Outdoor Report 5/9
Young Ryan Terry and his Dad recently fished with Fisherman’s Pro Guide, Eric Baird, to land his first Spring Chinook from the Willamette River. Never caught a Springer? Give Eric a call. With nearly forty years of experience fishing Spring Chinook on the Willamette, Eric knows this fishery well and loves to see folks get into their first Springer! Eric Baird and Play ‘N’ Hooky Guide Service: 503-504-1822. Spring Chinook fishing has remained great this last week with anglers spread all over the map. Folks have been fishing the Willamette from Oregon City all the way down to the mouth of the Multnomah Channel. Trolling has become the most consistent technique with anglers using either a Triangle Flasher and Green Label Herring or a 360 Flasher and small spinner, Brads Superbait or Cutplug. Especially down in the harbor, this trolling fishery will be a viable option for weeks to come. Drano Lake and the mouth of the Wind River have both been quite good this week. Dam counts have risen, and the fish have been tucking into both of these unique fisheries. Drano Lake has been dominated by folks trolling 360 Flashers and Prawns, Superbaits or small Herring. As the water continues to warm up, look for the bobber fishery to really take off. At the mouth of the Wind River, fishermen have been trolling Triangle Flashers with Prawns or Herring and have also been trolling plugs. This fishery has a lot shallower water compared to Drano Lake, so one of the most popular techniques is to flat line magnum Wiggle Warts or Maglips in size 4.0-4.5’s. Summer Steelhead have started to show up and anglers that have been targeting them are doing well on spinners, spoons, Coon Stripe Shrimp and Sand Shrimp. All these techniques will have you in the game whether a Springer or Steelhead decide they want to play. With ODFW continuing to plant lakes throughout the region, Trout fishing has been a great option! Check the stocking schedules and if you can time your trip to coincide with a recent stocking you will be in for some fast-paced action. Staying near the boat launch will be a great place to start for recently stocked fish. Start there and then work outward along the shorelines and look for cruising fish. Typically, these fish are aggressive and love to eat spinners, Kastmasters and flies. This past week Timothy Lake, Commonwealth Lake and Huddleston Pond were all stocked with legal Trout. Along the coast, Town Lake and Cape Meares Lake also received their spring time Trout stockings. Bottom fishing has been stellar for those able to get out. Lingcod fishing remains great with some larger fish caught this last week. The rockfish bite has been good enough for most folks to get the boat limit. Dropping your crab pots on the way out gives you even more options to bring home some seafood. Make sure and keep your bait cages full of bait so that the pots fill up with crab while you’re out catching your rockfish limits. This time of year, the coast has some of the best Surf Perch fishing of the year. Anglers have been reporting great success from Longbeach all the way down to the southern Oregon Coast. Sand Shrimp and Berkley Gulp Sandworms have been the top baits. Smallmouth fishing started off well in the Willamette and Columbia. Fish are moving in shallow to spawn and this makes them super aggressive and easier to catch. Soft plastics, shallow diving crankbaits and swimbaits are all good choices when targeting these fun fish. Spinnerbaits are another great bait to use when searching for fish near grass. Catch and release Sturgeon fishing has been excellent in the Lower Willamette. Fishermen have been fishing for Salmon in the morning and switching to Sturgeon fishing in the afternoons. This way they have constant action all day long. Squid, Shrimp and Herring are still among the top producing baits. Shad have arrived this week in the Willamette River, and the run will continue to build over the next several weeks on both the Willamette and Columbia Rivers. Halibut has been open in the Columbia River Subarea and the Southern Oregon Subarea and just Thursday has opened in the popular Central Coast Subarea. For open dates please go to ODFW’s Halibut page by clicking here ODFW Halibut Always be sure to check local regulations at ODFW and WDFW before heading out. Find reports and information on the Fisherman's Community page.
