Portland/Metro Oregon Fishing Report – With the abrupt Columbia closure, anglers will return their focus on the Willamette River, where catch rates have been far from impressive. The lower channel and the Oregon City reach is producing sporadic catches in recent days.
The head of the channel is starting to produce more consistent catches as well.
Shad are biting well at Oregon City and should continue to for the near future.
Clackamas River Fishing Report – Summer steelhead showed up in better numbers on the Clackamas and here’s a newsflash, bank anglers are doing considerably better than boaters on this river system. There were fish caught down low (summer steelhead), but Dog Creek remains a better bet right now.
Spring Chinook remain scarce, but bigger numbers of wild springers are showing at the North Fork facility.
Sandy River Fishing Report – Jeff Stoeger reports, “I hope that you all had a great Memorial Day and weekend. The river is dropping, and the lower river has dropped and is no longer a lake. The lower river was backed up because of spill at Bonneville which caused the river to back up four plus feet the lower two miles. Bonneville has stopped spilling and the river has dropped nearly six ft and will slowly continue to drop with the river running around 63 degrees.
The upper river from Cedar Creek to Oxbow has produced both springers and both summers and down river winters in the mix. The river will start to color up with the warmer weather showing up over the next few days leading into next week.
Several lakes in the district are slated for stocking. Go HERE to see if your favorite is on the list this week.
Find the full report and forecast for Members on the Sandy and the Clackamas from this page here.
North Coast Fishing Report – Spring Chinook action on Tillamook Bay was fair last week. Low tide exchanges elevated catches in the lower bay and along the jetty. Stronger tides this week will shift the bite to the upper bay.
Rivers remain low, but summer steelhead should be entering the Wilson, Nestucca and Siletz should have catchable numbers available. River conditions remain challenging however so anglers will have to employ stealthy tactics to stand a chance.
Strong NW winds will keep saltwater anglers at bay. Halibut and bottomfish await the next weather window, crabbing should improve in the coming weeks as well.
Razor clam digging along Clatsop Beaches should produce good catches this week. A calm swell and significant minus tide should entertain diggers through the weekend.
Have you seen our FREE webinar on ocean and bar safety? Check it out HERE!
Don’t overlook spring opportunities on the coast, the north coast stocking schedule can be found HERE and it looks as if there will be robust plants in the Newport and Tillamook districts in the coming two weeks.
See the full North Coast Report and Forecast for Members right here.
Upper Willamette River System Report – Contributor Glenn Zinkus reports
June is Bass Time. Willamette Walleye Catches. Detroit Reservoir Trout. McKenzie River Prime Time – Nice Flows.
Alton Baker Canal: Alton Baker was stocked with 1000 legal size rainbows this week.
Note thatAlton Baker Canal was stocked earlier in January with 700 one pounders.
Detroit Reservoir:
Detroit is currently at 1556.8 feet – same as last week. Docks are in. Check the water levels here: https://waterdata.usgs.gov/or/nwis/uv?site_no=14180500
Detroit was stocked this week with 8,000 trophy trout and will be stocked weekly in June with 4,000 trophy trout.
Green Peter Reservoir: The reservoir is fairly steady, and anglers/boaters are finding Green Peter accessible. Water level is at 1005 feet right now. Water level can be found here: https://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/uv?site_no=14186100
Green Peter was stocked this week with 2,800 legal size trout.
Willamette River – Middle Fork:
The Middle Fork flow is currently 3030 CFS – at a good fishing level. Some steelhead are starting to show in the Middle Fork.
Willamette River – From Harrisburg, to Corvallis, to Albany:
High water in the Willamette. The Willamette River is at 6,910 CFS at Harrisburg, and steady the last few days with a slight decline.
Fishable levels right now. Anglers have been catching a few steelhead here and there, as some incidental catches. Anglers in the Eugene area are also getting some walleye below the dams in the Willamette system.
McKenzie River: The mainstem McKenzie at a 3,810 CFS flowrate at Vida – nice fishing levels all around.
There is some caddis activity, some green drakes, some stones. Coming into prime time with a lot of options on the McKenzie. Temperatures fluctuate from 48 to 54 degrees F. Very slight climb from last week. Continue to watch for that McKenzie green caddis – there’s some around and it’s time.
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
Cascade Lakes Highway – Hosmer Accessible. Some Mountain Lakes In Turnover. Metolius River Green Drakes Are Going.
Weather Outlook Across Central and Eastern Oregon:
Clear weather and moderately warm temperatures are in the forecast for the weekend, with highs in the 80s on the weekend.
