Steelhead University - Weekly Fishing Reports - Salmon and Steelhead Fishing Reports

Steelhead fishing on the Cowlitz remains pretty good, nice fish, lot's of limits. Also a few spring chinook starting to show. Steelhead action on the Cowlitz should remain good the next 3-4 weeks, with spring chinook picking up in April and peaking in May.

We went 3 for 5, only fished until 12:30 PM. Side drifting worked for us but we put in a lot of River miles to get 'em! The fish are there but you still have to put in your time to get 'em.

There has been some awesome fishing going on for the last few weeks , on our rivers here in western Washington. A little bit of everything seems to work if you put the time in. Picked up our first Springer of the year to go along with 8 Steelhead today. The days prior to today haven't been bad either. Freedrifting bait or corkies and yarn, backtrolling plugs and or divers and bait have all been working. I have some dates open if you want to get in on this fantastic fishing.

Fished the upper water again. We didn't touch a fish until 11:00, but at 11:25 we hooked 4 and and landed 3 with divers and bait. I was only guiding 1 today so we were basically done by 11:30 but we fished for the deck hand and got 1 more. I didn't really see many fish caught today - only 4 other than ours.But I'm still getting limits every day so call to come get in on the fun spots are still open

The fishing on the Cowlitz has been fantastic! Free-drifting eggs has been the ticket for us. The fish are spread out, but starting the morning around the Blue Ckeek area is always a good bet. All the fish have been aggressive biters, and all have taken line off the reels more than once. I'll be down the last couple of dasy this week, if you want to get in on some of this great fishing give me a call or shhot me an email.

The Sol Duc is in great shape running at 6 boards and 5 to6 ft of vis. The river is dropping slowly. At this water flow the best techniques will be plug pulling or float fishing. For plug pulling stick with wordens flatfish or Luhr Jensens Kwikfish in the small ot meduim sizes. The colors that have been working for me have been silver, Silver/red dots, flame, flame/red dots, green hornet, green weenie, blue streak and flounder. Float fishing in the upper river has been best with a Mad river worm in Pink, Nail Polish pink or pink haze with a white or chartruese jig head. Aero jig and Beau MAc jigs in pink, pink/white or night mare jigs are the best. Have also been playing with a new jig that we are working on with a small light on it and they will be out on the market soon. Look for them as they are very good. The fishing for snider hatchery fish will continue for a couple of more weeks. The native run will only get way better with each day.

The Calawah is in good shape running at 1380cfs and dropping with great vis. The best techniques for the Calawah will be Plug pulling or Floatfishing. For the plug pulling stick with Wordens Flatfish or Luhr Jensens Kwikfish in the smaller sizes. For the color of the water stick with silver, Silver/red dots, Flame, Flame/red dots, green weenie, green hornet or flounder. For float fishing we have using lots of Beau Mac jigs in Cerise, Pink/white and Cerise/white. Though my favorite is the Aero Jigs in Pink, Cerise and the Peach. I also use our own design of Black head pink and chartruese rabbit. I have had great luck on Mad River worms in pink with a chartruese head. Fish are spread out from the mouth all the way past the forks. Remember that above 101 bridge it is selective gear rules. It is all wild fish from now until end of season.

Bogachiel River is in good shape running at 28.50 ft and with 2 to 4 ft of Vis. River is dropping slowly. The best techniques with the given water flows and color will be to pull plugs, sidedrift or floatfish from the hatchery down and above hatchery stick with plugs or floats. For plug pulling stick with Wordens Flatfish or Luhr Jensens kwiikfish in the smaller sizes. For colors i like to use Silver, Silver/red dots, Flame Red, Flame red/ red dots, green weenie, blue streak, michael jackson, flounder and green hornet. For sidedrifting we have been using two #3 vision Hooks and a #12 cheater in flame, chart/red dots, green/red dots, rainbow, glo orange, orange clown and glo green. The best bait has been eggs cured in pink Borax-0- fire or prawns done the AGS way. Float fishing has been best with Beau Mac jigs in Pink/white, Cerise, Cerise/white or Orange/peach. Aero Jigs in Pink, Hot Pink, Pink/white, Pink/peach and Nightmare have been good. Mad River Worms in 4" in Glo Pink, Nail Polish Pink, Pink/Chart Tail and Bubble gum pinkon a 1/8oz jig head in white or chart head has aslo been very good for bigger fish.

