Fishing Report – Feb 24th, 2011
Local lakes: Forty-three boats converged on Tenmile Lakes last weekend for the Frostbite Bass Tournament sponsored by the Emerald Bass Club. The big bass of the event weighed in at 5.81 pounds and the winning five-fish total weight was 22 pounds, 4 ounces. Anglers reported catching the majority of the largemouth bass on grubs, jigs and brush hogs.
It’s time to dust off your trout gear because next week will be the first round of trout stocking by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife for 2011. Bradley Lake, Empire Lakes, Johnson Mill Pond, Powers Pond and Saunders Lake are all scheduled to receive 3,000 legal-size trophy trout. Families with kids under 14 are more than welcome to stop by Port O’ Call in Old Town Bandon for a free rod, reel and line courtesy of the Kids Fish Free program.
Local rivers: As river levels subsided after last week’s rains, South Coast steelhead fishermen got back into the swing of things. Last Friday was a good day on the Chetco River as river levels dropped to near-perfect conditions. Bank anglers plunking on the lower Rogue River reported good catches of winter steelhead, as well. Elk River cleared first and, if you didn’t mind all the boat traffic, some nice fresh fish were taken. Sunday was the day to be on the South Fork of the Coquille River as it dropped into shape. Quite a few driftboats reported limits of winter steelhead. Joe from The Bite’s On Tackle in Empire told us he received great reports from the East Fork of the Millicoma River near Nesika Park last weekend. He said anglers are starting to catch quite a few darker fish, along with some bright steelhead.
Pacific Ocean and bays: Anglers bottom fishing inside and outside of Coos Bay reported good catches of sea trout, rock cod and ling cod. Good ocean conditions had boats out bottom fishing in Brookings, as well, and anglers reported excellent fishing.
Area shellfish: A couple of bay clammers came by to show off their limits of butter and littleneck clams that they dug in the Charleston area last week. The minus tides last week really brought folks out to the Charleston and Empire mudflats. Crabbing in Bandon is very slow because of the recent rainfall. We haven’t received any reports out of Coos Bay, but a couple brought us eight nice Dungeness crab that they caught off the pier in Port Orford on Monday.
(Tony Roszkowski has owned and operated Port O’ Call — TonysCrabShack.com — on the Bandon waterfront since 1989. Many South Coast anglers rely on his fish and shellfish reports. Hear more from Tony on ‘Oregon Outdoors’ Thursdays on KWRO 630 AM.)
