Fishing Report 03-17-2023
Customer John Barnes entered this beautiful 14.35lbs and 36" Winter Steelhead into our Derby this past week. One of many Steelhead we have seen brought into our stores this past week. Thanks John for sharing your catch with us!
Fishing Report:
Winter Steelhead season is at what some would call its peak. You have new fish entering rivers every week, you have older fish that are near spawning and fish in between. You also have a few early Summer Steelhead that will be trickling in. This means that fish are spread throughout the system and anglers have an opportunity at any riffle or good looking pocket. All techniques will be working right now, bobber dogging will be the most popular option for boat anglers as it allows folks to cover lots of water in a short amount of time. Backtrolling plugs is another effective way to target Steelhead: a well-tuned plug backed down into a run that you know routinely holds fish is a sure-fire way to find biters. K11’s, 3.5 size Mag Lips, Flatfish, Wiggle Warts and Hotshots are all killer plug options. The more traditional way of anchoring and float fishing, drift fishing or casting hardware is really an amazing option. Especially if you are on a river you know well and the river height is at a level that you know where fish will hold. Drift fishing eggs, yarn, shrimp, corkies or Spin-N-Glo’s will all work well. Bobber fishing jigs, pink worms, beads, eggs or shrimp will round out the float fisherman’s choices. And, hardware fishermen will do well casting Little Cleos, P-Line Pro-Steel Spoons, Blue Fox Spinners, Roostertails, Panther Martins and more. Fisherman’s Pro, Tim Juarez, has been keeping his clients busy with a combo of Bobberdoggin’ yarn and eggs as well as backtrolling plugs. Tim likes to keep a set of plugs rods on board as it seems so many folks focus on Bobberdoggin’ that they often forget about a plug’s effectiveness.
Spring Chinook fishing has definitely picked up. We have had multiple Pro Guides that have had success this past week. Fisherman’s Pro, Eric Baird, has been on a real hot streak lately. Pro Guide, KC Talaro, hopped on board with him this week and they managed to put 3 hatchery Springers in the box! Josiah Darr caught a beautiful wild fish on his first shake down trip as well.
Most of these fish have been caught trolling cut-plug green label herring behind an in-line triangle flasher. As the water starts to slowly warm up there will definitely be more folks catching fish on 360 flashers with small spinners, Brad’s Cutplugs, Spinfish and Simon Spindawgs. Up near Oregon city there will start to be more of a fleet backtrolling jumbo jet divers with clusters of eggs, small plugs or sand shrimp. The Willamette became muddy this week from heavy rains, but should begin to clear in the coming days.
Catch and release Sturgeon fishing has continued to be a great option. These prehistoric beasts can bite regardless of what the weather is doing. Windshield boats can drop the anchor, put up the top, crank the heater and open some snacks while waiting in between bites. Squid, herring, sand shrimp and smelt are all great bait choices.
In the ocean the bottom fishing has been picking up. Fisherman’s Pro, Andy Martin, has been switching between driftboat fishing for Winter Steelhead and his ocean boat chasing bottomfish. The ocean has been giving up quite a few Lingcod with Andy’s Wednesday trip limiting the boat with 12 healthy Lingcod. The largest being a 13lber!
Trout fishing has been picking up all across the state. ODFW has been busy planting tons of lakes and reservoirs with legal Trout! Dexter Reservoir, Henry Hagg Lake, St. Louis Ponds and Cottage Grove Reservoir were all stocked with loads of Trophy Trout this week as well! Boat anglers will do well trolling Mag Lips, Flatfish or Wedding rings tipped with a nightcrawler. Bank anglers will do well fishing bait under a bobber or off the bottom as well as casting spinners, spoons or bubble and fly. As we start to get into a little bit warmer weather the Trout bite will just continue to improve.
Kokanee fishing up at Lake Merwin remains an awesome option. Anglers have been doing really well trolling high in the water column, actually just flat lining a dodger and lure of choice. The fish are really schooled up so once you get bit, be ready for a flurry of bites as you more than likely have found one of the many schools of Kokanee. Wiggle Hoochies, Small bright-colored hoochies, small spinner blades, small Spin-N-Glos and Brad’s Kokanee Cut-Plugs are all perfect Kokanee baits. Shoepeg corn and some Pro-Cure, Smelly Jelly or Mike’s Scent is all you need to entice these delicious landlocked Salmon into biting.
