Portland/Metro Fishing Report – With the mainstem still restricted to all fishing downstream of Bonneville Dam, effort is high upstream of Bonneville, where action for Chinook remains excellent with coho just now starting to come on.
A rare opportunity for catch and keep sturgeon fishing starts on Saturday, from the Wauna Powerlines (near Westport, OR) upstream to Bonneville Dam. Catches are commonly subdued, but experienced anglers often score good results. Check further regulations from THIS PRESS RELEASE.
The coho fishery above Willamette Falls is about to get underway. It was a productive fishery last year, and likely to be one again this year. A great fishery for small boats. The fishery really gets cranking towards the end of the month.
Clackamas River Fishing Report – Coho are rolling near the mouth, but reluctant to bite. Fish are making their way upriver, but until we see a cooler weather pattern, fish will remain lock-jawed, even for the most persistent anglers.
Summer steelhead are still available in the upper reaches, but cooler weather will improve this fishery as well.
Sandy River Fishing Report – Avid angler Jeff Stoeger reports – “Hello All. I hope that you had a chance to get out and fish this past week. There was a day or two that the river colored up do the heat. The river is running at 7.84 ft and will stay that way until we get our first rain event. The river is running at 63 degrees and will start to cool down with cooler nights and cooler days. We will see a couple more days of 90-degree weather over this next week and then we can hope that we start to see rain.
Find the full report and forecast for Members on the Sandy and the Clackamas from this page here.
North Coast Fishing Report – With a great offshore opportunity for any coho off of the north coast, anglers took advantage of good fishing last weekend, but have since been dry-docked with a rough ocean preventing any safe bar crossings. Monday may offer up the next offshore opportunity, where all kinds of species should cooperate with anglers for the month.
Halibut, albacore, bottomfish and crab, as well as of course coho and Chinook salmon should all be options for anglers once the ocean comes down in swell and wind waves. Until then, anglers will be looking for estuary opportunities for both Chinook and hatchery coho this week.
Most estuary wild coho fisheries kick off this week, but anglers are more likely to encounter hatchery coho (Nehalem/Tillamook) than wild coho this early in the season. Check regulations HERE for your favorite waterbody by hitting the “Regulation Updates” button from the recreation report. It is expected to be a robust return this year, hence the opportunity.
No rumors of outstanding Chinook fishing just yet, but Chinook and coho remain a fair option on the Nehalem system, mostly from Nehalem to the North Fork of the Nehalem. There are some dark fish in the catches as the system transitions from summer to fall Chinook this month.
Tillamook Bay is living up to expectations so far, slow Chinook fishing, some hatchery coho available.
The Salmon River and Nestucca estuaries are starting to produce early-run fall Chinook. Both systems will peak now through the end of September.
The Siletz system is putting out Chinook and will likely again be one of the better coastal fisheries this year. The Alsea will be a bit more challenging, but catchable numbers will start to show.
Crabbing on the north coast is improving and crab are filling out slowly, but surely.
See the full North Coast Report and Forecast for Members right here.
Willamette River System Report – Contributor Glenn Zinkus reports:
Green Peter Kokes Going Strong. Leaburg Lake Trout. Middle Fork Willamette Trout and Steelhead McKenzie River Trout.
Alton Baker Canal: Alton Baker Canal was stocked with 900 legal size trout. As always, a great put and take option for anglers and families in the Eugene area. Alton Baker will be stocked weekly through the summer.
Detroit Reservoir: There are continued good kokanee reports. Kokes about 70 feet down. Reports of some good catches, with angler reports of hot kokanee bites early in the morning before the winds come up.
Green Peter Reservoir: Kokanee catch reports are still very good. Kokes are down deep, below 50 feet. Trollers with some weight, more than 100 feet of line and trolling in the 1 to 1.2 mph range are catching kokes.
South Santiam Steelhead: No New Fish Counts. Continued steelhead count watch: there were 1528 summer steelhead collected at Foster Dam as of August 29 – this is the latest report as of the 24th.. This continues to be multiple times higher than previous years.
