Portland/Metro Fishing Report – With most metro fisheries on the drop, anglers are heading west to take advantage of the lower Columbia River bounty, or ocean or Nehalem options this time of year. Salmon fishing is entering early peak season right now.
Anchor anglers and trollers will also soon come into the fray, diligently watching fish passage counts as counts climb by the day. It won’t be long before they motivate enough to get out after these quality Chinook. Be very careful however, restrictions are more complex this year. Go HERE to review before you fish the Columbia.
Clackamas River Fishing Report – Summer steelhead remain the best option for anglers on the Clackamas. Although fewer fresh fish are expected to show in the coming weeks. It won’t be long before coho make an appearance. Moderation of temperatures will be a short, but welcome reprieve for metro anglers, but in all honesty, you won’t have much competition.
Sandy River Fishing Report – Avid angler Jeff Stoeger reports, “I hope that you were able to get out and beat the heat wave that keeps on giving. There have been some good catches even with the very off-color water conditions we’ve been experiencing. The rest of this week we should see the river clear somewhat, for the temperatures are going to run in the mid 80’s until the start of new week when temperature will climb back into the 90’s.
Also, you need to make sure you don’t have any extra gear, rods, tools, or anything of value. There have been reports that cars and truck break-ins have been on the increase off the beaten path. So be safe out there. Wishing everyone the best of luck and tight lines.
Find the full report and forecast for Members on the Sandy and the Clackamas from this page here.
North Coast Fishing Report – The Buoy 10 fishery is off and running. Here is our detailed report from today, Thursday, August 11th:
As for other north coast hot spots, overall catch rates for most north coast ports remained somewhat similar to the previous weeks. Catches averaged 0.74 retained salmon per angler last week, with Depoe Bay leading the score board and Garibaldi a VERY close 2nd with 1.07 and 1.06 keepers/angler last week. Chinook catches have declined.
Quality Chinook are still being tallied at Nehalem Bay, as we enter the peak season for this fishery, coinciding with the Buoy 10 fishery. Minus tides in the morning haven’t been good for the fishery, but the afternoon flood, and subsequent outgoing tide have been producing the best results.
Be aware of complex fall Chinook seasons on most north coast systems. Tillamook Bay is open for the taking of hatchery fish only. Read all about it HERE.
Tuna is on the minds of many, and for good reason. It’s game on out of many ports. It’s still a run, but a reasonable one, especially with the calm seas forecasted ahead. Go HERE to see what the Salty Dogs say about “Albies” on the iFish thread.
Newport by far, produced the best summer all-depth catches. There’s TONS of quota left for both the summer all-depth and nearshore fisheries however, despite ODF&W’s fuzzy math on the summer all-depth quota stating there’s only 67% remaining…
The Siletz and Wilson remain the best freshwater options for summer steelhead seekers. Fish high up in the watershed, where waters are cooler and fish less timid.
Sea-run cutthroat fishing is only going to get better this month and next.
See the full report and forecast for Members right here.
Willamette River System Report – Contributor Glenn Zinkus reports:
Green Peter Reservoir: Fishing well for kokes up to about 12 inches. Best fishing now in the Quartzville Arm over the past week. Trolling at 50 feet down.
Fishing near the mouth of Quartzville Creek for trout can be effective. Trout have been stocked in Quartzville Creek.
Quartzville Creek: Nice catches of larger hatchery trout from this past weekend. Fish the early mornings.
Quartzville Creek is open all year. Quartzville was stocked in May with 4400 legal size trout, and stocked early July with 2200 trout. Quartzille Creek was just stocked again last week.
South Santiam Steelhead and Chinook: Continued steelhead count watch: there were 1503 summer steelhead collected at Foster Dam as of August 10. This continues to be multiple times higher than previous years.
Although this is higher than any year within the past 5 years, it still remains below the 2016 counts.
North Santiam Trout and Steelhead: The North Santiam received 2,200 legal size trout two weeks ago.
The upper portions are in shape and fishing well…..cool waters that are safe to fish in the heat. Nymphing with perdigons and caddis pupae are producing. Dry fly searches with light cahills and purple haze are resultin in trout. Marion Forks area fishing well.
The North Santiam below Detroit, like other Willamette system rivers, is starting to receive good numbers of steelhead, wild steelhead, higher than recent years. I have a report from the previous week of spey anglers who had one hookup with two angling hours.
