Portland/Metro Fishing Report – Willamette River anglers are still looking for consistent opportunity, but most are still coming up short on success. There has been flashes of hope in recent days, but consistency is still out of reach. Statistically, peak season is still 2 – 3 weeks away but the run should be building, with better water conditions on the way.
Sturgeon fishing is improving on the lower Willamette, with smelt being a top bait. It’s a good alternative to a slow springer bite.
Mainstem Columbia fishers have another 6-day crack at black-chinned Chinook. The official press release is HERE but two 3-day openers start on Friday, April 11th, with Monday the 14th an off day so managers can assess how the fishery is performing. The best fishing is likely to continue to be downstream of Longview.
Clackamas River Fishing Report – It’s that time of year when savvy steelheaders take advantage of plenty of open water for wild winter steelhead in the upper stretches of the Clackamas. Of course, there’s wild steelhead making their way up from the lower reaches too, they just don’t hang around too long in those lower reaches.
Steelheaders continue to post good numbers of quality wild steelhead upstream of Barton and Dog Creek is still attracting a crowd of anglers nearly every morning. The remnant hatchery fish in that reach of the river are turning dark, with a few fresh wild fish certainly in the mix. Anglers won’t get more serious about spring Chinook on the Clackamas for another month from now.
Summer steelhead should be showing soon too, however.
This report from Nick Ackerman from PGE on adult and juvenile passage at the PGE facilities upriver:
We’re in the midst of another strong wild winter steelhead return with a current run prediction back to the North Fork adult trap of 2,500 fish. This would be the third-largest run of the last 50 years and would fall on the heels of last year’s exceptional run of 3,282. March is typically a slow month for juvenile passage although we are on the cusp of the spring smolt migration season. Juvenile counts at River Mill Dam are not yet available for March. We’ve added a new sampling screen at River Mill and it will take us a few months to dial in what the new sample rate is. Counts there will be retroactively estimated in late spring or early summer.Sandy River fishing, avid angler Jeff Stoeger reports – “Good morning All. I hope that you are still out there trying your luck on winter steelhead. The report I have is that there have been some good numbers of returning winter fish showing up in the recent catches. My son lost 2 fish on flies at the bank and they were both natives pushing the mid-teen weight a guide buddy went 4 for 6 from Oxbow to Dabney and the fish were all above 10 lbs. with one hatchery pushing 13 lbs. Most or all of these fish were nickel-bright and put up great fights. My son’s buddies who have been fly fishing the mid to upper river have been doing well. There is a lot of rafters floating the upper river and finding success all on flies and some jigs.
The guys that are floating from Oxbow down have had most of their success on casting spinners in sizes 4 or 5 in the Blue Fox. The guys that are pulling plugs have had success pulling 3.0 and 3.5 maglips in purple metallic colors. Street walker and Doctor Death. Fresh bait has also worked on diver and bait, fresh sandshrimp, and coonshrimp and added some anise oil to the bait. If you like to fish flies, the best colors in the streamers have been black/blue pink/ purple or black/red combos.”
North & Central Coast Fishing Report – For all intents and purposes, the winter steelhead season is over on the north and central coast. There will be a rare bright winter steelhead in the coming weekend, but anglers will have higher hopes for an early summer steelhead or spring Chinook in the coming weeks. It’s not a bet I would put much faith in.
Meanwhile, bottomfishing will remain a great option when the weather cooperates, but even that is hit or miss under this volatile weather pattern. Lingcod action remains good, sea bass action is more challenging than it should be.
Ocean crabbing is fair at best, the crab are coming out of the spawning clutch however so it’s been on the improve. Bay crabbing remains challenging.
The Pacific Fishery Management Council will approve ocean salmon seasons this month. From there, we’ll have a good understanding as to how our saltwater and Buoy 10 fishery will play out. Early indications point to more robust opportunity than we’ve seen in recent years.
Soft tides this week won’t be conducive to razor clam digging, but spring digs are often productive for high quality clams. Diggers will have to wait another week before tides improve. Hopefully the surf conditions do too.
Upper Willamette River System Report by Terry Otto (from last week)
High water still vexing river anglers, but relief may be on the way. Melting snow may slow recovery. The best bets this weekend are for kokes in Detroit Lake and local trout.
The rivers are still high in the upper Willamette Valley, and although they may not be fishable this weekend, the forecast allows for some warmer and drier conditions, and the systems may be fishable sometime this week. However, that is just a guess. Fishing Guide Matt Halseth of Matt Halseth Guide Service said releases from the dams could change that equation.
