saturday weighed 27.9 pounds and was caught by Marcus Thedford of Sutherlin. The heaviest salmon turned in on Monday weighed 28.1 pounds abd was caught by Kaitlynn Baines of Albany.

As reported last week, the overall Derby winner was a 33.7 pound Chinook caught on Sunday by Dana Castle right in front of the Reedsport Boat Ramp and viewed by numerous witnesses. It was Dana’s only bite during the entire tournament.

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Weather was great, but the fish-catching was a little disappointing. The over all winner was Dana Castle, who turned his only bite in the derby into a 33 pound seven ounce Chinook salmon which won him $650.
Four hundred angler days resulted in 150 salmon turned in by derby entrants.

Cabelas co-sponsored this year’s derby.

Castle’s winning catch was made right in front of the Reedsport boat ramp complete with a large audience comprised of STEP officials and general onlookers.

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While the salmon fishing has been disappointing so far for many anglers, a few anglers are enjoying consistent success on the Umpqua River. The most consistent bite has been on the or near the Umpqua River Bar, but that area has been crowded to the point where some anglers are choosing to fish elsewhere. A few anglers have been fishing upriver of the Umpqua River Bridge at Reedsport.

Not many cohos were caught during the first few days of the nonselective ocean coho season. Quite a few salmon were hooked at Half Moon Bay and Osprey Point by shoreline bound spinner flingers and virtually all the salmon landed have been Chinooks. If the coho salmon show up in any numbers, this fishery could really improve – although the only cohos that will be legal to keep in the river will be finclipped ones.

As the salmon fishing improves and the crabbing stays productive, the South Jetty/Triangle area, although fishing well, will become increasingly overlooked.

Mardon Resort, on Potholes Reservoir, reported that a three pound bluegill was caught last week, but was not weighed on a certified scale for state record consideration. If it had, it would have replaced the current Washington state record of 2.33 pounds taken from a Yakima County pond 32 years ago. Potholes gives up bluegill in the two pound class yearly.

Oregon’s Siltcoos Lake has produced four bluegills over the last three decades that weighed at least two and a half pounds – all heavier than the current state record bluegill of two pounds five and a half ounces – but none of them were officially weighed. Presently, the bluegill population in the lake is very low.

I barely had time to savor the feeling of catching my first smallmouth bass out of Woahink Lake when the ex-logger from Florence, who first told me about the lake’s smallmouths stopped by where I worked. I had no sooner informed him that I had finally broke my Woahink Lake smallmouth jinx, than the gentleman with him, Terry Austen, informed me that he had caught a 19-inch smallmouth the previous evening while casting a spinnerbait at Woahink. Terry was quite vague about the exact location on Woahink where he caught the lunker smallie.

Despite being seriously one-upped, I’m still happy to have caught my first Woahink Lake smallmouth after scores of largemouths. At only a half-pound, it hit hard and fought valiently on my ultralight tackle. I definitely have no complaints, but I do intend to catch a much larger smallie out of Woahink.

One of my favorite fishing techniques is to drive along Highway 101 and to fish every dock that is adjacent to a launching ramp. I usually make two casts parallel to both side of each dock and then move on to the next dock. While I have caught bass as heavy as five pounds doing this, my usual bass will weigh about a pound. If you can limit yourself to no more than four fishless casts per dock, you can cover quite a few spots in a two hour period – and sometimes catch a half dozen or more bass. The key is to fish the shallow water where the dock meets the boat ramp.

Hopefully, you will practice catch and release so others can catch bass from these overlooked spots.

More info about the data breach in the Washingon state licensing system is that the breach also occurred, to a lessor extent in Oregon and Idaho and the people that could be affected created “customer profiles” before July 2006. The at-risk information includes: names; addresses; dates of birth; the last four digits of social security numbers and drivers license numbers (if provided). No credit card or other financial data was exposed.

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A $500 cash prize is up for grabs if you haul in the “heaviest salmon overall” at the 23rd Annual Gardiner-Reedsport-Winchester Bay Salmon Derby held this Labor Day Weekend, Sept. 3-5.

The derby is an annual fundraiser for the Gardiner-Reedsport-Winchester Bay STEP group that focuses on raising hatchery fall Chinook salmon for the lower Umpqua River. Working with ODFW, the group’s goal is to raise 100,000 fall Chinook which contribute about 2,000 returning adults for anglers to harvest. Derby funds go directly to helping raise these fish.

Derby hours are Saturday and Sunday from daylight to 6:00 p.m. and Monday, daylight to noon. Tickets are $10 for individual and $25 per private boat and are sold in Reedsport at Ace Hardware, the Recreation Station and Turman Tackle and in Winchester Bay at Salmon Harbor Tackle, Stockade Market and at weigh-in locations.

Derby weigh-in locations are the Rainbow Plaza boat Ramp in Reedsport and the East Boat Ramp (Salmon Harbor) in Winchester. Awards will be handed out 1pm Monday at the Salmon Harbor RV Resort Marine Activity Center in Winchester Bay.

