November 2006 Fish Reports

Hi Scott,
The Coos system is dropping into shape so I decided to go out and try for Steelhead for the first time this year, didn't find what I was looking for but managed to catch and release over a dozen fish. I caught Coho, Chinook and quite a few nice Cutthroat. shouldn't be too much longer before the Steelhead start to show.

Tight Lines To All
Robert

Hey Robert, good to hear from you. It's still pretty early for the Steelhead fishing but I'm not telling you anything you don't already know. Glad to hear some one is out there reeling them in still. This is actually a nice time of year to get out and do some fishing, when we aren't getting storms like we had this past week. The past few days have been allot nicer.

The Siuslaw is finally starting to settle down again and hearing whispers of some sturgeon activity. Sounds like the Coos could start producing Steelhead any day now what your seeing down there. I'm guessing you will be out there putting them to the test again before to long. Do we all need to take up a "buy Robert a camera" collection" :). We miss you're pictures. You take some great photos and we look forward to seeing them on the site. Thanks for thinking of us and if we don't hear from you again before the holidays, merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Hi Scott
Not much going on went up to Longview and fished the Columbia river on
Friday 11/23/2007 we fished seven hours and hooked 21 shakers and one
keeper 48 long A little cold in the morning and had no wind all day.
Once again my wife out fished me.
See Ya on the river.
Ralph C.

Hi Ralph, thanks for report/update on Columbia River fishing. Sounds like you stayed pretty busy working the rod and managed to put a nice keeper in the cooler too. That Columbia River system can get miserable cold in the winter months. That can be a tricky stretch of the river by Longview to fish, with all the fill that washed down in there when St. Helens blew her top. That has been some years ago but I know you still have to keep the depth finder turned on and pay attention so you don't get stuck on a sand bar. Please do keep us posted on your next fishing trip results.

Seems like salmon fishing has been slow lately, so I've been doing other things. Got a very nice 22" 4x4 mule deer in the Starkey unit. Golfed Bandon Dunes on Saturday with Randy, Amy and Jeya. The boys fished the Elk River on Sunday while the girls cruised around Bandon; made for a very nice week-end! Fished with Chris Carsons; outstanding and hard working guide. Randy & I caught 10 steelhead one day last March on the South Umpqua with Chris. We came within a smidgen of limiting on Chinook today; I had a long distance release on our fourth fish. Hopefully I will be able to send in a photo tomorrow (technical issues). Our fish were running right at 20 pounds, and were still pretty bright. In general the Elk River was getting low, cold and clear; my first fish was a very light biter. We caught all our fish today back bouncing salmon roe.

Hi Rod, needless to say I was pleased to see your report and a couple of others show up recently. I have to scratch my head when I get reports of Chinook still being taken here and there and still appearing as though they are not long from the ocean. It just goes to show that every time you think you know something about fishing, nature will step in and give you a few new twist and turns. Congratulations on the mule deer, that is a nice rack. I hunted those guys for 15 years in Montana, some of them were nearly as big as a small elk. Well this isn't a hunting forum so enough said about that ;). I guess what we know for sure is that there are still a few Chinook being taken here and there if a person wants to put in some time on the river. The weather has been pretty nice so even some of us fair weather fishermen can get in on the action. I'll keep my eye out for the photo and add it to your report as soon I get it.

I fished the Sixes River twice in the last couple weeks…the first trip was just 2 days after big rain a couple weeks ago…the Sixes was just a bit too clear but we managed 3 hookups and landed one Chinook about 15 lbs but was pretty dark already so I kicked it back to do it’s thing. The last trip on the 21^st resulted in a big zero for Nick my fabricator, his father and I. Not so much as a bump. Hardly anyone else did any better although we did see Terry Watson’s boat hook 3 fish in a run just ahead of us. Another guide had 3 and a few had a single fish. It has been a lousy year for numbers for sure but…the jack count all up and down the coast this year has been pretty phenomenal both for springers and fall fish so next year should be a much better year. I should have my ocean boat done in about 2 months and then we can paint and rig it so I’ll be ready when the season starts.

Larry Mercer
http://www.riverwolfboats.com

Hi Larry, thanks for the report, glad to hear your arm has healed up enough to reel in a Chinook ;). I am glad to hear reports of any Chinook still being taken and have heard reports that the Elk and Sixes were very low and clear, making fishing difficult at best. Not much of the element of surprise at play there. You will have to share a few photos of your boat once you get some paint on it to post here on fish-works. For those readers who want a sneak peek, there are photos posted on Larry's website and the link is posted above. He does some phenomenal work.