The Deschutes Canyon will have temperatures in the upper 80s most days, possibly going higher by mid-week next week.
There are some possible mountain thunder showers in the forecast for Sunday.
Lower Deschutes River:
The Lower Deschutes dropped to very nice fishing levels, and the big bugs are ON up and down the river. Flows are currently at 4040 CFS at Madras, now looking very good in this area. Flow is also dropping in the lowest portions of the river, currently at 5,330 at Moody.
We are seeing much better river levels for fishing with clearer water.
Water temperatures near Madras range from 54 to 57 F.
Salmon flies are spread throughout the system, with good reports from Maupin to Warm Springs.
These next few weeks, a month actually, has great evening bites. There continues to be some caddis, midges, PMDs and occasionally some green drakes. As said, there is a good evening bite at sunset.
Middle Deschutes River: Kind of high, but still fishable flows as of now.
Levels are good, and there is good fishing through the Middle Deschutes system. Anglers are catching fish from Bend to Steelhead Falls. PMD, PED, and caddis activity is picking up and is becoming the best
Upper Deschutes River: Some good reports this past week from the Upper Deschutes, including taking fish on dries. Go for attractor dries and nymphing.
Lake Billy Chinook: Smallmouth bass fishing in the Crooked River Arm is picking up.
Some reports of kokanee catches in the Metolius Arm – depths all over from online reports, but mostly around 70 feet.
Bulls are on and off. Gear guys are catching big fish now, and still taking trolled lures like Rapalas. Bulls of more than 30 inches have been grabbing plugs.
Crooked River: Crooked River flows have dropped nicely, and this is now a viable fishing option. Big caddis hatches are happening.
ODFW announced “pulse flows” on the Crooked starting April 17. The message reads ““The USFWS and NOAA have decided to release some water from Bowman Dam next week as a smolt pulse to help steelhead smolts move downstream. We’re trying to let as many constituents know as possible to help minimize inconveniences. The pulse flow will start on April 17 where they will slowly increase the amount of water released throughout the day to ramp up at an appropriate rate. The full 250 cfs pulse will be released all day on the 18th and 19th, and then will slowly be ramped back down to base flow on the 20th. We are uncertain at the moment what base flow will look like at that time since OID has indicated they may start releasing irrigation water on the 17th. Irrigation flows usually average about 200 cfs so the total amount of water could be anywhere from 250 cfs to 450 cfs.”
Metolius River:
The Met continues to drop and is getting near it’s normal summertime levels. The flow at Allingham at the time of this writing is about 240 CFS.
Green drakes are showing throughout the river system – from lower bridge, the hatchery and above. I did not see drakes in the very upper stretches around Allingham, but that does not mean they are not there in the right spots.
There are a few more anglers, but I still have access to my favorite areas.
More caddis are entering the mix during the afternoons, and there continues to be the early afternoon BWO hatch. I’ve seen gray caddis, and Jeff Perin reports gray caddis and silver stripe sedges all on the upper river to about Gorge CG area.
Bull trout are present throughout the river, even all the way up in the deeper pools up to Allingham, and grabbing caught fish, flies, and some streamers.
Nymphing provides the most consistent action.
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:
It’s ODFW Free Fishing weekend on June 3-4 where you don’t need licenses, tags, endorsements or validations that are usually required to take advantage of stocked trout, biting bass, clamming, crabbing, surf perch or even salmon that are still biting on the Rogue and Umpqua rivers! Just about all the lakes and streams have been stocked with trout at least once and with good water conditions this year, it’s “angler’s choice” of what and where to fish 😊🎣 Friday will most likely be the only day to get out on the ocean for bottom fish, ling cod and halibut since wind is forecasted for the weekend.
The upper Rogue river has been producing some nice springers as the lower section has been quite slow. The river flow and temperature this year has been the ticket for a decent run. The mid section has seen a few biters too and a first of the season summer steelhead. The flow is down to a more manageable 3000 ish cfs and about 59 degrees at Grants Pass.
More and more lakes and streams are being stocked with some being more than 3 times! Applegate, Lost Creek and Galesville have been producing. The upper Rogue River above the dam has also been stocked recently. It’s a beautiful section and there’s lots of hold over trout.
The North and Main Umpqua are seeing a bit more springer action too.
Whatever your pleasure, get out an enjoy the Free Fishing Weekend!🎣😎
Jeff’s expanded report, multiple lake updates, and forecast in this week’s version for Members!
Read this week’s SW Washington fishing report.