Willamette River – Middle Fork:
Cedar Creek Fire is under control, but watch for continued possible road closures.
Various parts of the Middle Fork has been good. The Middle Fork is steady currently at 2140 CFS. These are fishable flow rates. Water temperatures is 57 to 64 degrees.
Baetis imitations will prove effective, as well as general searching patterns including pheasant tails, BH thorax, prince nymph variations and twists. Fishing exceptionally well right now. Now is the time to go explore the North Fork of the Middle Fork.
Willamette River – From Harrisburg, to Corvallis, to Albany:
The Willamette River is currently at 4490 CFS at Harrisburg. Nice fishable flows right now, and wading the gravel bars is good. Watch this stretch as recent summer heat has warmed the waters and angling is better on the upper stretches, such
Find the full report and forecast for Members on the Willamette Valley/Metro from this page here.
Central Oregon Fishing Report – Contributor Glenn Zinkus reports:
Deschutes Steelhead Reopens Next Week. Columbia Gorge Walleye and Bass Are Awesome. Cool Water Locales Still Are Great Options – Metolius River, Fall River, The Upper McKenzie and The Highest Lakes.
Lower Deschutes River:
The Lower Deschutes is steady near the dam, with flows of 3620 CFS in Madras and 4430 CFS at Moody. Water access is good.
Temperatures on the lower portions of the river are in the 56 to 58 range at Madras, with PGE with continued lower temps from the bottom draw from the dam, and 65 to 70 degree range near Moody. Temperatures in the lower portions of the river will get too hot for afternoon fishing outings – for sure by next week when temperatures climb again.
Middle Deschutes River: There is a mix of PEDs, PMDs, and some caddis on the river from Bend to Steelhead Falls. Coolest cooler water temps in the Steelhead Falls area from the Whychus Creek inflow and some springs.
Upper Deschutes River: The upper Deschutes from Little Lava to Crane Prairie has been fishing well with good water levels. This is a good cool water refuge location with the incoming hot weather again.
Lake Billy Chinook: Smallmouth are going strong – but no new reports since the heatwave began.
Crooked River: The Crooked River continues fishing well. Fish up the first few miles below the dam for the best opportunities and cooler water in this heat wave.
Note that the Crooked is currently scheduled to go to a reduced flow of 10 CFS sometime in the near future. The US Bureau of Reclamation Office phone number is 541-389-6541. You can call to opine that 10 CFS will kill the fishery.
Fall River: Fishing well, but highly popular. Fish early mornings before the crowds arrive. Fall River was stocked with 1,000 trophy trout this past week. Nymphing and streamers around Horse Shoe Bend, the Hatchery and the Falls is good.
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:
Rogue Bay fall Chinook action is in full swing now. Boat traffic trolling around the dredge has increased with anglers scoring some nice fish. There are good numbers of fish, and this past week has been very good with a 42-pounder caught!
Summer steelhead are now throughout the Rogue River, but the 100-degree days have mostly seen more rafters and floaters than anglers.
Crabbing is great out of Winchester Bay as is some nice Chinook catches out in the ocean.
Small mouth bass action is excellent on the lower south and north Umpqua.
The Coquille River is good for smallmouth bass now
Lost creek lake continues to produce nice catches of trout despite warmer water temp and boat traffic. The best time is before noon during weekdays.
Fall like calm ocean conditions since last weekend has brought much enjoyment to those able to be on the ocean for some good fishing action. The outlook for the weekend also looks favorable out of most Southern Oregon ports especially in the mornings.
As of July 1st, through August 31st, fishing for bottom fish will be restricted to inside of the 40-fthom regulatory line. Harvest of cabezon is allowed starting July 1 with a daily sub-bag limit of one fish per angler. The daily general marine fish bag limit is 5 fish for the 2022 season with a 1-fish sub-bag limit for China and copper rockfish combined.
Andy Martin- Brookings Fishing Charters 541-813-1082 reports that this has been decent for halibut and a 75 pounder was even caught!
Salmon, both Chinook and coho out in the ocean has been very slow and not really worth trying for them right now Andy says. It’s better to join the crowd up at Gold Beach and troll the Rogue Bay where some nice fish have been caught.
Surf perch and crabbing has still been productive.
Coos and Coquille river basins: As weather and wind permit, jetty fishing from bank and boaters have been doing well for rock fish, surf perch and ling cod. Fishing the lakes and ponds that have been stocked early this year are fishing fair for stocked trout. As the water is warming with the summer weather, success will be better in the morning and in the cooler areas of these lakes. Bass fishing has picked up in Tenmile lakes. Chinook and coho salmon catches have been fair between the jettys of lower Coos Bay and the lower estuary.
