Fishing Report 03-24-2023
Sunny skies and Columbia River Spring Chinook! Plants are sprouting up, trees are starting to show growth, days are getting warmer and Spring Chinook are becoming a daily occurrence. Here is Marc Strickland with a dandy hatchery Spring Chinook he caught trolling a herring with Fisherman's Pro, Jim Nichol. Great Fish!
(Jim Nichol's Guide Service: 503-550-1366)
Fishing Report:
We are seeing plenty of fresh Steelhead ridden with sea lice making their way into rivers on the last tide set. Soon we will start to see a variety of runs entering the local rivers, and you truly don’t know what you might hook considering there are already Spring Chinook poking around as well as a few Summer Steelhead. Rivers are beginning to warm up some, and the low-lying snow will begin to melt, and spring-time rains will raise river levels. These changes usually help influence fish activity and should help you target them in multiple ways. Is Bobberdoggin’ or side drifting your thing? With river levels continuing to rise you will be able to effectively cover tons of water in a short amount of time. Or is anchoring up and drift fishing or float fishing more your speed? Well, with a variety of fish in the river many runs will have fish spread out throughout the runs hiding behind boulders or downed trees. Hardware fishermen tend to rejoice this time of year as well. Warmer water temps typically mean aggressive Steelhead and again, the few Summer Steelhead that are around will absolutely clobber a well-presented spinner.
Spring Chinook are absolutely on the menu now. Both the Willamette and Columbia are seeing a good push of fish entering them. The Willamette has seen fish being caught from the Multnomah Channel up through Oregon City Falls. Fisherman’s Pro, Eric Baird, has been pounding the fish in the middle river on plug-cut herring and flashers. In the Columbia we have had lots of our Pro Staff catching fish as well. This past weekend Jack Glass kept two hatchery Spring Chinook and both Jim Nichol and Josiah Darr scored some chrome as well. It seems as though trolling plug-cut herring has been producing well. That’s not to say that anchor fishing plugs hasn’t been accounting for fish too. Kwikfish, Mag Lips, Killerfish and anchor fishing a herring with a flasher have all been successful catching fish.
Catch and release Sturgeon fishing in the Spring is a great option for some fun. Yes, it is a catch and release fishery, but the amount of action you can have is down right amazing some days. It’s not uncommon to have 30-40 fish days with a mixed bag of shakers, oversize and keeper size fish. Squid, herring, sand shrimp and anchovies are all perfect bait choices.
Kokanee fishing up at Lake Merwin is still a great option for folks. These landlocked Salmon are extremely delicious and usually quite plentiful. With generous bag limits and schooled up fish, you can have a heck of a haul in no time. Trolling a dodger with a Brad’s Kokanee cut plug, small bright-colored hoochies, small Spin-N-Glo’s or small spinner blades all will yield great results. A kernel of Shoepeg corn and a squirt of your favorite Pro-Cure or Mikes gel scent and you are in the game.
Trout are being stocked across the state daily. ODFW has been planting fish along the coast lakes such as Lytle Lake, Spring Lake, and Lost Lake as well as other bodies of water in Eastern Oregon like Rock Creek Reservoir and Pine Hollow Reservoir. This pace of Trout stocking will continue through late Spring giving anglers more opportunities every week. These freshly stocked lakes are the perfect time to get new anglers into the sport or to take the whole family to a lake for the day. You can catch them fishing bait off the bottom or under a bobber. Bring your boat, or rent one, and troll near rocky shorelines or vegetation lines to capitalize on feeding Trout.
Spring also marks a great time of year to chase big Lingcod near shore. Fisherman’s Pro, Andy Martin, has been doing extremely well fishing out of Brookings. This past week he was able to get his clients limits of Lingcod everyday he fished. Large curly tail grubs in green or white have been the go-to bait. All sorts of rockfish get caught during these trips so you never know what you might hook!
Razor Clamming has finally opened back up at Long Beach! The Clamming has been closed for quite some time so the clams should be plentiful! You can typically start Clamming several hours before the actual low tide. Often bagging a limit before the beach gets to loaded up with people.
