Portland/Metro Oregon Fishing Report – Still no confirmed springers from the Willamette River, but it’s only a matter of time. The Sultan continue to put out the greatest effort, but no strikes, hits or errors on his part, fishing intensively every day around the Sellwood Bridge.
There have been rumors of spring Chinook caught along the beaches of the lower Columbia, but nothing confirmed by reliable resources. There still remains only one Chinook over Bonneville Dam in 2023, but it was likely a late fall Chinook, rather than an authentic spring Chinook.
Trout stocking schedules are ramping up this week in the Willamette Valley, check them out HERE.
Clackamas River Fishing Report – Fishing is picking up on the Clackamas River as peak season fast approaches. Water conditions remain in good shape and are predicted to remain that way through the weekend.
Bank anglers stand a reasonable chance from the mouth of Eagle Creek to McIver Park, driftboaters will do best from Barton downstream.
Smaller 2-salt fish are oddly absent (relatively speaking) from the catches so if you do hook a steelhead, chances are it’ll be a nice one.
Sandy River Fishing Report – Avid angler Jeff Stoeger reported, “Well, this week we saw the river come up and the water warmed up and depending on where you were fishing there was fish to be had. A couple of guide buddies floated from Oxbow to Dabney and did ok. They both hooked four fish each and landed them all and put four fish into the brood stock program.
There were 243 hatchery fish back and out of that number the hatchery recycled 153 fish with a hole punch to the gill plate.
I had a friend watch a guy who caught a wild steelhead and dragged up on the beach and then proceeded to use his knee to hold the fish down to take the hook out. The fish was bleeding so bad that I wasn’t going to live, it was going to bleed out. If you hook a fish, make sure that its a hatchery fish before you drag it up on the beach. If its a wild fish make sure to have your pliers handy and remove the while the fish is still in the water. If the fish takes the hook deep, cut the leader as close the hook as possible.
Find the full report and forecast for Members on the Sandy and the Clackamas from this page here.
Photo above: Lynnaya was fishing with pro guide Chris Vertopoulos (503-349-1377) on February 9th, catching this exceptional hen on a north coast system using a MagLip plug.
North Coast Fishing Report – Steelheaders found some good action just prior to the high water event at mid-week. The Wilson and Nestucca put out fair to good numbers of steelhead in the lower reaches at mid-week, but action quickly faded as the crowds arrived to take advantage of the near-ideal water conditions later in the week.
Other north coast systems such as the Siletz and to a lesser degree the Alsea saw fair action earlier this week as well. Wild fish are now present in fair numbers on most all north coast systems.
Smaller systems with early returning steelhead still have a lot of run-back steelhead that are quite wiling to bite. Despite a limited plant, there are some later returning broodstock steelhead available on the NF Nehalem but catches have been slow here as well.
There may be a small weather window for bottomfish this weekend, but the swell is still forecast to be 7 foot in height; far from ideal. Salty sea creature opportunities will improve in the coming months, no need to risk injury when conditions aren’t ideal.
Bay crabbing is slowing, but tides are good for those still motivated.
Don’t overlook winter 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.
Upper Willamette River System Report – Contributor Glenn Zinkus reports bi-weekly. Here is last week’s update.
Members – find the latest full report and forecast as well as past reports for Members on the Willamette Valley/Metro start on this page here.
Central Oregon Fishing Report – Contributor Glenn Zinkus reports bi-weekly. Here is last week’s update.
Members can always see the latest complete report as well as the forecast for central Oregon by starting right here.
SW Oregon Fishing Report – Contributor Jeff Rome reports:
Challenging” has been the word mumbled on most winter steelhead angler’s lips over the past week. It’s not that fish aren’t being caught, because they ARE…… it’s just not really “hot” anywhere and you have to put in several of those 1000+ hours beating the water to a froth to get that winter chrome!
The mid Rogue river has maintained its fishability from recent rain and anglers from Gold Hill on down to Galice found some fresh fish! Again, the best success has been by drift boaters from Chinook Park to Griffin Park pulling plugs and side drifting soft beads. Bank anglers are catching a few fish as well all throughout the mid with some added catch activity on the Applegate. Weekend looks decent weather wise and the river is warming up into the mid 40’s.
The upper Rogue is fishable but still clear and cold. Anglers side drifting worms, soft beads, and pulling plugs in the deeper holes and seams from Dodge park on up through Shady cove and Casey Park could find some fresh fish.
The Chetco got into decent fishable condition where the drift boaters came out in numbers to find a few fish.
The quality has been good but the quantity has been…… shall I say “challenging”?😉 The fist part of the week was best and dwindled with the flow during the latter part of the week. Weekend outlook might be worth while with a little more rain expected which could surely help.
The ocean is looking iffy with maybe Super Bowl Sunday being a better day to get out for some winter bottom fishing and crabbing. Crabbing has been good from Brookings on up to Winchester bay.
The Elk and Sixes rivers got back into shape and should also fish this weekend. Fresh steelhead should be in and there’s been very little pressure.
The South Umpqua got a decent bite after the last rain as well. It should continue to be fishable into the weekend.
Be safe, be nice and enjoy! Tight Lines 🎣 – Romer
Jeff’s expanded report, multiple lake updates, and forecast in this week’s version for Members!
Read our SW Washington fishing report for the week.