Jeff’s detailed report, multiple lake updates, and forecast in this week’s version for Members!
SW Washington by Ian Carter
Buoy 10 and the Ocean continues to be the focus of most avid boat fisherman. Jetty anglers can most certainly participate in the fishery and have been doing very well.
REMINDER, please verify the regulations before fishing any body of water
Warm Water Area Lakes
Most lakes that receive trout stocking are done for the year. There is some very good warm fishing available in just about every lake or mill pond around the region. Don’t overlook catfishing.
There is a Fall Bass seminar coming up on August 23rd. Nathan at Sportsman’s Warehouse is producing this event. It should be very educational for those of you wanting to develop your knowledge of Bass fishing.
Kress Lake – Panfish and Bass fishing is reported as being good. The last trout plant was on June 22nd, consisting of 2,500 brown trout.
Klineline Pond – Last trout plant was on June 6th, consisting of 2,000 fish.
High Lakes
Takhlakh Lake in Skamania County is fishing well. There are lots of mosquitoes though. The lake has been stocked with over 7,000 trout since July 5th, 2022. That includes 40 @.1 per pound and 160 fish @ .23 per pound. Camping there with larger RV’s can be a challenge as there isn’t much room. The last eight miles are un-paved roads. It’s amazing how many great lakes are in the Mt. Adams district.
Lewis Report
Fishing is still good, and I don’t think it’s peaked yet. Angler West ladies told me that they have heard of the Shell Station run producing quite a few fish.
The river is maintaining at a steady 1,250 cfs. Water conditions are great for low water tactics. WDFW creel checks showed 12 bank rods kept three steelhead. The gauge level at Ariel is still at 1.5 ft. and holding NOAA’s gauge in Woodland is varying with the tide between 8ft and 11ft.
The stream flow data can be found here: USGS-North Fork Lewis.
Kalama Report
Nathan at Sportsman’s Warehouse in Kelso tells me that some Chinook are around. Steelhead fishing is best above the ballfields.
Cowlitz Report
The cowlitz is still fishing well. Folks fishing lower down have had success plunking. The fisherman further up are using bobber with shrimp or eggs.
Flows are steady. At Castle Rock, the river is running 5,500 cfs. Water visibility is 14 feet and water temperature is 54.9 degrees F. The water has cooled off a few degrees since last week.
Columbia Gorge and Tributaries
The tributaries continue to have little to report right now. WDFW reported a little peak at Drano: 16 bank anglers had no catch. Nine boats with 20 rods kept nine Chinook and released two Chinook and 13 steelhead. This could be a good indicator for gorge fishing in the coming several weeks.
Steelhead counts are in the 1,000 per day range.
Reservoir Report
I fished Merwin on Monday. Fishing pressure was super light. At 6:00am when we arrived there were five rigs in lot at. When we departed there were only 12 trailers. First thing we experienced a little east wind chop until 7:00 then flat.
Columbia Summary
I just spoke with Jim from Looney Coonies. He reported a great day for his boat this afternoon, considering that 99% of the boats around him were skunked. He was fishing in the Warrior Rock area of the Columbia.
Coastal
Buoy 10 – Dave with Dave’s Guide Service cell: (360) 201-9313 has had a pretty good week. Even though the fishery is Hatchery Chinook only, he says they are killing a few every day. Best action is coming with anchovies, spinners and superbaits.
Coho – Up and down the coast many charter boats reported full limits of coho in short periods of time. Fishing continues to be great out of both Ilwaco and Westport.
Chinook – This week the guys at Bob’s Sporting Goods tell me the ocean Chinook fishing out of Ilwaco is very good. Also fishing inside with restricted bar condition produced some fish this week.
Tuna – Kory at Bob’s has heard of some good trips. Would be best for me to place a call to a local for next week. I also know a few guys out of Pacific City if you ever need a personal Tuna contact on the central Oregon coast.
Bottom Fish – Received some intel that the North Jetty on the Columbia has been producing some quick limits of large Rock Fish. A few small Coho were also intercepted. With the right tide and adequate gear, that is a fun way to fish. Shellfish – Perfect summer conditions for great ocean crabbing. I have not heard any reports from bays or estuaries.
BrokerIan
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