The Hoh is in good shape running at 2,160cfs with 2 to 3' of vis in upper river and 1 to 2' in the lower river. River is dropping slowly. Lots of fish are spread out from the mouth all the way to the park boundry. The best techniques in this little more colored water will be to Pull plugs or sidedrift. For plug pulling stick with the larger plugs like K-13 Kwikfish or a T-4 flatfish. Color's loke silver, Silver/flame Back, White/red, Claire- a- bell, grren hornet and flounder. For sidedrifting in the upper river this prime time to fish 6" long Mad river worms in pink, Methiolate and flour orange. In the lower river fish 2 @ 2 vision hooks a #10 cheater in brighter colors like flame, chart/flame dots, chart/green dots and rainbow. I like to use a little bigger baits, so cut your eggs a little bigger and add a mad river egg to the bottom for a little more scent. This will only get better as the water drops and clears.

Forks area rivers are in great shape and kickin out some beautiful fish. Seems like the fish are pretty much spread out in all the rivers. Some huge natives have been caught and released and we continue to hook some Snider Creek fish as well.

Looke for the good fishing to continue. Some nice shots of rain have helped without blowing the rivers.

Hey everyone we are getting to the end of our steelhead season but we decided to do one last Guys trip on the Grand Ronde! (there was no work done on this trip for anyone!) We headed down there on Thursday afternoon to get a camp site and maybe get some fishing in before the rest of the crew arrived. That evening we headed down to Cottonwood Creek Hatchery to do a bit of bank fishing before it go to dark and managed to get a couple before dark. Later on in the evening the rest of the guys showed up and we kind of invaded another groups camp site but they were really nice and let us hang out by the fire.

On Friday we were so ambitious to get going, I say that very sarcastically, we hit the water at about 9:30 and 5 minutes into the drift Greg was on to a fish. We landed a nice little hatchery buck and proceeded to toast the fish gods. As we dropped down river to the next hole Scott hooks up with a nice looking wild hen, back she goes and another toast to the fish gods! We worked our way down to the hatchery with no luck but as soon as we got to the hatchery the fish were ready to play. I got the chance to finally wet a line and about the 3rd cast "FISH ON!!!!!!!!!!!" rang out and than shortly after "%$@& FISH OFF!!!!!!!!" in which Scott was so kindly to reply to "Lost fish that's a double bubble" so we proceeded to toast the fish gods again. Well the day pretty much carried on in the same fashion, lots of fish hooked and landed and lots of fish hooked and lost. Our other boat made it down to the hatchery and we cooked up some lunch and toasted the fish gods once again before we headed down the river to the take out. That night the rain started and holy cow did it come down! But it did not dampen our sprites we had rib eyes on the BBQ and lots of whiskey to keep us warm. Great food, good friends, nothing could bring us down.

Saturday we awoke to a white dusting on the tops of the hills and the water a bit up from the day before but we were doing the float from Bogans to Schumacher, one beautiful piece of water and so we set out with high hopes. This section of the river there are no roads, once you kick off into the water that's it until the take out. We set out a bit earlier on Saturday and with in the first 200 yards I was hooked up, but it was not meant to be the slime rocket jumped and threw the hook and other rang from the rowers seat "THAT'S A DRINK!!!!!!!!!" We worked our way down some more and managed to only pound on some rocks the fish were being a bit scarce but persistence would pay off. We came to one spot that was to good not to hold fish and decided to pull the boat in and really give the section a good working over. Well we were wrong in our assumption but slipped about 100 yards down river and managed to start putting on a show. First Greg hooked up with a nice keeper, than on the next cast it was my turn. Another nice keeper in the box, we worked our way down river and got 4 more fish in the box. We were having a bit to much fun for our own good when we decided to head down river as we worked our way down the other boat caught up to us and we decided to pull in for a shore lunch of ribs. After lunch we headed down river and put a bunch more to the boat. We ended the day with roughly 20 for the two boats with 14 keepers. On the way out as we started to climb from the canyon the temperature started to drop and the snow began to fall. We came to the top and started to work our way back down to Bogans on the way down we saw a group of about 50 elk hanging out on the side of the road. We headed back down to camp and decided to try to put one last fish to the bank to seal the last fish bet in our favor, which we did and Scott had to pay up on the drink. That evening was met with cold, cold weather a big fire and some great BBQ chicken breasts, baked potato's and all the fixings. We had a hell of a party that night!

