As the Buoy 10 Chinook fishery winds down this weekend, all eyes will turn inland. The past few days have seen some epic fishing in the lower Columbia and catching is also turning on above Bonneville. There also remains many opportunities for other species, as locally bass fishing is going strong, as so is Mayfield Lake for trout. Puget sound continues fishing great for humpies with some Coho and Chinook in the mix. In this September report and forecast I cover fishing hotspots and areas including Long Beach, Kelso, Cougar, Camas, Woodland, and other greater Vancouver WA neighborhoods.
Let’s sink into the current fishing conditions.
Due to publishing deadlines and Friday release of this data, this graph is almost a week old when you read this report. I do however publish this chart every Friday by noon on X (twitter). @FiNNreports. The weekly escapement charts are posted on Wednesdays.
The Naselle which saw fifty-three early Hatchery Chinook and four Wild Chinook this week, with the Washougal only receiving seven hatchery Steelhead return for same period. Other river totals are further down this report in their respective neighborhood.
Ilwaco and Long Beach
At Buoy 10 Dave Mallahan with Dave’s Guide Service shared the following report from Monday 8/28/23. “My last day at buoy 10 resulted in an absolute epic Chinook bite on the Oregon side around the tongue point area with hook up after hook up lost fish missed, fish released, I can’t keep track of all the fish we landed and lost, but it only resulted in three keeper fish for the afternoon. I moved up river with a second group, which resulted in another epic bite and limits. It’s days like this the dreams are made of it keeps us coming back and looking for more days like this. So thankful for these days, I still have the 6th 11th and 12th of September open, if anybody would like to join me for a trip.” Thanks for the info, Dave!
Surf Perch fishing at Long Beach is epic right now. Gulp Camo sandworms (as always) being the best bait. There are also some reports of surf crabbing picking up on the low surf days. One angler reported some good sizes to the Perch. He caught 4-15” and 3-13”. Reports of good surf fishing are also coming from Mocrocks.
Jetty Fishing reports are hard to come by. This tells me things may not be off to a good start. With the recent improvement of fishing inside the Columbia, this may soon change to the positive.
Crabbers are having some success with snares off the North Jetty. Use caution as it’s very rocky. Best to use a stout set up. Be prepared to lose some gear.
Favorable Ocean conditions are questionable based on the swell and wind forecast for this weekend. The NW swell while 12 seconds apart is forecasted to be 7 feet. Adding to that, a potential SW 2 foot and 4 second interval wind wave will make for a potentially wet ride in smaller open boats.
Westport Anglers are also reporting some epic Coho fishing with some 12-15lb fish dominating the catches. Last word was good fishing from 180fow, heading west to 280fow. Another charter report indicated they located a large school of blue sharks that had pushed a bunch of Chinook under their boat. At one point the report indicated they had 9 fish on16 rods. They limited in 15 minutes for the boat, 17 fish.
Bottom fishing is still excellent out of all ports for those targeting them after Salmon Fishing.
Silver Lake is fishing quite well. My friend Keith Fisher went bass fishing there for the first-time last week and had a blast. They boated 12 bass and one crappie. Best lures were Shad rocket spinners, Senko’s, and a crank bait.
Riffe Lake is in danger of becoming inaccessible for the Labor Day weekend. It’s currently down to one lane and no dock availability. You can find current conditions here.
Trout stocking at Mayfield has occurred a few times in August. The last one on August 23rd consisted of 2,420, listed as 1.2 fish per pound, which puts the weight of these just about in the one-pound class. All total for August, Mayfield has received 10,000 keeper trout.
There is A LOT more for SW Washington Members here. And SW Washington members can find our complete Columbia River reports here.
Read this week’s Oregon fishing report.