Storm improves fishing
With last weekend’s rains, fishing on the Elk and Sixes rivers had picked up near the mouths of both rivers. Along with the rain were some very large ocean swells and strong winds, and this made for some difficult fishing.
The river levels rose, but on Monday they started to fall back and fishing became very difficult in both rivers. There were some deep holes that produced fish, but most of the river was too low to effectively use drift boats.
The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Elk River Hatchery recently released 300,000 smolts into the system. They warned anglers that they might accidently catch some of the released smolts, and they encourage all of us to gently release them back into the river.
Salmon fishing on the Coquille River near Rocky Point produced some nice catches of Chinook. Fishing around and in Seven Mile Slough using bobbers and eggs was very effective. Many of these fish have been in the system for awhile and are starting to get fairly dark. Reports are coming in around the Arago area that lots of salmon have been staging near the forks of the Coquille River. If we receive more rain, these salmon will be on the move up into the forks.
Chinook fishing on the upper portions of the Coos River was still producing some nice fish, with reports of good numbers in the Isthmus Slough, at the forks of the Millicoma and in the South Fork Coos River. Casting spinners or drifting salmon roe and sand shrimp under a bobber produced the best bite.
Last week, fishermen reported catching a few wild coho salmon in both the Tahkenitch and Silt Coos lakes. More fish should enter the lakes as water levels rise due to recent storms. So far we’ve had no reports of coho taken in Tenmile Lakes. One wild coho per day may be taken with a total of five fish per year. All three lakes are open until Dec. 31, and Tenmile Lakes has a quota of 500 wild coho.
With higher water flows in the Chetco River, the ODFW will reopen Chinook and steelhead fishing today. The Chetco River has a low flow closure that was in effect through Nov. 5, but they have reopened the area thanks to recent rains. The bag limit is two salmon or steelhead per day, and 20 per season.
“The concern with over-harvesting Chinook that were holding in the upper tide water area is gone now that the fish can spread out into spawning areas throughout the main stream and tributaries,” said Todd Confer, Gold Beach District fish biologist.
Boat crabbers in the bay at Bandon were still catching limits of nice Dungeness crabs. Crabbers in Coos Bay have also had outstanding success. The size and quality of these crabs has been excellent. Recently there have been reports of good numbers of Dungeness taken from the docks at the Port of Port Orford.
The ODFW is reminding hunters to report their hunting success, or lack thereof, on the ODFW website. They are also asking that you return your turkey crop to an ODFW office, and they would like you to participate in returning the wings of any grouse you take. If you harvest a blacktail deer, you are asked to return a tooth; if you harvest an elk, they’d like to take samples from the brain or spinal column; and it’s mandatory that mountain lions and bears be taken to a local ODFW office.
These samples allow the ODFW to determine not only diseases, but age, sex and overall condition of the animals harvested. They will also use this information to determine regulations and seasons for next year.
Good luck fishing and hunting!
Listen to the Oregon Outdoors Radio Show Thursdays from 2-5 p.m. on KWRO 630 AM and rebroadcast on Friday mornings from 7-10 a.m. on ESPN 1230 AM. Oregon Outdoors can now be heard on KDUN 1030 AM from Eugene to Port Orford on Friday evenings from 3-5 p.m. and on Saturday mornings from 6-8 a.m.
