Fishing report 5-8
Spring Chinook fishing has continued to be productive for folks all across the northwest. The Willamette has been a bright spot for many anglers from down in Scappoose to up in Oregon City, springers are getting caught! In the Multnomah Channel Pro, Josiah Darr, has been finding his success trolling triangle flashers and herring or 360 flashers with Spin-n-fish or Superbaits. As you move up into the Oregon city area it has become an egg fishing game. Pro, David Johnson, has been doing well backtrolling eggs and divers as well as backbouncing eggs. With all of this rain we had this past week the Willamette is on the rise and has the potential to make the Oregon City egg bite go off the hook. Be sure to have plenty of fresh sand shrimp, cut pieces of sardine, tuna and several egg cures to round out your bait arsenal when entering into this fishery.
Spring Chinook fishing in Drano Lake and the Wind River bubble fishery has been going off this past week! Anglers are finding great success trolling in these fisheries. Now, these are not a fishery where you will find solitude but you will definitely see some action! Trolling herring, prawns or coonstripe shrimp has been one of the most popular baits this past week. With Superbaits and Spin-n-fish being a close second. Bring along several scent options as you may need to mix up some scents to set your self apart from the crowd.
Summer Steelhead fishing is just starting to get going. In the Willamette Valley and in Southwest Washington anglers are finding a few Summers while they are chasing Spring Chinook. Which is a nice surprise when your rod folds over and a crazy Summer Steelhead comes flying out of the water! These highly acrobatic fish are very aggressive this time of year and will get caught on nearly any technique you can think of.
Tillamook bay will start to see its first few springers get caught any day. These Spring Chinook are such a prized catch that many anglers Revere them as the best tasting salmon on the planet!
Catch and release sturgeon fishing has been picking up and is a super fun fishery that everyone can enjoy. Squid, herring, sand shrimp and smelt are all great bait choices.
Razor Clamming has been great at Long Beach during this current Razor Clam opener. The good clamming coupled with beautiful weather should make this weekend a great way to end the Clamming season in Washington. Pro, Ted Teufel,
has been doing very well finding Razor Clams at Seaside and Gearhart this week so there are options available for folks that want to find fresh Razors in Oregon as well.
Kokanee fishing up at Lake Merwin and Yale reservoir has been good and as we start to see warmer weather we should start to see the fish going a little deeper in the water column. As the lakes start to warm up, the Kokanee will be searching out that cooler water temp so instead of constantly being right at the surface they will start to sink down a bit deeper. Varying your depths until you find exactly where they are at on that day is going to be a great way to locate the massive schools of Kokanee that call these lakes home. Trolling dodgers with small spinner blades has been working very well, as well as Brad’s Kokanee Cutplugs. Always tip your offering with a kernel of Shoepeg corn and bring along several scent options to give the fish a couple different flavors to sample. You never know what scent they will want on a given day.
Trout fishing is ramping up and this warmer weather means that the fishing will be snapping! As usually ODFW has been very busy planting legal and trophy size trout all across the state. This last week Foster Reservoir and Clear Lake both received over 3,500 Trout each! This will give anglers ample opportunity to fill a stringer. Fishing bait on the bottom is a sure fire way to catch these hard fighting fish. Casting spinners or kastmasters is another great way to target these fish. Change up your color of spinner as some day they will prefer a gold blade of brass or silver over copper. You just never know.
Walleye fishing remains a constant option for folks fishing in The Columbia gorge. These fish are super delicious, and once you pattern them, can be quite easy to catch. Locate some long, even bottomed sections of the river and trolling bottom walkers with worm harness rigs behind them and you will be in the zone!
