Outdoor Report 12/28

The cold weather this week has brought river temps down as well as made waters clear, steelhead fishing remains consistent and continues to improve daily. We had reports from most of the north coast streams that they have fresh steelhead in them. A major portion of these rivers are now implementing a broodstock program for their hatchery steelhead runs, and January is typically the month that these programs kickoff. Many anglers switch to bait to get the fish to bite when the water is this cold. Eggs, sand shrimp, cocktail shrimp and coon-stripe shrimp are all great baits to use. Bait is not the only method that will work though. Jigs, worms and beads are also great options. Now with rain in the forecast and the rivers predicted to come up a bit, most all techniques will be productive. A lot of drift boat anglers will be bobberdoggin as you can cover a lot of water effectively. Even with bobberdoggin being all the rage, don’t forget about side drifting and pulling plugs. Both great options when everyone else is using a different technique. Especially when everyone is bobberdoggin and the fish haven’t seen a hotshot, K11 or 3.5 Mag Lip. There are times when bringing the plug rods will give you your biggest fish of the trip or that one bite you are needing to round out the boat limit. Keeping a few techniques on hand can be extremely important, especially if the rivers are busy with lots of drift boat or bank traffic. Low tides are coming up at the end of this week and clamming in Oregon is open. Washington will have seasons around the Long Beach Peninsula and other popular Razor Clam beaches starting New Year’s Eve. Find out more here: https://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/ shellfish/razorclams/current.html Recently the duck hunting has been productive for those that are putting in their time. A lot of duck hunters are probably chomping at the bit to have some nasty weather roll in. And it looks as though we should have some here shortly. The hunting should continue to get better with the weather getting a little nastier and driving the birds down. If you are planning on heading out on the water or in the field next week, be sure you stop by Fisherman’s Marine & Outdoor to get your 2018 licenses and tags. Also before heading out, make sure you check local regulations. Happy New Year, tight lines, shoot straight and most of all, be safe out there.