Fishing Report 7-1-2022
Fisherman’s Pro Guide, Chris Vertopoulos, recently teamed up with Central Coast guide, Mike Kelly, to catch this awesome Chinook from the ocean. Nice catch, gentlemen!
Fishing Report:
The lower Columbia River is again open to Chinook retention July 1st through the 13th and fishing has been good! The Summer Steelhead and Sockeye fishing have also been pretty good with a pile of Sockeye already crossing Bonneville Dam. These delicious Salmon seem to have made a strong comeback with great numbers of fish crossing the dam this past week. The Summer Steelhead that have been getting caught have been really nice fish. We have had many reports of Summer Steelhead in the 15lb range getting caught, which is impressive considering the bigger B-Run fish have yet to come. Anchor fishing or plunking near the shoreline with small Spin-N-Glos with coon shrimp or prawns, small hot orange Flatfish or small spinners will all produce.
There are still Shad to be caught on the Columbia as we are still seeing over 200,000 a day going over the dam. This will quickly start to taper off but you might as well stock up on the crab bait while you can! Small, bright-colored jig heads, Dick-Nite spoons or Baby Simon wobblers are all very productive lures.
Tributary Summer Steelhead fishing has been pretty good in Southwest Washington. The Lewis and the Cowlitz Rivers have had decent numbers of fish in them, with the Cowlitz being the spotlight fishery this time of year. Fisherman’s Pro, Brian Campbell, has been keeping his clients busy reeling in fish while side drifting or bobber dogging beads, eggs or coon stripe shrimp. This fishery is just getting started so you can look forward to many more weeks of Steelhead fun.
In Astoria, the catch and release Sturgeon fishery is world class. While this is a catch and release fishery, you can still have the time of your life chasing these prehistoric creatures. Watching a 6-10 foot fish swim up into shallow water to eat your fresh anchovy is a sight to see! Sand shrimp, anchovies, herring and squid are all great sturgeon baits.
Chasing bottom fish is an extremely fun and productive fishery this time of year. Fisherman’s Pro, Ted Teufel, has continued his saltwater success this week, catching all types of bottom fish as well as near-shore Salmon. Ted has continued to find fish in the 100-140’ foot areas while fishing suspended in the water column. The bottom fish have been coming on a variety of lures including swimbaits, vertical jigs and curly tail grubs.
Surf Perch fishing is a fun and productive fishery this time of year, especially when we have hot days in the valley. Heading over to the coast and standing knee deep in the surf catching delicious pan sized fish is fun for everyone. Always be cautious of the water and pay attention to what the surf is doing.
Tuna are just out of reach of the sport fleet. Any day we should start to hear of fresh Albacore hitting the decks of some sport fishing boats. Early in the season the majority of fish are caught trolling Tuna Clones, Cedar Plugs or Xrap lures. A fast-moving bait can really ring the dinner bell for these ocean athletes. Once you hook up a few fish be sure to have your vertical jig rods ready to drop down some iron to capitalize on the school of fish that will undoubtedly be under your boat.
Trout fishing around the region continues to be a stellar option for anglers. Locally, we are still having some lakes get stocked like North Fork Reservoir which received 2,000 legal Trout this week. Around the state there are many lakes still receiving plants as well. One that definitely deserves a mention is Wallowa Lake, which received over 10,000 Trout this week!
