January 2nd, 2013 column

[Pete Heley]

Two Douglas County fisheries opened up on January 1st. Eel Creek, the major tributary of Tenmile Creek opened up for steelhead angling on the 1st and there should be fair numbers of steelhead in the creek. However, most of them will be holding in very snaggy areas and will be difficult to land on even the heaviest tackle. There is about two hundred yards of relatively snag-free water on Eel Creek starting about 150 yards above where Eel Creek dumps into Tenmile Creek. Recently, I have seen some driftboats anchored near the mouth of Eel Creek , in a spot almost exactly where bankbound anglers need to cast. It seems to me that boat anglers, with so many more fishing options, could do far better than spend several hours making sure nearby bank anglers catch less fish.

The other “new” fishery in Douglas County is the year around fishing now allowed on Diamond Lake which began this January 1st. Anglers need to make sure that the ice on the lake is of sufficient thickness to safely fish from and the best way to do this is to call Diamond Lake Lodge and ask. While the best early season fishing on Diamond Lake has often been almost straight out from the Lodge, there are a few places to be extra careful. Silent Creek, the lake’s major tributary, is spring fed and the water is much warmer than the lake water during the winter. Consequently, it would be a very poor, and unsafe, choice for ice-fishing. Likewise, tiny Short Creek, another springfed stream, will be pooring relatively warm water into the lake and is a poor and unsafe ice-fishing choice. The area near the Lake Creek outlet could also have a thinner ice cover and therefore be relatively unsafe.

One thing I have noticed over the years, especially in places that do not often offer ice-fishing, is the number of vehicles, snowmobiles, or shelters left overnight on the ice. When there is a chance of precipitation followed by freezing temperatures, items left overnight can become very difficult to reclaim.

With all that said, fishing at Diamond Lake should be very good, but with everything else staying the same, the trout population will eventually settle at a lower population level because of the year-long fishing pressure and they only way to avoid that is to increase trout plants (there is very little successful spawning in Diamond Lake) or have fishing success drop off somewhat when it comes to retained rainbow trout.

Anglers and hunters need to realize that last year’s licenses are of little current value and it will take 2013 versions of their licenses to remain legal. Additionally, there has been enough changes in the 2013 fishing regulations booklet to merit at least a quick look through it. As this column was being written, the ODFW had not yet announced its 2013 trout stocking schedule.

Area steelhead angling success continues to be varied as the fishability of the area streams changes due to the amount of rainfall. In the middle of December, there were some huge chinook salmon taken along Oregon’s south coast including one weighing nearly 58 pounds from the Rogue and a 54 pounder taken by an angler using steelhead tackle and 12# mono from the Chetco.

The new launching dock at Bradley Lake took longer to finish than expected, but it looks its going to be a real boon to bank anglers. It appears that anglers will be allowed to fish from it as long as they don’t get in the way of those launching or hauling out boats. I am almost certain that the large amount of shallow water beneath the lengthy dock will hold good numbers of largemouth bass for most of the year. I definitely plant on checking it out almost every time I find myself driving southward of Bandon.

While recent fishing success for yellow perch in our area lakes has been a little more inconsitent that it has been, the overall fishing success for these tasty panfish should be good at least through the late March/early April spawning season.

The lower Umpqua River is about as clear as it has been for at least a couple of weeks and that should mean a slight improvement in crabbing success(from terrible to not-quite-so terrible) and bottomfishing success along the South Jetty and Triangle areas should also improve with the clearing water.