North Coast – Coho fishing is only improving by the week. All central and north coast ports are producing consistent catches and action should remain excellent if the coho prediction is accurate.
Photo: Pro guide Rob Gerlitz (503-812-4950) has been finding the halibut out of Garibaldi. Nearshore catches have been pretty consistent. Give him a call and get your ‘butt today!
Portland/Metro Fishing Report – With summer Chinook and sockeye numbers tapering at Bonneville, so slows the action. Recent run-size updates however are keeping anglers happy, especially with all the favorable weather. The Bonneville reach remains the best place to intercept a quality Chinook and beach plunkers downstream of Portland (Sauvies Island) stand a chance at a quality summer steelhead or sockeye with the strong minus tide series we’re currently under.
The Willamette is still putting out spring Chinook, especially for anglers fishing the head of the Multnomah Channel. Action on spinners and flashers remains fair at first light, but this fishery is fading fast.
A few shad remain around Oregon City, but other watersports are taking over this area of the Willamette.
Check out the upcoming stocking schedule HERE.
Sandy River anglers are still in good shape for early morning spring Chinook and summer steelhead. The upper reaches, Oxbow Park and above, hold the most promise for bank anglers. Driftboaters downstream of Oxbow are still coming across a few too.
The Clackamas has good numbers of summer steelhead available, but the majority of spring Chinook are wild, requiring release. Early mornings remain best for bank anglers working the upper reaches, action should stay good for the next several weeks.
Find the full report and forecast for Members on the Sandy and the Clackamas from this page here.
North Coast Fishing Report – Coho fishing is only improving by the week. All central and north coast ports are producing consistent catches and action should remain excellent if the coho prediction is accurate. After a few days of a rough ocean, the weekend weather looks excellent for ocean fishing. The minus tide series may rough up the bar however so check BAR CONDITIONS before exiting the port.
Anglers fishing out of Astoria got a reality check when the nearshore Chinook fishery got stripped away starting on Saturday. Chinook catches have been good along the Long Beach Peninsula, prompting the emergency closure to ensure the coho fishery remains open and viable. It was a good run while it lasted.
Nearshore halibut is becoming more consistent, but managers liberalized the all-depth even more, keeping the fishery open every Thursday – Saturday through the end of this month. Catches are fair in the all-depth and better than fair in the nearshore, at least out of Garibaldi and Newport.
Bottomfishing remains good, but lingcod are a bit harder to find during the dog-days of summer.
Ocean crabbing remains good, but more softshells are showing in the catches.
Razor clam digging is CLOSED from Tillamook Head north to the mouth of the Columbia, there will likely be a bunch of tickets written tomorrow (Friday). Don’t be that guy…
Spring Chinook fishing is largely over along the north coast. It was one of the better seasons in recent history (but it wasn’t a high benchmark in recent years). Summer steelhead action on the Wilson, Siletz and Nestucca/Three Rivers remains fair to good.
See the full report and forecast for Members right here.
Central Oregon Fishing Report – Contributor Glenn Zinkus reports:
Weather Outlook Across Central and Eastern Oregon:
Seasonal weather and temperatures look to be with us through the weekend, with another warmup during next week with much of the region going into the low to high 90s. Friday through Sunday will top out in the low to mid-80s through Sunday for much of the region, with a spike into the low to high 90s beginning next Monday and through much of the week. Sunny skies will dominate the region.
Weekend temperatures in the Lower Deschutes canyon will be in the high 80s, and high 90s or 100 next week.
Temperatures at the Cascade lakes will top out in the 80s through the weekend, and high 80s and low 90s next week.
ODFW News – Angling Restrictions
Deschutes River: ODFW announced, “With another low run of summer steelhead forecast, angling closures for steelhead, bass and salmon will be in effect for parts of the Deschutes River this summer starting as early as June 1.
The closures are in keeping with the Deschutes River steelhead fishery framework that fishery managers presented earlier this year due to continued low forecasts for Threatened summer steelhead runs to areas upriver of Bonneville Dam in the Columbia and Snake River Basins.
Last year’s upriver steelhead run to Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River was the lowest since records began in 1938, resulting in the first steelhead fishing closure on the Deschutes since 1978. Encounter rates from sport anglers that catch and release wild summer steelhead are typically high in mid-Columbia tributaries like the Deschutes, where fish stage before migrating to spawning areas throughout the Deschutes and Columbia Basin.
Pre-season forecasts for 2022 are similar to last year’s returns, so closures are necessary in these mixed stock fisheries even though anglers may be targeting hatchery steelhead.”
The good news amongst the bad is that the trout fishery will remain open.
Lower Deschutes River:
The Lower Deschutes is steady near the dam, with flows of 3760 CFS in Madras and 4530 CFS at Moody. Water access is good.
Temperatures on the lower portions of the river are in the 57 to 59 range at Madras and 66 to 71 degree range near Moody.
There is consistent dry fly-topwater action on the Deschutes with PMDs, PEDs and caddis in quiet back eddies and during the “evening bites”. Caddis hatches have been getting better and better.
And yet there is a lot more for Members. Check out Glenn’s detailed reports and forecasts right here for Chinook and Steelhead Members both!
