Posted by William on Jun 15, 2010 in
General Recreational crabbing in the Ocean has been great since the season opened on 12/01 but rough ocean conditions have kept most crabbers at home. Dungeness Crabs are common to areas of the ocean with a sandy bottom and in areas with extensive eel grass beds. Crabbing conditions inside of Oregon’s estuaries this spring have been less than ideal with the continuous rainfall keeping river levels high and the estuaries full of freshwater, but conditions are changing.
Crabbing conditions in Oregon’s Bays have begun to improve with some keeper sized male Dungeness crabs moving into the bays, but the males have begun to molt. Crabs grow by molting and the crabs this spring that where just a little too short to keep this Spring will molt into the crabs you can keep this Fall. Look for crabbing to continue to improve as we move through the summer months and with the arrival of fall we look forward to some great crabbing inside of Oregon’s estuaries.
I would like to take this opportunity to discuss the common practice of retaining softshell male crabs. Even though the retention of legal sized softshell male crabs is allowed we ask you to be a better crabber and return softshell crabs to the water. Keeper sized softshell crabs contain very little meat when compared to hard shelled crabs. If every crabber released softshell crabs we all would have more hard shelled crabs to keep when it really counts in September, October and November. Raise the bar and set the standard for all to fallow by releasing softshell crabs. Thanks Bill
Posted by Webmaster on Jun 8, 2010 in
Fishing
POWERS – The 20th annual Kids Fishing Derby will be held at the Powers County Park on Saturday.
Registration will begin at 7:30 a.m. at the Blue Shelter, and an awards ceremony will follow the derby.
The derby is open to kids 16 years and under. Prizes donated by local businesses will be awarded to anglers with the largest fish in several age categories, as well as anglers who visit all of the educational booths.
All young anglers will take home something. Adults are also welcome to fish. No fishing license is required in the state of Oregon this weekend.
This event is being hosted by the U.S. Forest Service, in cooperation with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, Coquille Watershed Association, Coquille Indian Tribe, Coquille STEP, and local businesses and user groups. It’s part of National Fishing and Boating Week.
For more information, call the Powers Ranger District at (541)439-6200.
Tags: derby, kids, Powers
Posted by Webmaster on Jun 3, 2010 in
Fishing The opening of the ocean Chinook salmon fishery was disappointing, but it was to be expected. Most of the commercial salmon anglers were fishing far offshore and quite deep, conditions not easily duplicated by salmon sport anglers.
That said, there were a few salmon caught and one was huge. Lee Baker, fishing slightly north of the Umpqua River mouth in 300 feet of water hooked and landed a 43-inch Chinook. The fish was rather thin and only weighed 32 pounds, but salmon that length usually weigh well over 40 pounds. He was fishing 60 feet down with a plug-cut herring. It was his only bite.
The first salmon taken was by Tyler Proof on a chartered trip with Oregon Custom Charters. Only two salmon were counted by fish checkers among the first 60 boats checked.
Winchester Bay was the most successful salmon fishing port on the South Coast on Saturday. This may be partly due to the fact that there are still a few spring Chinook entering the river. Until the fall Chinook move within range, Winchester Bay will most likely continue to offer the South Coast’s best salmon fishing. Even after that, it usually dominates the early season ocean Chinook catch.
Halibut fishing
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Tags: fishing, halibut, salmon, umpqua