South Santiam Trout: Flows are dropping and getting a bit low for trout in the upper South Santiam River above Foster Reservoir. If fishing for trout in this system, stay below Trout Creek campground and fish during the early mornings.
North Santiam Trout and Steelhead: The North Santiam received 2,200 legal size trout late July.
The upper portions are in shape and fishing well…..cool waters that are safe to fish in the heat.
Willamette River – Middle Fork:
Watch for possible closures from the Cedar Creek Fire. Note that a gusty east wind will develop through Friday that may push the fire and smoke to the west.
Various parts of the Middle Fork has been good. The Middle Fork is steady currently at 2820 CFS. These are fishable flow rates. Water temperatures is 60 degrees.
Willamette River – From Harrisburg, to Corvallis, to Albany:
The Willamette River is currently at 5310 CFS at Harrisburg. Nice fishable flows right now, and wading the gravel bars is good. Watch this stretch as recent summer heat has warmed the waters and angling is better on the upper stretches, such
Willamette River – Steelhead
With increased numbers of steelhead, anglers are back on the water looking for steelhead. Note that not a lot of anglers are doing this yet. Steelhead runs in the Springfield area starting to produce. Latest guide reports are that there is typically 1 to 2 per day caught per boat.
Can you believe there is MORE? Find the full report and forecast for Members on the Willamette Valley/Metro from this page here.
Central Oregon Fishing Report – Contributor Glenn Zinkus reports:
East Lake Trout. Metolius River Hatch Time – Trout and Bulls Best Time of the Year. Cascade Lakes Highway Campgrounds And Lodges Fire Threat – Crane Prairie and Cultus Evacuations
Deschutes River:
The ODFW metric of a minimum of 9,900 wild (unclipped) steelhead through Bonneville was achieved back on July 23. That means the Lower Deschutes will open to steelhead angling August 15 to September 15.
The ODFW metric of a minimum of 23,100 wild steelhead through Bonneville was achieved on August 18th. That means the Lower Deschutes will remain open for the remainder of this year for steelhead angling.
Lower Deschutes River:
The Lower Deschutes is steady near the dam, with flows of 3620 CFS in Madras and 4020 CFS at Moody. Water access is good.
Temperatures on the lower portions of the river are in the 56 to 58 range at Madras, and 62 to 66 degree range near Moody. Temperatures have been trending slightly upward.
Middle Deschutes River: There is a mix of PEDs, PMDs, and some caddis on the river from Bend to Steelhead Falls. Coolest cooler water temps in the Steelhead Falls area from the Whychus Creek inflow and some springs.
Upper Deschutes River: Much of this area is impacted now by the Cedar Creek fire. Best to stay away. The area below Little Lava is under a Level 2 evacuation status.
Lake Billy Chinook: Smallmouth are going strong – but no new reports since the heatwave began.
Crooked River: The Crooked River continues fishing well with flows still at around 175 GPS, but is still scheduled to go to 10 CFS now on September 15. Until then, fish up the first few miles below the dam for the best opportunities.
Fall River: Fishing well, but highly popular. Now that we are past Labor Day, the crowds will lighten. Fall River was stocked with 1,000 trophy trout two weeks ago. Nymphing and streamers around Horse Shoe Bend, the Hatchery and the Falls is good.
Metolius River:
The Metolius is one of the premier September rivers and the place to be now.
The first green drakes showed up and are active in the range from 2 PM to 5 PM. The duns, emergers/cripples are active.
Bull trout continue to increase and be active on the Met, they’re coming up from Lake Billy Chinook. If swinging flies for bulls with a trout spey Skagit setup with a white and olive Intruder style streamer with success.
And yet there is a lot more for Members. Check out Glenn’s detailed reports and forecasts right here for Chinook and Steelhead Members both!
SW Oregon Fishing Report – Contributor Jeff Rome reports:
Labor Day weekend provided a nice variety of catches of bottom fish, ling cod and coho out in the ocean as well as Chinook in Rogue, Coos and Winchester bay’s (and estuary). Trout and bass anglers who did fish (before and/or after) cool water activities also caught fish.