This year’s derby features $1,350 in cash prizes and $1,500 in Cabela’s fishing gear.

All angling rules apply and anglers must have a valid angling license and tag. This year, anglers can use two rods if they have a two-rod angling validation.

STEP is an ODFW program working with volunteers to achieve the agency’s fish management objectives. The Gardiner-Reedsport-Winchester Bay STEP group, Cabela’s and many other local businesses sponsor the derby.

phone are advised to call the main office in Salem at 503-947-6000 or to log into the agency website at www.odfw.com to find the information they are looking for.

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Crabbing at Winchester Bay continues to be very good and dock crabbers are now sharing the crabbing success.

Fishing the South Jetty continues to be productive and between the salmon fishing and improved crabbing, the fishing pressure on the South Jetty is way down. Most of the fish taken are striped surfperch, greenling and smaller black rockfish.

Starting on September 3rd, the nonselective ocean coho season will begin. This will be an angler’s only chance to actually keep an unclipped or wild coho salmon this season. The cohos must be 16-inches long to keep and all kept fish must be tagged. Chinook salmon at least 24-inches long are also legal to keep in the ocean.

This Labor Day Weekend, our local STEP Chapter (Gardiner-Reedsport-Winchester Bay) will sponsor its 23rd annual Salmon Derby. The contest hours will be from daylight until 6 pm on Saturday and Sunday and from daylight until noon on Monday. This year the derby is co-sponsored by Cabelas and ticket prices are still $10.00 for an individual and $25.00 for a private boat which may include three or more anglers.

As usual, the heaviest salmon weighed in each day wins $150.00 and the heaviest salmon weighed during the derby wins an additional $500.00. There is also a $100.00 prize for a Lucky Ticket Stub Drawing” and three “ Blue Ticket” winners of $100.00 each drawn from people that weighed in salmon during the derby. One difference this year will the $1,500 worth of Cabelas fishing gear that will be raffled off. The Awards Ceremony will be at 1:00 pm at the Marine Activity Center at the Salmon Harbor RV Resort in Winchester Bay. Questions regarding the derby can best be answered by calling Doug Buck at 541 – 271 – 3144.

The first derby derby ticket I sold this year while working at the Stockade Market was to Karen Arms who weighed in the heaviest salmon caught during last year’s derby.

A federal agency, NOAA Fisheries, has approved the continued killing of California sea lions that are eating salmon, steelhead and sturgeon near the Columbia River’s Bonneville Dam.

NOAA Fisheries announced last Wednesday that it is allowing Oregon, Washington and Idaho to continue what the agency is calling the “lethal removal” of those sea lions until the middle of 2021. Since 2008, the states have removed 166 seals or sea lions. Sea lions are protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. But the law allows the lethal removal of individual seals and sea lions that are known to be having a significant negative impact on threatened or endangered salmon or steelhead. Last year sea lions consumed nearly ten-thousand adult spring chinook salmon, according to NOAA Fisheries.

What has been largely ignored amid the warmer water temperatures on the lower Deschutes River is the fact that this year’s sockeye salmon run of 350 is about four times the 86 returnees of last year. There doesn’t seem to be any effective way to deal with the lower river’s fast-growing smallmouth bass population other than a complete removal of the limits on bass size and numbers.

During a short float trip on Tenmile Creek between its Eel Creek confluence and Spin Reel Park I used light tackle to catch fair numbers of small largemouth bass and a few yellow perch, but the surprise of the trip was the numbers of rainbow trout encountered. The trout ranged in size from eight to 11-inches and lacked adipose fins. Since Tenmile Lake receives minimal trout plants, my conclusion was that these were outmigrating steelhead smolts courtesy of the STEP program on Eel Creek at Tugman Park.

Lake Marie’s annual pre-Labor Day plant of trophy rainbows ocurred this week. The 800 trout of 15-inches or more should keep fishing the lake interesting through Thanksgiving. Several years ago, area fly anglers using pontoon boats “discovered” the lake’s good fall fishing and since they released virtually everything they caught, double digit catches of these large rainbows were possible through much of the winter. Lake Marie is also slated to receive 500 smaller, but still legal, rainbows next week.

On August 18th, the WDFW announced that were starting wolf removal efforts in response to livestock predation by the state’s Profanity Peak wolf pack. After using a helicopter to shoot two pack members, the state halted its wolf removal efforts since the last recorded incident occurred on August 3rd. However, another incident blamed on the eastern Washington wolf pack resulted the removal efforts to almost immediately restart.

Some provisions of the WDFW Wolf Removal Program are: (1) – The department must confirm four or more wolf depredation events on livestock within a calendar year, or six or more confirmed such events within two consecutive calendar years. (2) – Wolves must have killed, not just injured, livestock in at least one of those confirmed depredation events. (3) – WDFW must expect depredations to continue without taking lethal action to stop them. (4) – The department must notify the public about the pack’s activities and related management actions.

The new policy is available at: http://ift.tt/2bghu8g.