Sunday morning we woke up to a brisk 25 degrees outside, everything was frozen the water that had fallen on the tents, the boats and worst of all our boots and waders. I was up before everyone and decided to take a little drive to warm up the truck and thaw out my boots and waders. By the time everyone was up the temp had risen to a balmy 27 degrees. We decided to pass on breakfast and get an early start because we were headed out that day. Luck was not on my side that day, I hooked up first and proceeded to loose the fish and things we down hill from there. Scott and Greg both caught and land a bunch of fish while I couldn't buy a fish. I was nice and told the boys to have fun I would row us down. We finished out the day with 10 or 12 none of which I landed but we had fun. We ended the weekend with about 70 fish total for the two boats, lots of good stories and memories!

Well, until yesterday fishing has been very challenging, even for the most seasoned anglers. Low, clear, and crowded conditions would have described both the Nestucca and Wilson Rivers. The rain system that we received at the end of the week spiked the coastal streams and allowed the next push of fish into these systems. Pods of mint bright steelhead have moved into the North Coast rivers. Anglers that made the trip Sunday were rewarded with fresh aggressive fish.

The Wilson and Nestucca are still seeing a good return of hatchery steelhead. Primarily on the lower ends of these rivers. Look for these fish to be higher in the systems later in this week. Fishing should be very good for the next few days.

Remember, if you are the explorer type, or are looking for a little solitude there are many rivers that only see a native return. The Little Nestucca, Salmonberry, Big Nehalem, and Trask are a few examples. These systems should be at their peak about now and have some of the largest steelhead in the Northwest!

Chris Salter
Big Moby Tackle
www.bigmobytackle.com
503-357-3187

No report this week

Mike Glass
Oregon, Rod, Reel & Tackle
3699 Coburg rd. Eugene Or, 97408
(541) 683-4965
www.oregonrrt.com

Rogue River

March 16, 2010

We fished the lower Rogue yesterday on our maiden run for spring run salmon.

With the Rogue swollen and dropping from recent rains, the emerald green water conditions were nearing ideal with flows at 6000cfs and 3-4 feet of visibility. I talked with some of the top guides on the Rogue. A few Springers have been caught daily with Sunday being the best day when half a dozen fished were reported / hooked / caught near the old mill. The bite has been in the afternoons around the outgoing tide. A few guides have been poking around upriver will little success to date, most fishing is occurring below Lobster Creek bridge and in the tidal section. The go to rig is the standard Rogue spinner bait rig with or without spinner blades.

This morning Dave Castellanos of Cast Guide Service called while I was writing this report. Dave has two fish in the box this morning while guiding the lower Rogue. Kyle and Corey Kingston from Mount Shasta are fishing with Dave and the two have landed one 18# hatchery Springer and one 8-10# hatchery steelhead so far. The foggy pictures are from Corey's cell phone… if that isn't an up to date report…isn't modern technology wonderful, thanks Corey! Sounds like a heck of a beginning to a great day of fishing, why am I here?

Fishing is by no means rocking and rolling on the Rogue but the fish are coming and people are out looking and anchor fishing all of the favorite spots. Look for the river to improve with each pulse of fresh rainwater from spring storm systems that move rapidly across the Oregon Coast.

