Northwest Fishing Reports

I managed to erase my current column and ended up sending an older column - which I want to correct now. Here is the current column. At Winchester Bay, the ocean chinook salmon fishing if now competing with the Umpqua River redtail surfperch run for major billing. While the surfperch run is now in i...

The Umpqua River’s redtailed surfperch run continues to dominate our area’s fishing opportunities. The fishing is gradually improving, and while some days are better than others, the fishing is definitely getting better. Last Friday was the best fishing day yet for the upriver perch and a number of ...

The Umpqua River’s redtailed surfperch run continues to dominate our area’s fishing opportunities. The fishing is gradually improving, and while some days are better than others, the fishing is definitely getting better. Last Friday was the best fishing day yet for the upriver perch and a number of ...

The Umpqua River redtailed surfperch run (pinkfins) has been more productive recently with a number of bosts catching 30 or more fish and one boat with five anglers catching 65 last Sunday. However, there are lots of boats enjoying little or minimal perch fishing success. Of course I have little sym...

On Saturday there will be a free fishing event at Tugman Park on Eel Lake. On Sunday, there will be a free fishing event on Lake Marie. These events are wonderful places to introduce youngsters to fishing. The youngsters get a free hotdog and pop for simply registering and can get the same for picki...

It seems that the catch of redtailed surfperch taken Sunday morning (May 12th) above Winchester Bay was a false alarm. There has been very few perch caught upriver since then. However, that single catch should encourage more perch anglers to give it a try as more perch should be moving in very soon....

The first all-depth halibut opener was disappointing for most. Success was mostly spotty and many of the halibut taken were rather small by halibut standards. There were a few exceptions. One of the anglers staying in one of Winchester Bay’s RV parks landed a 68 pound fish and an angler in Charlesto...

Fishing for spring chinook has been slow, except for the area below where Rock Creek enters the North Umpqua. The entire mainstem Umpqua has been fishing very slow. Another small springer was reported takenat Half Moon Bay last week, but the lower river has not been productive for any salmon and eve...

Crabbing continues to be slow in the lower Umpqua River and even out in the ocean for the few people venturing outside. The best crabbing has been experienced by those who have dragged small craft into the Triangle where they have caught nearly as many red rocks as legal dungeness. Bottomfish angler...

Ocean salmon fishing was surprisingly good last week with quite a few two fish limits caught. The fishing did slow down somewhat over the weekend as the fish apparently moved north, but while they were biting fish were taken from the Umpqua River Bar all the way out to water at least 200 feet deep. ...

Spring chinook angling between Scottsburg and Elkton has picked up noticeably. Of course, anybody who has recently driven along that stretch of Highway 38 could already guess this from the number of truck/boat trailer rigs parked along the highway because the boat ramp parking areas are full. It see...

It was almost like karma. An angler had asked me if I had heard of any spring chinook being hooked inside the Triangle and I had told them that I had not. A couple of hours later, while I was selling a salmon tag to Christopher Edwards of Winchester Bay, he stated that a week or so previously, an an...

Thanks, it's nice to be appreciated.
Pete

Spring chinook fishing on the Umpqua River has started to pick up. It seems that most of the bites are non-aggressive or tentative and many of the hooked fish are coming loose, but the overall activity level has picked up. Additionally, there has been some springer activity in the ocean and lower Um...

After setting a one sturgeon seasonal bag limit earlier this year, the ODFW decided to increase the seasonal limit to two sturgeon. Since Jan. 1, the annual statewide bag limit has been one legal white sturgeon total for all zones statewide. According to Steve Williams, ODFW fish division deputy dir...

The start of the ocean chinook sportfishery last Friday was uneventful as the Umpqua River Bar was closed almost the entire weekend. Evidence that there are some spring chinook available to be caught when the ocean is accessible were the chinooks (at least three) recently landed by bottomfish angler...

There has been a lot of questions about trout plants this year, mostly because with the exception of the North Coast Region, the schedules for most other areas had not yet been posted on the ODFW website. However, as of the end of last week, that information is now available on the ODFW website. If ...

The February 23rd issue of Science News had a couple of very interesting articles that should be of interest to outdoor sportsmen. An article by Erin Wayman quotes an online article in Geophysical Research Letters that reported that evaporating water from irrigation canals and fields resulted in an ...

The best news is that there has been a few spring chinook salmon reported caught in the Scottsburg area and it probsbly won’t be to many weeks before one starts seeing vehicle-trailer rigs parked along Highway 38 because there isn’t enough parking space in the boat ramp parking areas. Steelhead fish...

Although Charleston remains the best crabbing option, some decent catches were made last weekend at Winchester Bay. One boast, crabbing in Half Moon Bay last Saturday ended up with 14 keepers, but admitted they had to work hard for them. With the gradual wind-down of commercial crabbing in the ocean...