    
Dennis Dobson
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 | | Posted on Wednesday, February 06, 2002 - 12:01 am: | |
Subject: Fishing Report 1/31/02
Please note: Due to weather generated telephone difficulties this report was not sent out until Saturday, February 2, 2002. We aplogize for the delay.
This is Dennis Dobson at Oregon Outdoors with your north coast fishing report for the week beginning Thursday, January 31, 2002.
This will, I believe, be the last installment of this full-length fishing report. Before next week's report can go out I expect the new website to be fully functional. While this report will still be available at all of its regular websites it will be a noticably shortened version. The full-length weekly report - with greatly expanded where and how -to tips sections, a monthly forecast, new (and old) articles, gear and guide discounts, "Ask the pro's", seminar discounts and a variety of additional features will soon be available on a yearly subscription basis. The first details on where and how to sign up, etc., will appear here. Once available you will be able to log on to the new website, view a sample publication and subscribe from there.
General Conditions
Although we had lots of rain and even snow - almost four inches at my house several miles south of Tillamook - and still have a bit of snow in the mountains every river in the area is fishing. There are steelies present in each river and flows are dropping with good water color.
With a series of storms heading at us over the next several days from the Gulf of Alaska you will need to pay attention to the weather. The ground around here is still so saturated with moisture that anything more than just a drizzle will begin running off directly into area rivers. Any heavy rain at all and our streams will dirty up and start to rise almost immediately.
Salmon
Closed until springer season.
Steelhead
All local rivers and streams are holding good numbers of fish. However, the fishing itself is spotty. The Trask, Wilson, Nestucca, Kilchis, North Fork Nehalem and Necanicum are all in good shape and producing scattered catches.
The emphasis on both the Nestucca and Three Rivers has shifted to native steelies as the bulk of the hatchery run is now in. The upper Nestucca, from Blaine to First Bridge, is producing the most fish. With a few hatchery fish still being caught, the bulk of the catch has shifted to natives. With very little bank access along these several miles of upper river, access is mostly by driftboat. Back-trolled plugs and side-drifting corkies and yarn or corkies and small bits of bait will all produce. Although a few fish are being taken from the Kilchis, especially the upper section near the county park, expect those numbers to dwindle quickly as the run is, for all intents and purposes, over.
The Trask, Wilson, Nestucca and North Fork Nehalem will all produce steady catches well into March.
With river conditions like they are - ebbing up and down as storms move in and then out of the area - it pays to be thorough regardless of which river you fish. One of my favorite approaches under these conditions combines both back-trolling and drift fishing. As I pull into the top of a good run or hole I will anchor the boat off to one side and we'll drift fish for a bit. Gradually, over the course of an hour or so, we will up the anchor, drop down twenty or thirty feet, re-anchor and resume fishing. Once I have worked us through the run this way I pull the anchor one last time, row to the top of the run and put out plugs. I then back-troll the plugs through the meat of the hole. This allows me to fish the water thoroughly from two different angles - from the side while tossing drift gear and straight through the meat with plugs. It also assures that the oars don't spook any fish holding there as I save the back trolling for last. One more modification to this technique adds to a thorough approach. With two anglers up front I will often put out two plug rods and have the third angler in the boat side-drift or back-bounce while I back-troll through the run.
The Wilson, from Mills Creek behind the Guide Shop upstream to about mile 24, has been producing good to excellent catches for bank anglers for the last few days. Bobber and jig and driftfishing sandshrimp tails or small bits of cured salmon eggs have all produced well. Work both the deeper pools and tailouts. It would appear these fish are still moving a bit making it a little easier to intercept them.
One bright spot, however, does offer itself. Due to larger than expected winter steelhead returns this season ODFW has increased the daily bag limit to three fin-clipped fish on most area streams. The increased bag limit is expected to stay in place until July 11.
Sturgeon
Although the bite has been erratic, several days recently have produced good sturgeon catches on Tillamook Bay for anglers willing to brave the elements. With the bad weather predicted for the sext few to several days, however, I don't expect anglers to find fishing the bay comfortable or very rewarding.
If you want to wet a line this coming week I'd suggest you call either Ron Byrd at Nestucca Valley Sporting Goods (503-392-4269) for up-to-date info on the Nestucca and Three Rivers or Dennis and Marie Will at Tillamook Bait Company (503-842-5031) for the latest word on the Trask, Wilson and Tillamook Bay. Kelly and Janice at The Jetty Fishery can give you all of the up-to-date info you need on the fishing at Nehalem. They can be reached at 503-368-5746.
Bass and Walleye
With water levels dropping and temperatures stabilizing look for smallies and bucketmouths to start moving back into main stem flows along drop-off's and points. Mouthes of creeks and in-shore drop-off's are likely holding areas . Slow-trolled plugs worked along drop-off's in the 8 to 15-foot range should produce.
Trout
Trout fishing in most coastal streams closed on November 1. All trout stocking for the year has been completed. Fall stocking of larger fish is not scheduled to occur as low-water conditions at both hatcheries and local lakes necessitated early release of these fish. Trout stocking operations are scheduled to resume in March 2002.
The stocking schedule is now available on the internet at www.dfw.or.us. AND at www.localfishermannews.com.
Ocean
There has been very limited bottom fishing along the coast for the last week as seasonal storms have kept most boats inshore on most days. If weather and bar conditions improve, expect the bottom fishing to be good to excellent.
Crabbing and Shellfish
Crabbing has dropped off as bays fill with runoff water from the past weeks' storms. Crabbing isn't likely to improve until the bays have had a chance to flush themselves of debris and excess water. Watch tide cycles and time your crabbing to coincide with minimum water movement. For the latest info on beach closures, call the Shellfish Hotline at 503-986-4728 or go to www.oda.state.or.us on the web for updates.
Winter steelheading is now in full swing. This means you can realisitically expect to catch at least a couple of these beauties on any given day. These are full-day driftboat trips. I am discounting my regular driftboat price from $150 to $125 per person through the end of February. You must fill both seats and book a minimum of one week in advance.
Ask Us
If you'd like to ask about local river conditions or book a trip you can reach us by phone at 503-815-2766 or via e-mail at oreoutdd@pacifier.com
And be sure to visit our web site at oregonoutdoors.org. Just follow the link to the homepage. Please sign our Guest Book … we always enjoy seeing who is visiting us.
GIFT CERTIFICATES for the angler in your life (you?) are always available.
CREDIT AND DEBIT CARDS: We can now accept Visa, MasterCard, American Express credit cards and any major bank debit card for payment. Please call us to complete the transaction. We choose to do this over the phone so you won't have to send important personal financial information over the internet.
Until next week, have a great time and go catch some fish. |
