Portland, Oregon Metro Fishing Report – If you’ve been watching our YouTube videos, you can see that the Portland Harbor still has it going on. Check out those two videos, but besides the upper Portland Harbor, there are consistent biters around the Head of the Channel and at Kelly Point too.
It’s still the same program, early morning hours, 360 flashers and spinners to get your biters. It helps if you get away from the crowds, especially as the morning wears on. Boat traffic DOES have an impact on the fragility of these biters!
The Willamette is over for sturgeon, and shad are fading fast.
The smallmouth bass bite is picking up on the Willamette, and those things are everywhere.
Anglers had higher hopes for a mainstem sockeye fishery, we already knew summer steelhead numbers were depressed. The bottom line, until fall Chinook and coho start to show in another 6 weeks, metro anglers fishing the mainstem will be hard pressed to find consistent success. Check regulations carefully as the sockeye season closes soon.
Clackamas River Fishing Report – After a nice push of fish about 10 days ago now, catch and effort for spring Chinook, and certainly summer steelhead, has slowed in recent days. There’s still springers scooting through on a nearly daily basis, and that likely won’t change in the coming weeks, but with the river back to low, clear and warming, it’s unlikely we’ll see a monumental push of fish on any given day over the weekend or into next week.
Here’s what ODF&W’s Eric Ollerenshaw had to report about the last 2 weeks on the Clackamas:
Here’s a summary of how many anglers/boats we checked on the Clackamas the last 2 weeks of June.
June 16-22: 28 bank anglers/2 Chinook kept — 5 boats/ 0 fish kept
June 23-29: 31 bank anglers/ 1 Steelhead kept – 5 boats/ 0 fish kept
Downstream anglers, if they work enough holding water, may come across an occasional biter from McIver Park to Carver, a reach of river that fish are a bit more likely to slow down in.
Sandy River Fishing Report – Provided by avid angler, Jeff Stoeger – Good afternoon, all. I hope that you had a chance to get out and try your luck. There are still fresh springers and summer steelhead entering the river. The river has had an algae and grass problem in the lower river. It’s not as bad in the upper river, however. The river is currently running at 8.16ft and should hold until we either have a rain event or the temperature heats up so much that the glacial snow melts and colors up the river. The river has a little glacial green color and clears up during the night when the temperature stays below 60 degrees at night.
The latest info from the hatchery is that Cedar Creek is all but a trickle, and the summer steelhead and springers can’t make it up to the hatchery. Summer steelhead have been beaten up by constant pressure at the hatchery, and very few have been caught. The springer number so far (that have been trapped) is 175, and the hatchery will continue to remove fish from the trap all the way into October.
North & Central Coast Fishing Report – Ocean salmon catches picked up coast-wide, with Florence producing the best catches in the South of Falcon fishery. The mouth of the Columbia is producing easy limits for early risers however, hopefully a sign of good things to come.
Chinook are scarce in the ocean fishery coast-wide; however, south coast anglers will likely see some good opportunities a bit later into the summer.
Bottomfishing catches improved with the bump in bag limit and the opening of cabezon. It should be a productive month for bass but lingcod catches will likely continue to be challenging.
Halibut success has been a bit volatile after a productive week about 10 days ago. The commercial fleet has been fishing too, but they typically go further west to find success.
Ocean crabs are beginning to molt, making it more difficult to find hard-shelled keepers. It’ll be that way for the next several months but putting a longer soak on your gear will help ensure higher quality crab.
Tillamook Bay is still quite viable for late-running spring Chinook. Soft tides this week will promote lower bay trolling at high tide and the last half of outgoing. It should be a good series.
District rivers are back to low and clear, making spring Chinook skittish in the Trask and Nestucca Rivers. Early morning effort will yield results for persistent and motivated anglers, however.
There are a bunch of springers in Big Creek and some in Gnat Creek, too. Catching them will be challenging, however.
Summer steelheaders on the Wilson, Nestucca, and Siletz are frustrated; it’s hard enough to catch these fish when the returns are good.
Central-Eastern Oregon Fishing Report by Terry Otto
Lake fishing for kokes and trout excellent. Summer patterns shine in rivers, Columbia walleye still good, shad slowing.
Best bets for central Oregon this weekend:
The Crooked River is very good for trout as flows have dropped and stabilized.
Last week for Hood River springers, with fishing was good near Punchbowl Falls.
Lake Billy Chinook, Paulina Lake, Crane Prairie, and Crescent Lake are excellent for kokanee.
The Lava Lakes are excellent for rainbows, with some holdovers pushing 24 inches.
