June 23 outdoor column
Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2011 7:04 pm
The ODFW has authorized another three day (Thursday through Saturday) opener for halibut this coming week for June 23rd - 25th. As I am writing this column, the forecast for weather and ocean conditions is less than good. Hopefully, it will change in the anglers’ favor before the opener actually gets here. Going into this first “backup” opener, there were approximately 27 percent of the spring halibut quota uncaught
Some anglers are targeting ocean chinooks as a way to get their boat and their “fishing act” together and ready for the ocean finclipped coho season which will start July 2nd. Last weekend, one sport angler landed a 30 pound chinook ten miles out of Winchester Bay, but he was only fishing down about 100 feet - less than a third the depth that the commercial salmon anglers were getting most of their salmon from.
It seems that there are still a few spring chinook entering the Umpqua River since a few large salmon seem to be caught each week by anglers fishing the ocean near the Umpqua River Bar. A few die-hard spring chinook anglers are still catching a few fish between Scottsburg and Elkton, but almost all of the fish and anglers have moved upstream to at least the Roseburg area - if not the North Umpqua above Glide. That said, another 48 pound spring chinook from the Rogue River was taken within the last two weeks.
There have been quite a few limits of redtailed surfperch, locally referred to as “pinkfins”, taken near Marker 12 above Winchester Bay. There seems to be a rather loose connection to good catches and low tide, but the dominant factor, so far this season, has been that the best bite takes place fairly early in the morning. Last Sunday was the first day anglers caught perch above Winchester Bay for most of the day. Until last week, they were hardly biting at all and then they were only biting in the very early morning. The quickest limits seem to still be going to early morning anglers, but the bite does seem to still be loosely aligned with low tide. A good strategy would be to get there early and then fish until at least low tide while being aware that the tide lags about ten minutes for every mile above the Umpqua River Bar. Anglers using a section of Berkley Gulp sandworms on the bottom hook with a sand shrimp on the top hook are going through far less sand shrmp than anglers using only sand shrimp. While there are a lot of female surfperch in the river, the male pinkfins usually remain in the ocean and bite well - especially during the last half of the incoming tide.
There were a few decent crab catches made by dock crabbers last week, but boat crabber fared much better since they could crab farther downriver than the Old Coast Guard Pier which is the farthest downstream choice of dockbound crabbers. The few crabbers that have been able to venture out in the ocean for any length of time have done the best - but overall, the crabbing has been inconsistent.
There hasn’t been that much fishing pressure recently on the South Jetty, but the anglers giving it a try are still doing well. Those willing to make lots of casts with decent-sized plastic bodies on jigheads are catching lingcod and rockfish. Most of the cabezon and virtually all of the striped surfperch and greenling are taken by bait - usually sand shrimp.
A giant lingcod weighing 42 pounds was caught recently off of Rogue Reef near the mouth of the Rogue River. It is amazing that the lingcod managed to survive amidst all the sea lions that call that reef home. Perhaps it was big enough to defend itself, but I doubt it.
While Umpqua River sturgeon angling remains slow, some sizable striped bass were hooked in the Smith River by anglers fishing at night. Tammis Hannah, a longtime striped bass angler, stated that he had also heard of a 58 pounder taken last week and striper addict, Brian Migas reported hooking the “largest striped bass he has ever hooked” last week. Migas was fishing with sardines when the jumbo striper took him to the “clearners”. The Smith River still holds the world record for striped bass caught on fly tackle with a fish weighing more than 64 pounds taken more than 40 years ago.
Trout and bass angling in most of the local lakes is still good, but it may be a few weeks before the panfish action peaks. Over the next few weeks, the best trout action will switch from the smaller heavily planted lakes to the larger lakes that do not depend up trout plants to provide good fishing. Trout plants will resume on a limited basis in late September. In fact, anglers would do well to consider using a small treble hook with a paste bait like Berkley Power Bait in conjunction with a second hook with a half or whole nightcrawler. Gradually, over the next several weeks, bass and panfish are going to become an increasing portion of a coastal anglers total catch and these fish seldom bite paste baits intended for trout.
Anglers planning on fishing for bullhead catfish should be aware that they should be in their spawning, or immediate prespawn, stage and in very shallow water. Bullheads will become much easier to catch later this summer when they begin acting like they are supposed to.
For those willing to travel, Diamond Lake remains, arguably, the hottest trout fishery in Oregon with some sizable rainbows available. Terry Newport, of Reedsport, claims that he caught a 25-incher from the lake as part of his daily limit of eight trout - however, because of his relatively short arms he had a difficult time conveying how truly large the trout was. Later this summer, as Diamond Lake warms up, knowledgeable anglers will find good numbers of trout relating to the cooler water entering the south end of the lake from springfed Silent Creek. Sometimes these trout will be quiet a ways offshore from the mouth of the stream, but they will be relating to the water entering the lake from its major tributary. Some decent-sized rainbows and a few cutthroats are being caught, but not talked about very much, from Siltcoos, Tahkenitch, North and South Tenmile and to a less extent, Eel Lake. The larger lakes with outlets to the ocean, which do not depend so much on trout stockings, are now providing the area’s best trout fishing.
