With dwindling coho numbers and yet to jump-start winter steelhead in the district, there isn’t much to fish for if you’re a metro angler.
The Willamette does provide winter sturgeon opportunities, all catch and release. Bitter cold however keeps anglers from getting motivated for these fish.
The Columbia is a wrap for salmon and steelhead, spring Chinook won’t show in catchable numbers until late March. The spring Chinook run forecast is due out in a few weeks.
Find the full report and forecast for Members on this page here for the Columbia and Willamette Rivers.
Clackamas River Fishing Report – Despite ideal water conditions, interest for Clackamas River coho and early steelhead is far from robust. Anyone steelhead fishing knows it’s better to target hatchery fish at Meldrum Bar than the Clackamas River right now. There are some wild winter steelhead already showing at the NF facility.
Nick Ackerman, PGE’s fish biologist, had this to report for November:
Attached are PGE’s Clackamas Project fish facility reports for November 2024. A strong return of wild adult coho continued with the early-run component wrapping up with a total of 12,477 fish back to North Fork Dam. This is the second-highest return on record and 198% of the 10-year average. The late-run return has come on stronger than expected, with 1,338 fish back to North Fork Dam already and a current run prediction of 1,600 – 2,900. The 10-year average return for wild late-run coho is 1,347.
November is typically our peak month for downstream fish passage as juvenile movement is cued by the first high-flow events of the season. This year was no exception as we recorded over 410,000 juvenile salmon and steelhead passing through our downstream bypass system this month. This was the third-highest monthly total since counts began in 1958 (only November and December 2023 were higher).
It’s a continued strong sign that things are going well in this basin even though there are 3 dams that operate in the basin. PGE has done a lot of good work to recover these wild runs of fish.
Sandy River Fishing Report – Avid angler Jeff Stoeger reports – “The river has been ideal for the most part and has been on a constant drop. The current level is 8.54 ft and the water temp has been around 44 degrees. The forecast is for the river to jump up around 10.59 ft with the weather turning warmer causing some lower-level snow melt.
Bait, jigs, beads, and spinners have been the ticket to seduce these biters. The Sandy Steelheaders has Tyler Kraft as their guest speaker for Thursday night at 7 pm Glen Otto Park. Tyler will talk and share his techniques for winter steelheading on the Sandy and coastal streams. The meeting is open to everyone. So get out and try your luck. I wish you the best and tight lines.”
Find the full report and forecast for Members on this page for the Clackamas and Sandy Rivers.
North & Central Coast Fishing Report – With fall Chinook closed on nearly every north/central coast system, the focus is now on winter steelhead.
Early season systems are showing good signs of things to come, with catches reported on the NF Nehalem, Necanicum, Big and Gnat Creek, and the Alsea River to name a few. Paid subscribers have access to our winter steelhead matrix, outlining which river systems provide the best opportunity during which part of the season. View that detailed tool in the North Coast Section of our site.
It’s early for the larger systems to be producing measurable results, but when January and February roll around, Katy bar the door.
The fall Chinook season ended with a thud although most experienced anglers would state that it was better this year over the previous few. Let’s hope it’s an improving trend upwards.
Chum are still present on the Wilson, Kilchis, and Miami systems, but can’t be targeted this late in the season.
Bottomfishing was good for the few that took advantage of calm seas this week. Even lingcod fishing improved. Maybe the most notable is the quality keeper crab coming from the ocean right now. With the commercial crab fleet still sidelined, there isn’t a better time to collect quality crustaceans. That could all change by December 13th, the projected date for the commercial fleet to prosecute the fishery, at least south of Cape Falcon.
Razor clam digging was good too but the next minus tide series won’t happen for about another week.
Find the complete report and forecast for Members in the Northwest Oregon section.
This week in cooking – Six Creative Ways to Serve Fresh Dungeness Crab
SW Oregon Fishing Report – Contributor Jeff Rome reports
As predicted, many anglers hooked into lots of nice fish last weekend into mid-week as the Chetco, Elk, and Sixes rivers got into prime condition with fresh fish after the big blowout. About mid-week, they were pretty much done with until it’s looking like around maybe Saturday at the earliest into early next week for some more action. These rivers should be decent until around Christmas but are on the downside of peak run now. The outlook for the weekend is looking like a lot of options still.
The ocean also was a break from the chilly valley fog for some great bottom fishing. A smaller storm might have boats at bay Sunday, but before and after then looks good to get back out. Ocean and bay crabbing is back on for sportsmen.
The lower Rogue River is starting to see some winter steelhead action from plunkers, while the mid to upper Rogue is still seeing decent coho catches for anglers targeting them twitching jigs in the deeper slow holes. Summer steelhead along with some new winter steelhead have also been caught in the mid-section. It’s early for good numbers of winters yet, but they’re coming.
The Millicoma and South Fork of the Coos River are starting to get some winter steelhead action and should improve into this month. On the Coquille River, some bank plunkers are working spin n glos in the popular holes from the town of Coquille on down for steelhead with slow success.
Finally, the South Umpqua re-opened for fishing with nice river conditions where some anxious anglers did find some early steelhead and coho. The main and North Umps are a slow go right now.
BTW, check out the headline photo. That’s my fishing buddy Brad after he caught a beautiful 28-pound Chinook earlier this week. I was 0 for 1 😏
Be safe, be nice and enjoy! Gooo Beaves! 🏈🙌😎 – Romer
Jeff’s expanded reports, multiple lake updates, and forecasts including his past reports can be found here for Members! There is SO much more.
Read this week’s SW Washington fishing report.