Fishing report 3-27
Winter Steelhead fishing has been quite good this past week. Many rivers have been in great shape and not had a lot of fluctuations in flow. Late March can be one of the best times of year to chase Winter Steelhead. There is a mixture of darker early fish, chrome bright late run fish and even an early Summer Steelhead for Spring Chinook! We have had our Pro Staff all over the coast and Willamette valley rivers chasing Steelhead with great success. Bobberdoggin, side drifting, backtrolling plugs, bobber fishing pink worms and jigs. Look for these fisheries to stay good for several more weeks. Especially with the implementation of Broodstock programs all across the northwest, we now have late returning hatchery fish well into April.
Spring Chinook are definitely here. It seems as though a lot of smelt have left the main stem Columbia which means there is far less herring size fish in the water column for your bait to compete with. We have had several Pro Staff finding success in the Columbia this past week. Both Chris Vertopoulos and Jim Nicol found success trolling triangle flashers with plug-cut green label herring. Look for the Willamette to start heating up any day now. These fish love to bite trolled baits in the Portland Harbor and Multnomah Channel. Herring, Prawn spinners, small 3.5 size spinners, Spinfish, Spindawgs, Superbaits and Cutplugs will all be effective baits.
The catch and release Sturgeon fishing in the lower Willamette and Multnomah Channel is a wildly underrated fishery in the Spring-time. It is not uncommon to have days where you have upwards of 30 hookups. Squid, sand shrimp, herring and smelt are all great bait choices.
Bottom fishing remains a constant option and many folks will forget about this fishery with Spring Chinook on the menu. However, the bottom fishing in the Spring is consistently good. Lingcod and a variety of other bottomfish are what you will routinely encounter. Shrimp flies, farallon feathers, vertical jigs and soft plastics have all been working well.
Kokanee fishing at Lake Merwin, Swift and Yale reservoirs has continued to be good. Anglers have been finding limits of Kokanee at varying depths in the water column. As the lakes start to warm up the Kokanee will start to dive deeper in search of cooler water. These fish love to school up, so as you start to hook fish be ready for some fast pace action. Dodgers with small spin-n-glos, wedding rings, small bright colored hoochies and Kokanee Cut Plugs have all been working.
Trout fishing is picking up and so has the Trout stocking by ODFW. There have been several lakes that have received large plants of Trophy size Trout. Both Dexter and
Dorena Reservoir were lakes that received those plants. As we enter into April look for the Trout stocking to ramp up even more. Spring-time in the Northwest means Trout time! Bobber fishing bait, fishing bait off of the bottom, casting spinners, spoons, kastmasters, bubble and fly as well as trolling will all yield positive results.
Razor Clamming along the Washington coast has been great so far this year. We just got done with a Razor Clam opener and have another one going right now through the 31st of March. With nice weather on the horizon look for the Clamming to be quite good.
Smallmouth Bass fishing is another Spring-time fishery that is just about to kick-off. These highly aggressive, and very plentiful bass can be found all up and down the Columbia and Willamette. As these fish move up from the deep water of the Columbia you will first find them along underwater ledges and rocky structures. Over the next two months these fish will begin moving into the shallow water bays the litter the shoreline of the Upper Columbia. Deep diving crankbaits, jigs, tube jigs and even swimbaits will all produce well
