Fishing Report: 3-13-26

Winter Steelhead

Rivers were on the drop most of last week and the fish seemed to know it. We had reports from Pro Staff all along the coastline finding quality fish. Pro, David Johnson, stayed close to home on the Tillamook rivers and found limits of bright chromers by backtrolling plugs and bobberdogging eggs and beads. Pro, Mike Kelly, has been keeping the mid-coast steelhead population in check as well, finding success fishing eggs and beads. Meanwhile, Pro, Andy Martin, has been finding fish nearly every trip near the California border by side-drifting bait, corkies, and yarn. No matter where you are fishing right now, there are steelhead to be found.

Techniques: Backtrolling plugs, bobberdogging eggs and beads, fishing eggs and beads, side-drifting bait with corkies and yarn.

Columbia River Spring Chinook

Spring Chinook fishing is getting better by the day. The Columbia is currently full of smelt, along with sea lions chasing the massive schools upriver. With so many smelt present, dragging cut-plug herring can sometimes be challenging. However, anglers willing to change it up and anchor with plugs like Kwikfish, Mag Lips, Flatfish, or Killerfish are beginning to find success. These early springers tend to attack plugs with reckless abandon, so don’t be surprised when your rod buries and line starts screaming. It can be a violent bite.

Techniques: Anchoring with Kwikfish, Mag Lips, Flatfish, and Killerfish plugs.

Willamette River Spring Chinook

The Willamette will continue to produce fish and should improve week by week as we move closer to April. Anglers are trolling cut-plug herring with triangle or 360 flashers in the lower Willamette to locate these fish. Stagger your trolling depths, as springers can be running anywhere in the water column. It’s always smart to bring several bait options including herring, anchovies, sand shrimp, prawns, or coon-stripe shrimp. As the water warms into April, we will begin to see strong bites develop around Oregon City using eggs, shrimp, or prawns.

Techniques: Trolling cut-plug herring with triangle or 360 flashers, using herring, anchovies, sand shrimp, prawns, or coon-stripe shrimp.

Sturgeon

Catch-and-release sturgeon fishing on the Willamette has been improving week by week, and as water temperatures climb a few degrees the bite should really take off. Since this fishery is catch-and-release only, many anglers choose not to target them, but they are missing out. As water temperatures rise, sturgeon begin to wake up from their winter slowdown and the action can become incredible, with boats hooking 20–40 fish in a single trip.

Techniques: Fishing squid, herring, anchovies, sand shrimp, and prawns for bait.

Bottomfish

Bottom fishing has been good whenever anglers are able to get safely across the bar. Pro, Andy Martin, has been having excellent success targeting bottomfish, especially lingcod. They have been aggressively hitting large curly tail grubs, Farallon feathers, twin-tailed scampi, and vertical jigs.

Techniques: Large curly tail grubs, Farallon feathers, twin-tailed scampi, vertical jigs.

Razor Clams

Razor clamming at Long Beach continues to produce great results. WDFW has opened another eight days of digging, with five of those tides occurring in the morning. Many clammers prefer morning tides since they avoid digging in the dark like the evening tides. The latest round of digs will run from March 17 through March 24.

Techniques: Razor clam digging during morning tide sequences.

Trout

Trout fishing is beginning to ramp up as ODFW continues stocking lakes and ponds across the state. From Thief Valley Reservoir receiving over 10,000 legal trout to Mt. Hood Pond in Portland, the stocking season is getting underway. Fishing PowerBait on the bottom or suspending a nightcrawler under a bobber remains a reliable option. Trolling small Mag Lips, Flatfish, or wedding rings is also a great way to cover water and locate biting fish. Be sure to check the stocking schedule before heading out to find the best opportunity.

Techniques: Fishing PowerBait off the bottom, nightcrawlers under a bobber, trolling Mag Lips, Flatfish, and wedding ring spinners.