The ocean outlook is windy for the weekend for most if not all Southern Oregon ports 😣 but knowing that September usually has calm weather, next week should be another good opportunity for some good tuna, halibut and coho fishing.
The Rogue Bay saw a lot of angler pressure as well a fish from 15 to 42 pounds caught over the Labor Day weekend! Earlier in the week, catches were fair but still lots of fish around with lots of jacks. There too, it’s going to be quite a windy weekend and hard to fish until early next week.
The mid and upper Rogue river is producing some nice summer steelhead from Chinook park up through Gold Hill and from Dodge park up through Shady cove. Some Chinook have been also caught at the mouth of the Applegate. The Rum creek fire is still burning so there are day by day restrictions for access below Hog Creek and smoke density varies from day to day.
Coho out of Winchester bay has picked up and also Chinook catches on the Coos from the Empire boat ramp on up to Chandler bridge. The lower main Umpqua is starting to produce some Chinook as well.
Small mouth bass action is excellent on the lower south and north Umpqua.
The Coquille River is producing nice catches of stripped bass from Rocky Point on up through Riverton.
Lost creek lake will be more conducive for anglers as boat traffic will dwindle (except on weekends). Trout fishing is still decent and in better condition up past Peyton Bridge.
Jeff’s detailed report, multiple lake updates, and forecast in this week’s version for Members!
SW Washington by Ian Carter
My report last week was completed a few hours before the devastating announcement regarding the shutting down of our Lower Columbia River Salmon and Steelhead Fishery. The good news is that the Chinook counts over Bonneville are still bananas, so hopefully a reopener is on the horizon. I don’t usually publicly comment on politics, but something has to change. On the bright side there are still many other opportunities to feed your family from elsewhere. There was no WDFW report so far this week, so it’s a good thing you have The Guides Forecast.
REMINDER, please verify the regulations before fishing any body of water
Best Bet– Above Bonneville for Chinook and potentially tributary Coho.
Warm Water Area Lakes
Lacamas Lake – Round lake next to Lacamas has been fishing exceptional for larger Bluegill in the 7” range. Top bait is pieces of cured Bluegill Candy, tip from angler Greg Robinson.
Lewis Report
There is a much greater interest in fishing right now. Fishing is getting good as an early pod of coho have moved up. The hatchery area was very busy with bank anglers on both sides. There were 7 boats working the area below the pipe outlets.
The river level bumped up significantly a couple days ago and is now dropping again. This could have been the catalyst to move that pod of coho up. There was no WDFW report this week. The gauge level at Ariel is at 3.0ft after the flow increase. The real-time stream flow data can be found here: USGS-North Fork Lewis.
Cowlitz Report
Plunkers aren’t doing very with the higher flows.
Flows are finally stabilizing. At Castle Rock the river is running high at 3,790cfs. Which is down from 5,000 a few days ago. Water visibility is 12 feet and water temperature is 55.2 degrees F. Some
There were NO WDFW angler check data reported.
Columbia Gorge and Tributaries
With the shut down all attention is focused on Drano, and the Wind and Klickitat Rivers. Yesterday I drove back from Montana through the gorge and managed to snap the following photos of fishing pressure at various hot spots East to west. There was zero wind for the entire jpurney through the gorge. The area around the Deschutes was the busiest.
Reservoir Report
Like the season, the kokanee are changing rapidly. Consider using Brad’s Kokanee cut plugs this time of year with a long (24”) stiff leader (15lb) fluorocarbon. This time of year, some bigger rainbows show up in the catch too! The bigger kokanees are beginning to school up separately.
Riffe Lake fishing is good as the water level has come up. Landlocked Silvers are being caught they are about 13-15″” long. Fish are down 45 to 65+ feet depending on cloud cover and wind. Some big Triploid Rainbow are being caught most are running 18″ to 20″.
Coastal
Salmon – Coho fishing is fantastic and hopefully the quota lasts through September. The fish are really getting some size to them. A report came of a great 2 days in Westport. Saturday was a bit lumpy for coho, so they didn’t make it far but made it far enough.
There is A LOT more for SW Washington Members here. Become a SW Washington Member here.