Fishing report 4-17
Winter Steelhead are still getting caught in several local rivers; however the quality of the fish is quickly decreasing. The winter steelhead run will be all. It over at the end of the month. However Summer Steelhead have already started to file in to many rivers around the region. These highly acrobatic fish love to bite plugs and hardware at the beginning of the season. When only a few fish are in the system they are super aggressive and will go a long ways to chase a spinner.
Spring Chinook fishing is going strong all throughout the lower Willamette. We have Pro Staff all throughout the Portland Harbor and Multnomah Channel that are catching springers daily. Pro, Chris Vertopoulos, has been finding his success using Pro Troll flashers with Coon Stripe Shrimp and spinner blades. Many anglers are doing well trolling triangle flashers and herring or Prawn spinners as well. These fish are typically suspended up off of the bottom, which is good because the lower Willamette is incredibly snaggy. If you have the advantage of fishing multiple rods on your boat, then stagger your depths to find where the fish are running at on that day. Up towards Oregon City, anglers tend to switch their techniques to backtrolling and backbouncing. Here the baits will switch to cured Salmon eggs, sand shrimp, prawns or plugs. The fish start to slow down and wait for the water temps to warm up before they fly over the falls. Bring several bait options with you, and several scent options as well to sort of “match the hatch” to find the scent combo that works the best that day.
Bottom fishing has also continued to be really good. All along the coast, Lingcod and bottomfish have been flying over the sides of boats filling coolers and destined for fish tacos. Farallon feathers, shrimp flys, vertical jigs, swimbaits and curly tail grubs have been top producing baits.
Razor Clamming at Long Beach has been great during the last few openers. Be on the look out for future digs that are sure to be super productive.
Kokanee we fishing has been good at Lake Merwin. Many folks have switched over to chasing Spring Chinook which will often leave the lake a little bit empty of angling pressure. Trolling still remains the top producing technique however as the water warms up look for jigging to get better. Small spin-n-glos, small spinner blades, Brad’s Kokanee Cutplugs and bright colored hoochies have all been producing well. Tipping your bait with a Kernel or two of Shoepeg corn is a must and bringing along several different scents can be a game changer.
Trout fishing is rockin and rolling all around the state. Coastal lakes like Lake Lytle and Hebo lake have both been stocked with over 2,500 Trout each! These freshly planted Trout give anglers a very fun way to get younger anglers into the outdoors or create a way to get the whole family out of the house and into nature for a day. Fishing Powerbait or nightcrawlers off of the bottom or under a bobber is a sure fire way to get some Trout into your cooler. Bring along several different Powerbait colors or flavors along to figure out what the Trout want that day.
Walleye fishing in the Columbia Gorge has been getting better by the day. Fisherman’s Pro, Steve Leonard, has been showing his customers the beauty of the gorge while also reeling in delicious Walleye at the same time. Bottom walkers and spin-n- glos with a nightcrawler have been working really well
