Willamette Valley/Metro – With a stable Willamette River comes an excited effort for spring Chinook in the Sellwood area. Sellwood is often one of the better early season producers and although a far cry from its historical significance, it has produced some spring Chinook in the last week. Small, red and green label herring remain the top option for trollers from Sellwood through the Portland Harbor. John Shmilenko (AKA “The Sultan of Sellwood”) got his second of the season on the 21st. Early season is underway.
With low freezing levels, the Willamette River looks to be a good option for weekend anglers. Keep in mind that we’re still months away from peak season, but spring Chinook elicit irregular excitement for the sheer quality of these fish. Tides do play a role in the Willamette, it’s best to target high tide if you can calculate the time correctly.
There may be some spring Chinook effort downstream of St. Helens, but bring a portable heater as the cold seems to penetrate anglers on the Columbia, and only 2 salmon have passed Bonneville Dam at this time. Most spring Chinook in the Columbia right now are destined for the Willamette system.
Pro guide Jeff Stoeger (503-704-7920) reports, steelheaders on the Sandy River continue to produce fair catches of steelhead in what most consider peak timing on this system. Fish have been recycled, but that activity will cease as the hatchery becomes engaged in meeting egg take goals. Steelhead are well distributed throughout the river system and both bank and boat anglers should have good access to them.
The Clackamas continues to produce mediocre results, but action has picked up in recent days. Following a recent river rise, the river is back in shape although anglers remain reluctant to recreate in the cooler air temperatures. Another rise is forecast by Saturday, but that is always subject to change. Hatchery steelhead will continue to run into May, but we’re entering peak season on this system as well.
Northwest – Foul weather is keeping some anglers from traveling the coast range, but steelhead are readily available on the Wilson and Nestucca systems. Although innovative anglers are producing the best results, bobber-doggers and side-drifters are working their standard drifts with some degree of success as well. River levels are fluctuating, but as peak season nears, so should the steelhead fishing. This is your last chance to register for this weekend’s Hook, Line and Sinker Tournament. The conditions look great, especially the warming trend, which should stimulate biting fish. There have been fish reported into the mid-teens from the Wilson recently, and broodstock collection is going well for this system.
The Nestucca in particular has come on strong in recent weeks. In lower flows, anglers should stick to the lower reaches, although steelhead are well distributed throughout the system right now. Plugs remain an effective tool, especially when the majority of anglers are sticking to drifting techniques. Lower flows call for smaller, more subtle offerings, such as single beads and jigs. Steelheader President Tom VanderPlaat scored 3 wild steelhead and 1 hatchery fish from First Bridge to Three Rivers on Friday of last week.
The Trask and Nehalem should also have fair numbers of fish, and weekend conditions, at least on Saturday, should prove productive.
Southwest – From ODF&W
When weather and ocean conditions have allowed anglers to get out on the ocean, fishing has been good out of most ports. For larger lingcod, try fishing closer to shore instead of offshore, as a somewhat larger average size has been reported. The rockfish bite has been very slow out of Newport this past week, as per angler reports.
In the flatfish fishery, creels typically include sanddabs, sand sole and Petrale sole. Creels from the Offshore longleader trips often consist of a nice grade of yellowtail, widow, and canary rockfishes.
Weekend fishing opportunities
Fish Lake is now ice-free and fish up to 14-inches are being caught.
The middle Rogue River is in good shape and winter steelhead fishing should be good.
The mainstem Umpqua is a good choice for steelhead fishing; with water levels pretty low, anglers are having most success lower in the system.
Lake Selmac was stocked last week with 5,000 legal-size rainbow trout.
From Pete Heley at PeteHeley.com
While the ODFW planted trout at many spots around Oregon for last weekend’s “Free Fishing Weekend”, they sure didn’t plant any trout around our area. Hopefully, there were fair numbers of stocked trout left from previous plants in some of the Florence-area lakes.
Before they “improved” the site, it showed that Loon Lake was slated to be stocked the last week of this month and Lake Marie was to be stocked the second week of March.
Crabbing at Winchester Bay, has suffered the least, “closure-wise”, and crabbing is still fair, but getting tougher for the dock crabbers.
Bottomfishing has been fair off of area jetties and boats venturing offshore to deeper reefs are still doing great for lingcod and fair to good for rockfish.
They are still catching some redtail surfperch off area beaches, but last week they were running small, and the occasional walleye surfperch even smaller.
I know I’m repeating myself, but it’s the best time to catch yellow perch at their maximum weight is now. By the first week of March, the spawn will be over and those chunky egg-laden female perch will, once again, have normal girths.
Eastern – From our friend Tim Moran:
Prineville, Haystack and Ochoco Reservoir – All will fish well again after the weather warms….with temps in the teens and lower in spots fishing will be slow until the air temps get consistently above 40 degrees.
Grande Ronde River – The river is dropping and Steelhead are present but the cold temps are going to make it tough.
Metolius River- Air temps don’t affect this river as much because the water is always COLD! However, hatches won’t get going until the air temps rise so this river will fish best from 11am to 4pm.
South Twin Lake – I got a new report from my new friends at Central Oregon fishing report. They were at Twin on the 15th, 16th, and 17th and they did well fishing with crawlers off the bottom, power bait and trolling small flies and spinners.
SW Washington – No spectacular news for SW Washington district river systems. The Cowlitz is due to start seeing some later returning steelhead, but action remains subdued to date. There has been a spring Chinook caught, however.
Other systems such as the Kalama, Lewis, and Washougal remain relatively quiet for action and devoid of effort.
Although there won’t be a dipping season for smelt, some are likely in the system, although few are reporting tell-tale signs.
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