WDFW is preparing a complete report on the recent action, including information about staff recommendations, the director’s decision, and wolf removal activities.

The removal of two wolves from the Profanity Peak pack marks the third time that WDFW has used lethal measures to address repeated depredations on livestock since 2008, when the first pack was confirmed in Washington state. A total of 10 wolves have been removed through those actions. During that time, the state’s confirmed wolf population has grown from two wolves in one pack to at least 90 wolves and 19 packs by early 2016.

Additional information about wolf packs and WDFW management actions is available at http://ift.tt/1gUBG9i

Next year Washington’s senior resident anglers will have a new option that is in direct contrast to the way Oregon treats its senior resident anglers. The fee for a yearly fishing license for Oregonians at least 70 years of age went from $15.00 to $25.00 – a 67 percent increase. Next year, Washington senior residents can purchase a license for $19.05 including taxes and fees that will allow them to fish both freshwater and saltwater and also harvest seaweed, crabs and clams.

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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.

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Entering this last weekend, fishing for Chinook salmon at Winchester Bay was very inconsistent, with a few happy anglers scattered among scores of disappointed anglers.

On Saturday, several thirty pound plus Chinooks were taken between Winchester Bay and Reedsport. In the last week, anglers casting spinners from the bank at Winchester Bay have hooked one or two large salmon daily. Most of these salmon have escaped after lengthy battles, but a few were not so lucky.

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There has been a surprising number of recent changes regarding Oregon fishing. While a lot of people are excited about now being able to fish with two rods on additional Oregon coastal rivers, the 2-rod license on the Umpqua River only extends from the Umpqua River Bar upriver to the Scottsburg Bridge. While a boat with one or two anglers can benefit by trolling with more baits in the water, the advantage will decrease as more anglers are in the boat.

This fall, there will almost certainly be anglers fishing Siltcoos, Tahkenitch and Tenmile Lakes that will not realize that their 2-rod licenses are not valid on these three lakes from October 1st through December. I’ve already heard salmon anglers excitedly talk about using their 2-rod licenses to fish for salmon in the ocean. However, 2-rod licenses are definitely not valid for ocean fishing, but since people tend to hear what they want to hear and decide what they read really means, I envision some citations in the future.

Had some tough questions asked recently by anglers towing their boats into Oregon from other states. Motorized boats not registered in Oregon need to pay $22.00 for an invasive species permit, but according to the Oregon Marine Board, they have up to 60 days before they have to get the boater education card that Oregon residents need to have to legally operate motorized craft in Oregon waters.

Crabbing in the ocean remains productive when the ocean is accessible. This year it seems the most productive depth has been 50 to 55 feet, but in past years it was 25 to 35 feet. So far this summer, crabbing in Half Moon Bay has been good, but suffers a noticeable dropoff if one goes even a short distance farther upriver.

Fishing for Chinook salmon on the Umpqua River below Reedsport was terrible the weekend of July 30th and 31st, but much improved this last week. They are still catching some good-sized Chinooks below Reedsport, but the lower Umpqua near the bar and at spots like Half Moon Bay and Osprey Point are starting to produce salmon more consistently and are suffering the increased fishing pressure that comes with the improved fishing.

Consistent ocean winds have greatly limited the fishing pressure directed at tuna and halibut and it is very likely that there will be an additional halibut opener on August 19th and 20th.

The finclipped ocean coho season closed Sunday evening with barely seven percent of the 26,000 quota caught. Because of a less than rosy coho salmon forecast, despite limited catches from ocean coho anglers, the ODFW decided last week to not have a season on Oregon’s coastal rivers for wild or unclipped coho salmon (nonselective). Anglers can still pursue finclipped coho salmon, which are legal fare in the Umpque River all year, but the nonselective coho season was the easiest way for a bank angler to hook and be able to keep a coho salmon.

It appears that the nonselective ocean coho season will still run from September 3rd through September 30th, or until the 7,500 coho salmon quota is caught – if earlier. With good coho numbers and decent fishing conditions, this season could be very short.

There are a few anglers still unaware that bottomfishing is no longer allowed in ocean waters deeper than 120 feet.

Cathy Reiss, of Ringo’s Lakeside Marina on South Tenmile Lake reported that big bass are being reported almost daily and that one boat caught several yellow perch in the ten inch class and a 31-inch rainbow trout (possibly a very tardy steelhead) while fishing near the large railroad trestle crossing North Tenmile Lake. She also reported the good fishing for brown bullheads in June and July has dropped off and the bluegills that were spawning near their marina in June had moved to deeper water. Hopefully, Tenmile’s bluegill fishery will rebound to its former level of productivity.

While the larger coastal lakes have a few planted, native and searun trout still in them, they are seldom active except in the early morning. Trout plants for the Reedsport area will resume when Lake Marie gets 800 trophy rainbows during the week beginning August 22nd and 500 legals the following week. Other trout prospects include the Siltcoos River between the lake and the dam located about three miles below the lake and the faster-flowing, more narrow sections of Tenmile Creek.

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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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