Fishing report 2-21
Winter Steelhead fishing is going well across the Northwest. We have had Pro Staff finding success all along the coast as well as throughout the Willamette Valley. Pro, Tim Juarez, has been keeping his clients entertained by bobberdogging bait as well as back trolling plugs. Both techniques are great ways to find fish in high water or low water conditions. The main difference when deciding what color to use in any given technique is usually water condition. Bright colored plugs, dark colored jigs, both will work and mainly be dependent on conditions. Side drifting is another great option that seems to have become a lost art. Side drifting allows anglers to get their gear down fast and sometimes fish will hold up higher in a hole which many bobberdogging fisherman will miss. Eggs, yarn, shrimp or beads are all great choices when picking out your side drifting, bobberdogging or driftfishing lures.
Spring Chinook are officially on the menu. Of course there are not many around, however there are always fresh Chinook caught throughout the month of February all throughout the lower Willamette and Multnomah Channel. Trolling herring, prawns, Spinfish, Spindawgs and flashers will all work well in this fishery. In the Columbia there have been a few Springers caught however with the huge influx of Smelt over the last week it can make for a hard time getting in front of some Chinook. The anglers that have been successful seem to of been anchor fishing kwikfish, Maglips or Brad’s Killerfish.
Catch and release Sturgeon fishing is a wonderful fishery that doesn’t get utilized often enough. Especially in the lower Willamette, the Sturgeon will hang out in the slow moving deep pools looking for easy meals as they wait out the cold winter months. Smelt is going to be a great bait this time of year as well as sand shrimp and herring.
Bottom fishing remains a stellar option for folks looking to fill a cooler full of prime eating fish tacos. Fisherman’s Pro, Andy Martin, decided to take a few weeks off of drift boat Steelhead fishing to take his customers out into the ocean. And it turned out to be a great idea. He found limits of both rockfish and Lingcod on each trip using P-Line Farallon feathers and jigs with curly tail grubs and squid jigs.
Razor Clamming opened back up on the 21st and will run through the 25th of February. Take a look at the WDFW website in the Razor Clam section for updated dates, times, locations and tides that are open for harvest.
Crabbing remains a great option for folks, especially if you are heading out into the ocean for some bottomfish as well. You can drop your pots off on the way out, spend the day fishing, and pull your pots on the way in for a bonus bushel of Crab.
Kokanee fishing up at Lake Merwin has continued to be a great producing fishery for folks. These delicious land locked Salmon are a schooling fish which usually means once you get a bite, there are plenty more to follow. Small Brad’s Kokanee Cutplugs have been working well, as have small Spin-n-Glos. Either of these two combinations have been helping anglers fill their kill bags with piles of fat Kokanee. Bring along several different scent options as well, just to up your odds for success on the days that the Kokanee decide to be stubborn.
ODFW has continued to ramp up their stocking efforts across the state. As we enter into next week there will be many bodies of water receiving piles of fish. Henry Hagg Lake is set to receive 12,000 legal Trout along with Hills Creek reservoir getting over 3,500 Trout. Trolling is a great way to target these freshly stocked Trout as they will also tend to school up so trolling around allows you to cover some ground in search of these schools. Bank anglers will find success fishing bait off of the bottom or under a bobber. Casting spinners, kastmasters, bubble and fly or even small swimbaits can be a very fun and effective way to catch these Trout as well