Some anglers are targeting ocean chinooks as a way to get their boat and their “fishing act” together and ready for the ocean finclipped coho season which will start July 2nd. Last weekend, one sport angler landed a 30 pound chinook ten miles out of Winchester Bay, but he was only fishing down about 100 feet - less than a third the depth that the commercial salmon anglers were getting most of their salmon from.
It seems that there are still a few spring chinook entering the Umpqua River since a few large salmon seem to be caught each week by anglers fishing the ocean near the Umpqua River Bar. A few die-hard spring chinook anglers are still catching a few fish between Scottsburg and Elkton, but almost all of the fish and anglers have moved upstream to at least the Roseburg area - if not the North Umpqua above Glide. That said, another 48 pound spring chinook from the Rogue River was taken within the last two weeks.
There have been quite a few limits of redtailed surfperch, locally referred to as “pinkfins”, taken near Marker 12 above Winchester Bay. There seems to be a rather loose connection to good catches and low tide, but the dominant factor, so far this season, has been that the best bite takes place fairly early in the morning. Last Sunday was the first day anglers caught perch above Winchester Bay for most of the day. Until last week, they were hardly biting at all and then they were only biting in the very early morning. The quickest limits seem to still be going to early morning anglers, but the bite does seem to still be loosely aligned with low tide. A good strategy would be to get there early and then fish until at least low tide while being aware that the tide lags about ten minutes for every mile above the Umpqua River Bar. Anglers using a section of Berkley Gulp sandworms on the bottom hook with a sand shrimp on the top hook are going through far less sand shrmp than anglers using only sand shrimp. While there are a lot of female surfperch in the river, the male pinkfins usually remain in the ocean and bite well - especially during the last half of the incoming tide.
There were a few decent crab catches made by dock crabbers last week, but boat crabber fared much better since they could crab farther downriver than the Old Coast Guard Pier which is the farthest downstream choice of dockbound crabbers. The few crabbers that have been able to venture out in the ocean for any length of time have done the best - but overall, the crabbing has been inconsistent.
There hasn’t been that much fishing pressure recently on the South Jetty, but the anglers giving it a try are still doing well. Those willing to make lots of casts with decent-sized plastic bodies on jigheads are catching lingcod and rockfish. Most of the cabezon and virtually all of the striped surfperch and greenling are taken by bait - usually sand shrimp.
A giant lingcod weighing 42 pounds was caught recently off of Rogue Reef near the mouth of the Rogue River. It is amazing that the lingcod managed to survive amidst all the sea lions that call that reef home. Perhaps it was big enough to defend itself, but I doubt it.
While Umpqua River sturgeon angling remains slow, some sizable striped bass were hooked in the Smith River by anglers fishing at night. Tammis Hannah, a longtime striped bass angler, stated that he had also heard of a 58 pounder taken last week and striper addict, Brian Migas reported hooking the “largest striped bass he has ever hooked” last week. Migas was fishing with sardines when the jumbo striper took him to the “clearners”. The Smith River still holds the world record for striped bass caught on fly tackle with a fish weighing more than 64 pounds taken more than 40 years ago.
Trout and bass angling in most of the local lakes is still good, but it may be a few weeks before the panfish action peaks. Over the next few weeks, the best trout action will switch from the smaller heavily planted lakes to the larger lakes that do not depend up trout plants to provide good fishing. Trout plants will resume on a limited basis in late September. In fact, anglers would do well to consider using a small treble hook with a paste bait like Berkley Power Bait in conjunction with a second hook with a half or whole nightcrawler. Gradually, over the next several weeks, bass and panfish are going to become an increasing portion of a coastal anglers total catch and these fish seldom bite paste baits intended for trout.
Anglers planning on fishing for bullhead catfish should be aware that they should be in their spawning, or immediate prespawn, stage and in very shallow water. Bullheads will become much easier to catch later this summer when they begin acting like they are supposed to.
For those willing to travel, Diamond Lake remains, arguably, the hottest trout fishery in Oregon with some sizable rainbows available. Terry Newport, of Reedsport, claims that he caught a 25-incher from the lake as part of his daily limit of eight trout - however, because of his relatively short arms he had a difficult time conveying how truly large the trout was. Later this summer, as Diamond Lake warms up, knowledgeable anglers will find good numbers of trout relating to the cooler water entering the south end of the lake from springfed Silent Creek. Sometimes these trout will be quiet a ways offshore from the mouth of the stream, but they will be relating to the water entering the lake from its major tributary. Some decent-sized rainbows and a few cutthroats are being caught, but not talked about very much, from Siltcoos, Tahkenitch, North and South Tenmile and to a less extent, Eel Lake. The larger lakes with outlets to the ocean, which do not depend so much on trout stockings, are now providing the area’s best trout fishing.