By Pete Heley
The coho salmon fishing in the ocean has improved from the dreadful opener when the catch rate for kept coho was only one finclipped coho per 11 anglers. Winchester Bay was the most successful port for the June 22 opener with .16 kept coho per angler. The finclipped coho caught on June 22 amounted to only about 1.5 percent of the 9,000-fish quota.
Fortunately, things got much better. Through last Sunday, 13.5 percent of the quota had been taken and the success ratio had climbed to .30 kept cohos per angler. The poorest catch rates were in the northern portion of the coast. Newport, which only had one kept coho per 50 anglers on the opener, managed to rise to a still unimpressive .13 cohos per angler. The best catch rates were in Brookings and Winchester Bay with .64 and .45 cohos per angler and were the only ports that had catch rates above the average. If one throws out the opening Sunday, the catch rate at Winchester Bay climbs to .62 kept cohos per angler-trip with Brookings even better at .74 kept cohos per angler-trip.
Surprisingly, so far, there were almost no caught and released Chinooks taken out of Brookings.
Even though the overall fishing success remains unimpressive, there have been some very good trips. One angler fishing out of Winchester Bay last Sunday said he and his fishing partner hooked 22 salmon, landed 18 and had their four finclipped cohos. He further stated they caught a finclipped coho that weighed 13 pounds the day before. The most awkward situation is still when an angler catches a good-sized Chinook and has to release it so that he can try for a legal coho, which are not averaging more than about 6 pounds.
An encouraging note is that there are baitfish hanging around the Umpqua River bar and in the river to at least a couple of miles above Reedsport. That means that there may be some pre-spawning run salmon chasing bait into the river and as near as I can tell, the river remains open for Chinook with a limit of two fish — at least until Aug. 1.
The catch rates through the weekend are available early Tuesday morning on an Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife Web site, (
http://www.dfw.state.or.us/MRP/salmon/Sport_Tracking/sofspt.asp).
The Tuesday results, which are unofficial, are made final on the following Friday.
Very good angling for redtailed surfperch should continue for at least another 10 days above Winchester Bay on the Umpqua. It seems that the productive patterns are breaking down, but anglers willing to put in the time are still making good catches. Sand shrimp remains the bait of choice, but many anglers are using Berkley Gulp. A few anglers have made decent catches on nightcrawlers. Last season, some seaperch were caught as late as August, even though they were obviously well past their spawning rituals.
A few anglers are catching sturgeon below Reedsport and striped bass two miles above U.S. Highway 101 on Smith River. Smallmouth bass fishing on the Umpqua has picked up and basically replaced the fishing pressure directed at shad. Recently, there has been good sturgeon fishing success in the Coos Bay basin, including some of the deeper holes on Coos River.
Largemouth bass and panfish angling is good, especially during early morning and late evening hours. One advantage to fishing in the early morning is that the pleasure and personal watercraft will be off the water. The best bluegill fishing, by a wide margin, is still Loon Lake.
Despite this year’s above average snowpack, many eastern Oregon reservoirs are starting to be drawn down. At least this season, those drawdowns are starting from reservoirs more full than usual for this time of year. A year, or two more, of decent water levels and some of those eastern Oregon waters will offer fishing that is simply phenomenal with lunker potential for any of their fish species.
As of now, it appears that the ODFW has not made any adjustments in its regulations aimed at the high price of gasoline and diesel. For example, reducing the season limit on native Chinooks, but keeping the daily limit at two would probably mean fewer trips to the coast, but trips that may be more justifiable from an angler’s viewpoint. Additionally, changing the spring halibut days from Thursday, Friday and Saturday to Friday, Saturday and Sunday would mean that an avid halibut angler who works during the week could make two halibut trips for each round trip to the coast.
In Reedsport, at least, the 40-fathom closure means that anglers out of Winchester Bay cannot combine fishing trips. For instance, an angler who just caught his salmon could then pursue bottomfish, or vice versa.
While these may not be major fuel savers, it would show that the agency is aware of an issue that is becoming a real problem.
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