Wild coho fishery heats up in local lakes
The special wild coho salmon fishery in Siltcoos and Tahkenitch lakes has been good this past week.
Slow trolling hot shots, wiggle warts or spinners seems to be the preferred method. Both of these lakes have an average depth of about 10 feet, so you won’t need any weight. Simply letting your line out and trying to keep your bait out of the weeds offers up the best opportunities. Both lakes have easy access off U.S. Highway 101 and well maintained boat launching facilities.
Bass fishermen have reported seeing coho salmon surfacing in Tenmile Lakes, but so far we will need additional rain to get these coho upriver and into the lakes. With these late season wild coho fisheries, we will see some very large coho. The state record coho of 25 pounds was taken from Siltcoos Lake.
Salmon fishermen fishing the upper reaches of the Coos and Coquille systems are reporting catching some good numbers of Chinook, but they are also releasing many darker fish. Most of these anglers are using bobbers with sand shrimp or eggs.
Fishermen on the Rogue River reported that recent rains have pushed the salmon upriver and throughout the system, and they experienced very tough fishing on the lower Rogue River this year. Most of them are looking forward to winter steelhead fishing, which should get started later this month.
The Chetco River had some very good fall Chinook fishing this past week. Fish were spread throughout the system giving both drift boaters and bank anglers a very good opportunity.
The Elk and Sixes rivers had a shoot of fish that moved in with the recent rains, but both rivers have now dropped back to where the boaters cannot access most areas. If you’d like to find out the latest river conditions, you can call the Elk River hotline at 541-332-7025. These updates are furnished by the Elk River hatchery folks, and we thank them for this great service.
Fishing on New River south of Bandon has produced a mixed bag of coho and Chinook salmon. The coho are mostly wild and must be released. The bag limit on Chinook is two per day and 20 per season.
New River has very limited access and is a shallow river, so tides are very important and we need more rain. Storm Ranch on Croft Road is the best access point for bank anglers and there is also a launch ramp in the area. The park is open from dawn to dusk, seven days per week.
Bradley Lake recently was stocked with 1,000 trophy trout from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Klamath hatchery. Thanks to the Bradley Lake Homeowners Association for allowing the ODFW to release the fish from their private property. This release was scheduled to happen about three weeks ago, but low water and heavy weed growth at the public boat launch kept the ODFW from releasing the trout into the main body of the lake.
Crabbing in the bay at Bandon was very good last week, and boats were reporting nice catches of Dungeness crabs in the lower bay. Weber’s Pier also produced some good catches this past week. Boat crabbers in Coos Bay are also reporting some excellent crabbing. Dock crabbers in Charleston and Empire are catching a mixed bag of Dungeness and red rock crabs.
Want to help spawning efforts? Local fish biologists are requesting help with spawning at our local hatcheries, and if you’re interested, call the Charleston Field Office at 541-888-5515. This is a great opportunity to see the size and quality of the fish we didn’t catch in the rivers, as they are waiting in the hatchery to spawn. Working at a hatchery can be a very rewarding experience, and if you have the time and energy, please give them a call.
Western black-tailed deer season ends after today and tomorrow. This weekend hunt is only open to kids ages 17 and under. With our bad weather, this will be a good opportunity to get the deer out of the brush and more visible to the young hunters.
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.