He reports that In April local systems should shift from winter steelhead to summer steelhead and spring Chinook. Halseth said that all the systems that get hatchery summer steelhead returns should start to fish well this month. These include the North and South Santiam Rivers, the McKenzie, and the Middle Fork Willamette.
Get them while you can. The state is considering ending all hatchery summer steelhead plants in the basin.
Trout stockings the week of March 24: Row River Nature Park Pond, Dorena Reservoir, Junction City Pond, Timber Linn Lake, Foster Reservoir, Dexter Reservoir.
ODFW trout stocking schedule: https://myodfw.com/fishing/species/trout/stocking-schedule
North Santiam River
North Santiam fishing guide Mike Ferris of Fishermen Mike’s Guide Service reports that the North Santiam is still high and muddy. “We are about 2 feet from what I would call ideal conditions,” said Ferris. “I usually like to have it about 5 feet or less when I go fishing in my drift boat, and it’s been right between 6 and 6 and a half feet.”
You can check the river gauge at Mehama here.
He has not been down the river in a while, and he does not think anyone else has. He reports the river is difficult to fish, even from the bank when it is this high. He will at times try a pink worm in tandem with a soft bead when it is high, but it would be tough to draw any strikes at all right now.
South Santiam River, Mainstem Santiam
Like the North Santiam, the South Santiam is still high and muddy, but it is on the drop. Fishing is generally best when flows are below 3,000 cfs, but at present, they are still over 4,000 cfs. Few anglers have been giving the river a try, and there are no fresh reports on fishing success.
You can check the gauge at Waterloo here.
McKenzie River
The freestone section and the tailwater are still well above a normal level. Below Leaburg Dam the discharge is over 9,000 cfs. There have been no recent reports, and few people are fishing. It will take some time for it to drop and clear.
You can check the river flows below Leaburg Dam Here.
Upper Willamette River
Poor river conditions last week and not much effort.
Detroit Reservoir
Fishing guide Mike Ferris made a trip to the lake recently. “We started trolling and started catching fish,” he said. “We ended up with 8 trout and 7 nice kokanee. We were finding them in pockets, and they were kind of scattered.”
He reports the fish were close to the surface, about 20 to 30 feet deep.
Ferris said the kokanee were nice sized. “We did not even get a limit of kokanee but we had enough for two dinners,” he said.
The reservoir is filling up fast. You can check the lake levels here.
Dexter Reservoir
The lake was stocked over the last two weeks of March with 6,000 rainbow trout. Both largemouth and smallmouth bass should start to show in the catch as they move shallow ahead of the spawn.
Fishing Guide Matt Halseth of Matt Halseth Guide Service reports that anglers are doing well in the river below Dexter Dam. The catch has consisted of steelhead, trout, and walleye.
“That’s turned into quite the walleye fishery there,” said Halseth.
Foster Reservoir
Over 28,000 trout will be stocked over the spring. Kokanee fishing has been severely affected by the recent drawdowns to help migrating wild spring Chinook. Smallmouth bass may begin moving toward rocky shoreline areas ahead of the spawn. Yellow perch are available over lake structure.
Central Oregon Fishing Report by Terry Otto
High water still vexing some river anglers, but Fall and Metolius Rivers good. Lake Billy Chinook kokes and bull trout good. Wallowa Lake is now ice-free.
Columbia River walleye
Walleye fishing in the Columbia River has been pretty consistent, according to the good folks at the Gorge Outfitters Supply in Rufus. The bite has been best by trolling plugs, with the darker colors working in the early morning, (dark purple, black, etc.) and brighter colors such as chartreuse or green once the sun hits the river. Worm harnesses have also been getting some fish. Conditions have been a bit messy, but it hasn’t hurt the bite, judging from how many people are out on the river. Wind has been an issue, as it always is this time of year.
Lower Deschutes River
The river is still high and muddy, and a bit dangerous, that according to John at the Deschutes Angler Fly Shop in Maupin. “You can catch fish out here, but there is mud flow. it’s just not great.” Anglers have been nymphing, but they must get down deep and fish right along the bottom. There have been some afternoon hatches coming off, including March browns and BWO, but not heavy enough to draw the trout to the surface.
The gauge at the Moody Rapids has the river level at over 7,600 cfs. It fishes best below 4,000 cfs. You can Check the Maupin river gauge here.