Tony Hobbs, Monty Moncrief, and Ken Range were aboard yesterday. We anchor fished anchovies and hearing rigs in 5-6 feet of water near the willow line at Canfield riffle. Ken had a massive take down, loosing his entire anchovy while back bouncing his rig in the current. In fact the fish hit so hard it stripped several feet of drag an alerted everyone in the boat that what we were there for was, indeed, a very real possibility.

We ran a plug coated with Pautzke's liquid krill on the inside rod, in the slower current, for most of the day. Here the water level was only about 3-4 feet making it difficult to keep a bait rig spinning correctly in the current. After running the Rogues' local favorite plug all day with no success, I switched to an old "wiggle wart" that was a go to plug in the old days of guiding the Russian river. (See the attached background of the photo for Russian river results) After about an hour, this rod buckled in the holder with a beautiful wild steelhead in 8# class. Now fisherman all see what they want to see and hear what they want to hear. We all have our special gear.

We will be back on the Rogue later this week so we will try to keep folks up to date on the Spinger run. I have fully turned my attention to Springers but my friend Andy Martin has been guiding down on the Chetco and reports that there are some fresh fish in that system. In my opinion, the Chetco has a good run of steelhead this year but the escapement is high due to the high water conditions all year long. The evidence for this is a week or so ago when all of the guides were landing 6-8 fish a day, mostly downers, all released. It seems like a good percentage of the early runs got by the anglers as the river stayed above 4000cfs for the majority of Jan - Feb. This might lead one to an unfounded perception of slow fishing and less fish on the Chetco when, indeed, it is has been a year for the fish. We have to be careful with premature conclusions prior the ODFW surveys in May.

The Smith fished fairly well for the Cal-Ore derby over the weekend. Before the high water a dozen boats landed nearly two dozen fish. The majority were caught on Friday before the river came up significantly. According to one derby fisherman some 70-80% of the fish were bright. Joey did get to work the snack shack and met the raiderettes, but took no picture so his grandpa could take a look. I thought I had this guy trained….

Paul LeFebvre
Rogue Outdoor Store, Gold Beach Oregon

Guide Andy Martin of Wild Rivers Fishing in Brookings nets a steelhead for Pat Atkinson of Grants Pass, Ore., March 14 on the Chetco River. The fish hit a small cluster of roe cured in Pautzke's BorxOFire fished with a size 4 Eagle Claw hook.

Chetco not done yet

BROOKINGS, Ore. - A mid-March rainstorm that dumped more than 3 inches of rain on the Southern Oregon Coast gave steelhead fishing on the Chetco River a late boost as the season nears its end. Two days after the river blew out, the handful of guides fishing the Chetco March 14 reported good results, with a mix of fresh fish and spawned-out steelhead. "I was surprised how many new fish came in during the most recent storm, because it was really slow before the rain arrived," said guide Andy Martin of Wild Rivers Fishing in Brookings. "We got three fish, including two fresh fish, and lost a big one that was at least in the upper teens." Martin said he also saw guide Val Early catching fish. "The bank fishermen were catching some fish too," Martin said. "I saw a guy get a nice chromer across from Emily Creek, a plunker got a fresh fish at Loeb and a guy drift-fishing from the bank at the North Fork got one. A fly fisherman at Social Security hooked one, it jumped, and snapped off." The Chetco dropped to 4,000 cfs March 14, two days after hitting 8,000 cfs. With the March 31 closure approaching, local guides on the Chetco expect a decent finish to the season. "Since there are still fresh fish coming in, we should be catching fish all the way up to the end of the season," Martin said. Some anglers have complained the Chetco has been fair to slow most of the season, but Martin notes the river has blown out several times this season, limiting the opportunity to fish. "I talked with the ODFW biologists in Gold Beach and they said the slow fishing at times, when the river was blown out or high, doesn't necessarily mean the run is down," Martin said. "There has been high spawner escapement. Just look at how many down runners we've been catching the past few weeks, sometimes six to eight a day." On March 14, Martin said his clients caught their fish on eggs cured in Pautzke's BorxOFire fished with size 4 Eagle Claw hooks. He drifted from Ice Box to Social Security, and reported getting bites throughout the river.