SW Oregon Fishing Report – Contributor Jeff Rome reports:
Summer weather is here with temps into the 100’s in the Rogue Valley as of late. Don’t be fooled that just because it’s hot, the fishing action has cooled!
Lake and pond fishing for stocked trout is still very good at most coastal lakes and the bass have been biting on the Eel, Empire, Tenmile lakes and the Coquille.
Trout fishing still remains great at Applegate, Lost Creek, Galesville, Hemlock, Lake of the Woods and above Lost creek dam. It’s a god reprieve from hotter valley temps.
Spring Chinook action on the upper Rogue has been decent as most of the run has made it up and the river flows have diminished into the mid 1700’s at a result. Maybe another week or two for this better than average run before the quality goes “dark”.
The lower Rogue (bay) saw “best so far” catches of Fall Chinook on Monday with 35 confirmed fish caught!
Summer steelhead throughout the Rogue system are being caught in better numbers now that the flow has decreased. Fly anglers have been doing good up past Shady Cove as well as on the mid section around Ennis Riffle. Side drifting worms and small bits of roe are producing as well.
Ocean salmon fishing for both coho and Chinook is in full swing from Brooking- Harbor on up to Winchester Bay reports Andy Martin of Brookings Charters. The coho are getting bigger by the week (3-5 pound range) and Chinook ranging from 5-20 pounders. Besides salmon, the bottom fishing remains great for rock fish, ling cod, and halibut. Winchester Bay crabbing is going good as well.
Jeff’s detailed report, multiple lake updates, and forecast in this week’s version for Members!
SW Washington by Ian Carter
Lewis Report
The water flow currently is 2,000 and trending at median flows. There was a decrease from 2,600 a couple of days ago. The gauge height in woodland is 11ft and trending lower. Fishing pressure is very light and not very much success is being reported. The WDFW angler checks showed only one boat fishing two rods with no catch. The water has very good visibiilty.
The stream flow data can be found here: USGS-North Fork Lewis.
Kalama Report
Angler success wasn’t reported by WDFW this week. Nathan at Sportsman’s Warehouse in Kelso told me that the steelhead are now being recycled at the launch closest to I-5.
Cowlitz Report
WDFW anglers’ checks reported the following: Cowlitz River I-5 Br downstream – 61 bank rods kept one Chinook and seven steelhead. One boat/1 rod had no catch. Cowlitz River Above the I-5 Br – 20 bank rods kept one Chinook and seven steelhead with 16 boats/51 rods keeping 63 steelhead. This would certainly indicate fishing the upper river is good, as we forecasted for the past couple of weeks.
The recovered fish numbers jumped incredibly this past week, Tacoma Power employees recovered 508 spring Chinook adults, 48 spring Chinook jacks, 383 spring Chinook mini-jacks, and 276 summer-run steelhead adults over four days of operations at the Cowlitz Salmon Hatchery separator. The Chinook counts more than doubled and Steelhead are up almost 4X from last week.
Washougal Report
John Thompson of Sportsman’s Warehouse tells me that the Washougal really isn’t worth the effort until late summer and early fall. I agree, especially considering so many other worthwhile opportunities.
Columbia Gorge and Tributaries
I don’t have much to report, although that doesn’t mean fish aren’t being caught in the Columbia Gorge. Sockeye are still running east and there should be plenty of opportunity. Salmon fishing on the East side is epic right now. Easy limits of Chinook and Sockeye are coming in the mornings. The last couple of days have been none-stop action. There was no WDFW report for the Wind River, Drano Lake, Klickitat River below Fisher Hill Bridge, and the Klickitat River above #5 Fishway.
Reservoir Report
Merwin water level is still holding steady at 238.00. The fishing is also still excellent. Nathan at Sportsman’s Warehouse in Kelso has been receiving good reports for Yale. Limits of smaller Kokanee are being caught in the 10ft-25ft depth range. Nathan also mentioned fishing Riffe Lake is good. Both Trout, but mostly Silvers are feeding between 15ft-30ft. Mayfield is also still getting over 5,000 stocker trout per month.
The Swift Power Canal was stocked with 1,614 one-pound rainbow trout on June 29th, 2022. Fishing for them could be fun. Swift Power Canal, also referred to as Lewis River Power Canal, is open from the fishing pier upstream to the access road at Swift Dam. Regulations for this water are found under North Fork Lewis River in the sport fishing pamphlet.
Columbia Summary
The lower river below Kalama is fishing good. The plunking effort is high, and results are good. Korey at Bob’s Sporting Goods tells me the beaches around the Kalama River are especially hot right now. I trolled the Columbia unsuccessfully on Tuesday for a couple hours. There were 4 others trolling in our area and probably a half dozen anchor fishing.
Coastal Report
Salmon and bottom fishing is excellent out of both Westport and Ilwaco. There have been some great weather days and the fishing has not stopped since the reporting last week. Lots of both Silvers and Chinook available. I’ll focus more on the coast next week also with a feature on Surf perch.
As of Wednesday evening, the weather is again shaping up to be nice and comfortable. There is no rain in the forecast, but winds may be a factor depending on your location. Temperatures are reported to continue “year round San Diego” like, with overnight lows in the mid 50’s and highs to the upper 70’s.
There is A LOT more for Members here. Become a SW Washington Member here.