Portland, Oregon Metro Fishing Report – With mainstem Columbia adult spring Chinook season now closed, anglers are awaiting the June 22nd opener for tasty sockeye salmon season. Summer steelhead and jack Chinook season is still open but check regulations carefully HERE if you’re not 100% sure of what you can legally angle for.
The Willamette river is surprising anglers, spring Chinook catches in the Portland Harbor are some of the best in a decade for this time of year. It’s still challenging, just better than what we’ve seen in recent years. Mornings are best.
Shad fishing is still good in Oregon City, but due to taper.
Sturgeon have left the lower Willamette, headed for the lower Columbia River estuary where the grass is greener.
Clackamas River Fishing Report – Spring Chinook catches have improved recently. Boaters working the upper Clackamas are finding fair catches of hatchery spring Chinook, both from the bank and from boats.
Summer steelhead catches remain challenging.
This weekend’s precipitation should improve the bite, but not dramatically. Moderate temperatures will be the bigger benefit. Cooler air temps will dampen interest in rafting and innertubing these metro tributaries.
Sandy River fishing, as reported by avid angler Jeff Stoeger – Jeff is off this week, but last week’s report still has application.
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North & Central Coast Fishing Report – Tillamook spring Chinook catches are improving, and with a nice hold-over tide this weekend, lower bay trollers should score some results. The weather change should also improve the bite, but only after the weather settles after it first lands. That may be Monday.
District rivers will remain too low to inspire spring Chinook and summer steelhead to enter the Wilson, Trask, Nestucca and Siletz Rivers. Some fish will still enter, but head for the deep holes until a more refreshing rain hits the district.
Anglers will remain focused on the saltwater options, halibut and coho headlining the list.
Unsettled weather will put ocean conditions out of reach for weekend anglers, but early next week looks promising. Halibut and bottomfish will be the best options.
There should be about another 2 weeks of productive ocean crabbing for those interested. Definitely crab the deep water if you’re serious about success. The molt is starting to kick in, but July will be the big month for poorly conditioned crab.
Central-Eastern Oregon Fishing Report by Terry Otto
Trout lakes Excellent, and rivers in summer patterns. Walleye and Shad good in the Columbia River Gorge.
The big spring bugs are gone from the rivers, as are the crazy crowds. It is time for the summer patterns, and it is a good time for gear anglers to get in on the action. The central Oregon lakes are beginning to produce good numbers of trout and kokanee, as are the lakes in eastern Oregon.
You can check the ODFW trout stocking schedule here
You can check regional flows here
Columbia River Gorge
Anglers in the Gorge did not do very well for Chinook while that fishery was open, according to the folks at the Gorge Outfitters Supply in Rufus. There was fair effort, but most anglers struck out. Walleye continues to be really good, and even some bank anglers are getting in on the action. They are casting jigs from the bank below the John Day Dam. Boat anglers continue to do well with worm harnesses and by pulling plugs. The worms get more fish, but the plugs get the bigger ones. Search rocky reefs from 15 to 35 feet of water.
Shad are now flooding into the area, and anglers are getting out and targeting them. It’s the usual shad stuff–shad darts and shad killers, all available at the Gorge Outfitters Supply.
Lower Deschutes
Amy Hazel at the Deschutes Angler Fly Shop reports that the spring bugs are gone, along with the spring crowds. The only guys left out there are the ones who fish year-round. “The crowds are gone,” said Hazel, “in fact they have more or less disappeared. Only the hard-core guys are out here now.” With the big bugs gone, she said it is mostly a caddis and mayfly hatch right now. “We’re into the caddis and mayflies. The weather is good, and the river is in good shape. It’s a great time to get out here.”
Metolius River
Green Drake hatches continue, with the time for finding them more spread out as we enter the final 10 to 14 days of the June hatch. You can see the drake emergence begin at 2 PM, and be as late as 6 PM. If you are an early riser, you might even see Green Drake Spinners near dawn. Smaller spinners are very common to find at dusk, especially the Rusty Spinners associated with the PMD hatch. Usually, a #16 Harrop’s Biot Body Para Spinner or a Sunset Spinner is another good profile to show them
Lake Reports
!!Special thanks to Buzz Ramsey for the following gear-fishing lake reports!!
East Lake
Buzz reports that East Lake is giving up a lot of kokanee and very nice brown trout. “There are lots of brown trout running at a 16 to 18 inch average,” he said. He also got one at 24 inches and another at 25 inches. “There are some bigger ones out there,” he added. Trolling old-school giant cow bell flashers fished 30 inches ahead of a small Spinfish packed with tuna took the big ones for him. He tried some other methods, such as tossing Thomas Buoyant spinners, but the Spinfish worked best.
Ramsey reports that the kokanee fishing was excellent. “They would hit anything,” he said. They were larger than usual for East Lake, but they were not quite as big as those in Paulina Lake. His fish averaged about 12 inches. He took them with spinners, flies, and trolled baits.
Paulina Lake
Ramsey reported that when he fished Paulina Lake recently, he took 5 kokanee early, but the bite then shut off big time. Gear fishing for trout was slow.
Fly action: Chironomids have stolen the show lately, and it is important to expect #18-20 Olive, #12-14 Black, #14-16 Red, Double Down Black with a Red Rib to be patterns to use now.
Callibaetis Cate and Red PT on a jig hook are great too.
Wallowa Lake
It is prime time of the year for kokanee angling on Wallowa Lake. Water temperatures have started to rise, and some anglers are catching kokanee. Trolling and jigging are both popular techniques right now. Catch rates haven’t been super high, but people are catching some large kokanee, some of which have been over 16 inches. Rainbow trout can be caught near the river mouth, and lake trout are dispersed throughout the lake.
SW Oregon Fishing Report – Contributor Jeff Rome reports
It’s looking like a temporary change in the weather is in store for the weekend. Sub-normal temperatures in the low 60s with some rain showers possible could be a nice reprieve to the early summer hotness lately.
Cooler and cloudy days for the weekend could lead to better trout fishing on many of the lakes like Lost Creek, Galesville, Applegate, and Fish Lake that have been pretty good so far. Lost Creek got another slug of legal, trophy-sized trout stocked this week. Bass fishing at Lake Selmac has improved.
The lower Rogue River is still seeing a few springer catches, but no Fall run fish “yet”. The mid-section has been pretty void except for river floaters, and the upper section is still seeing a few springers caught along with a few summer steelhead. The Mayfly hatch around the Holy Water has tapered a bit, but fly anglers have had good success.
The ocean forecast for the weekend looks cool with some showers. Wind shouldn’t be too bad to get out for excellent ling cod and bottom fish. Out of Brookings, the coho bite has been good when you can locate the schools, but they’re still a bit on the small side- 3-5 pounders. Some good success out of Winchester Bay early in the week saw several limits of halibut, and the crabbages were still in good shape.
Striped bass fishing on the Umpqua and Coquille is still good.
Striped bass are biting well on the main Umpqua River, as are the smallmouth bass on the South Umpqua.
Read this week’s SW Washington fishing report.