Deschutes River, Lake Billy Chinook to Benham Falls
Anglers report good fishing for brown trout upstream of the Old Mill area in Bend and around Tumalo State Park. Anglers should expect water clarity and streamflow conditions to change and affect fishing during April as irrigation season begins. Nymphing has been the most effective method.
Deschutes River, Benham Falls to Lava Lake
Closed until May 22.
Lake Billy Chinook
Kokanee fishing continues to be excellent on Lake Billy Chinook with fish averaging 13 inches, and a few up to 15. Anglers are getting limits. Reports also state the fish are not carrying many copepods. Spring run-off is affecting water clarity in the Crooked and Deschutes River Arms making for challenging conditions.
Metolius River
The good folks at The Fly Fishers Place in Sisters report that Blue Wing Olive hatches have been very good this week and the fish are looking up for emergers, cripples and duns. Keep an eye on Spinners late in the day/early evening. Rain is expected Monday, so the mayfly hatches will be good.
There are plenty of caddis around and suggested flies include Corn Fed Caddis, Iris Caddis,
Fall River
The river is fishing really quite well, from the Hatchery down to the Tubes and also up near the camp ground and headwaters. There have been good hatches of Blue Wing Olive and Midges, a smattering of March Browns that may provide a fishable session, and the same can be said for some caddis.
Crooked River
The Crooked River had been dropping, giving the folks at The Fly Fishers Place reason to believe it might be fishable soon. However, the gauge at Opal City shows the river came up sharply on Tuesday and was running at over 2,000 CFS. So, it may be some time yet before the river becomes fishable.
You can check the Crooked River gauge near Opal City here.
Haystack Reservoir
Anglers report good fishing for both trophy-size excess brood hatchery trout and holdover trout in the 16 to 17-inch range. Olive Chironomids and Balanced Leeches continue to be very good for fly anglers.
You can check the ODFW trout stocking schedule here.
Wallowa Lake
The ice on Wallowa Lake has melted, and anglers can now launch boats. Now through June is the best time of year for kokanee fishing. Rainbow trout can be caught near the river mouth, and lake trout are dispersed throughout the lake.
Pine Hollow Reservoir
Pine Hollow Reservoir was stocked on March 17 with 2,500 legal-size trout, 200 trophy trout, and 40 brood trout. Pine Hollow was stocked again with 2,500 legals and 50 brood trout the week of March 31
Agency Lake
Agency Lake is ice-free. Henzel boat ramp is accessible, as is the Petric boat ramp. The docks have been taken out at both. Redband trout are moving around with most returning to the main lake after spawning.
Catch rates remain low due to record-setting drought in 2020 through 2022, resulting in poor survival of juvenile redband trout and subsequent recruitment into the adult population. Best fishing is from a boat and covering lots of water.
Agency Lake regulations are catch-and-release for redband/rainbow trout with no bait allowed (artificial flies and lures only).
SW Oregon Fishing Report – Contributor Jeff Rome reports:
As the weather becomes warmer and Spring-like, anglers in Southwest Oregon (and really, all over) have visions of fat oily Spring Chinook on their minds. Just think of all those healthy Omega 3’s 😛While there’s still some great winter steelhead fishing going on, it’s not hard to “vision” the tug and chrome of a 25–35-pound Chinook!
That being said, the lower Rogue River has improved this week with some nice catches of Chinook, and hatchery fish to boot! I witnessed a nice one last Saturday while rafting the mid-section from Hog Creek to Almeda Park. I screamed like a 6-year-old girl as the fish jumped and splashed me at my oar tip😮I retaliated by tossing my Vibrax spinner with no luck.
Steelhead action on the mid to upper section of the Rogue remains about the same. Higher flow, but is very fishable with a nice color and good temperature. Angler pressure has increased with the nice weather and there’s been some nice steelhead catches throughout. My best bet would be the mid-section from Gold Hill to Hog Creek. On the Upper, would be anywhere from Shady Cove to Dodge Bridge.
The weekend weather is supposed to be awesome by next week. Action on the Umpqua systems has also improved slightly. Some steelhead action on the North and South Forks this week was reported. The main, despite being in decent shape has been slow for everything but should improve. The ocean outlook for the weekend is decent too with the possibility of some wind chop. Don’t let that stop you though, because the big ling cod are biting well and close to shore. The rockfish are also plentiful. Crabbing has also improved and should be good for another month or so.
More and more lakes are getting stocked with trout and getting near full. Lost Creek, Applegate, Selmac, Galesville, and many of the coastal lakes would be good choices to get out and enjoy.
Be safe, be nice and enjoy!
Read this week’s SW Washington fishing report.