Northwest Sportsfishing Industry Association’s annual auction starts on the 2nd at 6AM!
The auction includes dozens of fantastic items such as hunting, fishing, and camping equipment, popular apparel for men and women, boat equipment, and several guided fishing trips.
Have fun and strengthen our sportfishing economy! Head to the auction site
Portland/Metro Fishing Report – With salmon fishing downstream of Bonneville nothing more than a memory, anglers will be waiting for a few months before the spring run starts to show.
Even the Klickitat River fishery is fading fast for coho, the run is all but over.
Willamette River anglers have some good winter catch and release sturgeon opportunities available to them. Frozen smelt or fresh sand shrimp should produce results into the spring months.
It’s early for hatchery winter steelhead at Meldrum Bar, but it won’t be long before a few get caught. Winter steelhead are starting to ascend the falls, bound for the upper Willamette.
Clackamas River Fishing Report – All is quiet on the Clackamas, a hiatus between late-run coho and early returning winter steelhead. Both will be hard to find this week, but the late-run wild coho run is stronger than last year.
Sandy River Fishing Report – Avid angler Jeff Stoeger reports – The season’s first winter steelhead was confirmed by photo (above) on Thanksgiving Day. Jurgen West shows it off below, caught on a spinner in the lower river.
Find the full report and forecast for Members on the Sandy and the Clackamas from this page here.
North Coast Fishing Report – Well, the rain freshet we’ve all been waiting for has arrived. Winter steelhead fishing should hit it’s stride by Friday, and fish well through the weekend. Keep in mind that the early season steelhead fishery is largely a small stream situation, these systems are flashy, they fall and clear swiftly so the best days typically happen when flows are still up, but on the drop. That would be today (Thursday) and Friday, but should fish fairly well through the weekend.
Those small stream fisheries include the Highway 30 systems (Gnat and Big Creek, Klaskanine River), the Necanicum, NF Nehalem and some slightly larger systems, such as the Wilson, Trask, Nestucca/Three Rivers and Alsea to a lesser extent. We’ll explain those in more detail in Forecast section (paid subscribers).
Offshore weather looks challenging until early next week. Lingcod and sea bass await, and sport crabbing in the ocean is once again open, with no competition from the commercial fleet, at least until December 16th.
Don’t overlook fall trout opportunities on the coast, the north coast stocking schedule can be found HERE.
See the full North Coast Report and Forecast for Members right here.
SW Oregon Fishing Report – Contributor Jeff Rome reports:
Recent rain (and snow) gave most rivers the shot needed to get flows up enough for boaters to have a non rocky ride and fish on the move with high expectations of winter steelhead moving in as well. As of this writing (Thursday morning), rain should taper down and allow the weekend to be a prime opportunity to hit your favorite rivers. Take warm clothes and rain gear!
Ocean opportunity appears to be shot for awhile until maybe late next week🤞 Bay crabbing won’t be worth the gas until all the fresh river rainwater clears.
The mid-Rogue river from Chinook Park to Griffin Park is where the main action has been for remaining summer steelhead and coho. Boaters are having the best luck pulling plugs that will attract both steelhead and wondering coho. River flow is currently rising but will start dropping by the weekend which should get fish moving. Water temp is in the low 40’s, so covering lots of water and moving from spot to spot to find fish is the key.
The Elk and Sixes will be in good shape starting Friday. This should be a prime opportunity to get in some last of the year Chinook.
The Chetco also will be in prime shape and a great time to get back on for remaining Chinook and summer steelhead. With the flow bumped up, it will be a good test to see if winter steelhead are coming in🤞🎣
The Coos basin rivers like the Millicoma and Coquille would also be a good bet to try for early winter steelhead.
Also worth noting, the Klamath river out of Happy Camp California is producing well for steelhead as December is a prime month.
Jeff’s expanded report, multiple lake updates, and forecast in this week’s version for Members!
Find our SW Washington fishing report right here.