Fishing Report 10-21-2022
Long-time Fisherman’s customer and accomplished angler, Rick Verhaeghe, recently caught and released this pretty Deschutes summer steelhead while fishing with Pro Guide, Pete Field. (Deschutes River Guides: 503-539-0587)
Fishing Report:
Fall Chinook fishing is still going on around the region, however, most fishermen are doing the rain dance in hopes of some much-needed precipitation. Along the coast there are Chinook being caught in many of the bays. However, several bays have been reduced to retention of hatchery Chinook only. In Tillamook Bay, the Trask has a hatchery run of Chinook and Fisherman’s Pro, David Johnson, has recently found a few hatchery Chinook for his clients. Trolling herring and triangle flashers has been a go-to technique for many years and is still a great option to this day. You will see other fishermen trolling 360 flashers and either Superbaits, Spinfish, Spindawgs, or small spinners.
Coho fishing at the coast has been downright ridiculous at times. Many folks have been finding great success while targeting Chinook when trolling. In Washington, many of the coastal rivers have also started to see pushes of fresh Coho.
Locally the Sandy, Clackamas, Lewis, Kalama, and Cowlitz have all seen Coho in them. The Lewis, Cowlitz, and Kalama have all started to see B-Run Coho showing up, and with the upcoming forecast showing rain, we should definitely see new fishing coming in. Twitching jigs, spinners, plugs, and spoons are all great options when probing some promising water for biting fish . Once you locate some fresh fish and the first few biters get caught, that is when you can use more subtle techniques like eggs, jigs, beads, and even prawns.
Crabbing remains excellent along the coast. Many folks report quick limits of nice-size Dungeness Crab. As we enter into November, we expect the Crab to really fill out.
Razor Clamming was really good during our last short opener at Long Beach. We have the tentative dates coming up next week so be on the lookout for a press release for WDFW when they do decide to open it up.
Bottom Fishing has been really good when ocean conditions cooperate, with many anglers switching over to chase bottom fish as the ocean Salmon fishing starts to wind down. Vertical jigging, swimbaits, curly tail grubs, and shrimp flies have all been working as of late.
Trout fishing around the region remains good with many folks enjoying the later than normal warm weather making it quite fun to spend a day on the lake. ODFW has still been busy planting many lakes locally, with Henry Hagg Lake on the docket to be stocked with over 5,000 Trout next week! Nightcrawlers, Powerbait, Salmon eggs and Shrimp have all been good bait options. Many anglers who are utilizing a boat have been finding success trolling parallel to the shoreline with Maglips, Flatfish and wedding rings tipped with nightcrawlers.