Lakes recently stocked
Deer Lake, Fall River, Shevlin Pond, East Lake, Twin Lake North, Paulina Lake, Twin Lake South, Three Creeks Lake, Cultus Lake B, Metolius Pond.
Early summer can mean excellent trout fishing in high-country hike-in lakes. For information about these opportunities, check the ODFW webpage with tips and info here.
Wherever you go this weekend, be prepared for heavy crowds! Try fishing early, to avoid the late-day pleasure boaters and skiers when you fish popular lakes.
Columbia River
Fishing for shad has slowed, according to the fine folks at the Gorge Outfitters Supply in Rufus. The fish are still moving strong through the river, but the bite has dropped off. They are not only hearing this from the anglers, but the sales of shad darts have slowed considerably. They report that the shad run has been so popular that the store is almost out of shad lures.
Sockeye have also drawn some attention, but reports say it is fair at best. The guys in the boats are getting some, but only a few. The steelhead have been almost non-existent, and very few are showing up in the catches at all.
Walleye continues to be really good, and some bank anglers are getting in on it. They are casting jigs from the bank below the John Day Dam. Boat anglers continue to do well with worm harnesses and by pulling plugs. The worms get more fish, but the plugs get the bigger ones. Search rocky reefs from 15 to 35 feet of water.
Lower Deschutes River
Hot weather has made afternoon trout fishing tough, according to Amy Hazel of the Deschutes Angler Fly Shop. Summer patterns continue to be the go-to, but timing is important. “The fishing is really good in the morning time,” said Hazel, but later it might be getting a little warm.”
“It’s important that people keep an eye on the water temperature,” she adds. Hooking and fighting trout when the water is too warm stresses the fish quite a bit. Some might not survive. If the temps climb into the upper 60’s, anglers should leave the fish be.
Summer caddis patterns are working pretty well, and some fish are taking grasshopper patterns, and terrestrials such as ants can be good at times. Nymphing is still good, too.
Crooked River
The electrofishing surveys being conducted on the Crooked River are over, and the river was being bumped to help the boats navigate the river. With these over, flows will stabilize, and fishing will be more consistent.
East Lake
East Lake is giving up a lot of kokanee and very nice brown trout. The brown trout are averaging 16 to 18 inches. Trolling old-school giant cow bell flashers or dodgers fished 30 inches ahead of a small Spinfish packed with tuna has been effective. Kokanee fishing has been excellent, and they are taking spinners, and just about anything you put out there. They are running larger than usual for East Lake.
Southeast Oregon
Campbell Reservoir
Crappie fishing is slow as they are suspended in the reservoir. Crappie and largemouth bass were captured recently. Water temperatures will be warming for warmwater fish. BLM, ODFW and BOR stocked a total of 431 crappie in April 2024 ranging in size from 8-14 inches. Please report any crappie catch to ODFW at 541-883-5732.
Agency Lake
Redband trout are now moving to water quality refuges at a rapid pace as water quality deteriorates. The lake is approximately half a foot below full pool. Catch rates are good at the mouth of the Wood River. The best fishing is from a boat covering lots of water trolling minnow like lures. Fishing at the mouth of the Wood River has been fair and improving daily.
SW Oregon Fishing Report – Contributor Jeff Rome reports
It’s gonna be a nice 4th of July long weekend and is the official/ unofficial start of the Fall Chinook run over at the mouth of the Rogue at Gold Beach. Just about all lakes have been giving up trout and bass to the many anglers out recreating and will see a lot more this weekend. Unfortunately, the weekend isn’t looking so good for ocean goers since the wind will be a factor for most (if not all) of the coast.
The springer action on the middle and upper Rogue River is a wrap. If you wanna try for summer steelhead, then you better get up early or you’re going to be joining the flotilla of floaters! The best bet here would be above the dam where it’s cooler and lots of stocked trout….. and little to no river floaters.
Lakes like Diamond, Lost Creek, Galesville, Applegate, Hyatt, Howard Prairie, and Fish Lake have been popular and catches have been good. Lost Creek is under a toxic algae alert right now, but it could change anytime. Bass fishing at Lake Selmac has improved.
Striped bass fishing on the Coquille is still good.
Striped bass are biting well on the main Umpqua River, as are the smallmouth bass on the South Umpqua. The
Be safe, be nice, and enjoy! Have a great 4th of July weekend!
Read this week’s SW Washington fishing report.
What does 17,5 mean at Cedar hattery count ? Typo ?
That is a great question – that should be 175. Thanks!!