Hi Scott,The picture of the drift boat with the Salmon was sent to me also. It was a South Coast Guide fishing with David Norman and his wife on the Sixes I believe.

Tight Lines,
Doug Warren

This is a photo I received with the subject line "Winchester Bay - Umpqua River Fishing Report" with no report attached but I thought with the shortage of reports I would go ahead and post it. Given the width of the river and gravel bank I would have to guess it was way upstream from Winchester Bay. I held up on posting it for a day or two to see if a more descriptive report would follow but it did not. Nice looking catch and someone will surely recognize the boat :). In any event thanks for the photo. Just go's to show what happens when you start guessing.

Hello folks. I thought I would post a quick note to let you all know that I am not on vacation. The fishing reports for 2007 appear to have come to a virtual stand still. I got a report from one person from last year about this time that I will appropriately post in our fishing archives. I don't think you would get to many arguments from anyone that the 2007 fishing results left much to be desired. This is traditionally a very slow time of year in terms of fishing reports so we probably don't want to read to much into the lack of reports recently. Usually things will start coming to life after the 1st of the year with winter steelhead fishing underway and then late winter, early spring sturgeon fishing getting underway as well. This is a good time of year for me to get caught up on things with this site and other sites that I manage as well. I hope you will keep me in mind if you should require any website management related services. If you do get out there and do some fishing please be sure to send us a quick report and let us know how you do.

Hi Scott-

With an unproductive year for me on the Coos and little to no rain to get the Sixes and Elk river fishery going good I thought I’d try something different. Tuesday Nov. 6^th I headed out to the North Jetty of the Coos River. What a beautiful day it was. I got out there about Noon and no one was around, it was about 70deg. And no real wind. I found my usual rock and plunked out a 2oz weight and a #2 hook baited with some fresh Sand Shrimp. I saw a school of dolphins exiting the bay, that was neat to see. Anyway I wasn’t expecting much but within 1.5 hours I had caught a total of 8 Sea Trout (kept 5), lost a few more. The 5 I kept weighed from 2-2.5lbs. It was just a beautiful day to be out there and having some fresh fish to eat for dinner was just a bonus. It just goes to show you here on the Oregon coast we can almost always find something biting.

Keep your tip up

Shawn Chase

Hi Shawn, good to see your report this morning. I hear you buddy, I think allot of us get so caught up in chasing the big ones, we almost forget sometimes how much fun fishing for bass, perch, trout, etc.. can be too. This has been a strange year of fishing activity, I think it was just an off year and everyone had to work hard for a little in 2007. Things are looking much better for next year if you trust all the tea leaf readers, ODFW, and the majority of marine biologist voicing their thoughts and opinions.

I have compared reports from this year verses the past couple of years and it was much slower this year than last or the one before that as well. That is why I am attempting to build an archive of all the reports you folks send in. There is a reliable pattern to fishing that occurs over a number of years as different runs return from the ocean, some years the survival rates of the returning runs wasn't so good and we end up with a year like this or we have year when the return runs had an excellent survival rates like we expect to see next year.

Maybe years from now I'll write a book :) and you can all be in it. Then you can sue me for royalties :). Thanks again for the report and for reminding us what nice way it is, to spend a day sitting on a rock, watching the world go by, and soaking up some sunshine.

Now you went and threw a wrench in the mix and caught some salmon on the Siuslaw, way down between the barge and the train trestle no less :). I have heard folks were marking fish down thru there just not much in the way of folks reporting catching them. I am really glad that you and Micah managed to put a couple in the boat. You must have been one of the five or six boats I counted out there other morning. I checked the other day to see what was up out at Siltcoos Lake, they have started opening that up for Coho and Chinook in recent years but reports were that none had shown up there yet this year. I thought that was strange, if I accepted the theory that the runs were already over, I have to stop and reconsider if there aren't a bunch of them still sitting out there in the ocean that simply haven't come home yet. Your catching them in the area you did in the Siuslaw would support that theory. Who knows? I guess your best bet is put your line in the water and see what takes it.

Hi Scott,
My boys and I went crabbing today. Cooper is 6 and Carter is 3 and they had a blast. We tried our luck this weekend in Florence. Wow what a beautiful day!!! We were down near the jetty and ended up with 13 nice eaters. Cooper got himself educated today on the hook, he wanted to be the hook guy and he did well. Carter pretty much helped measure and played with the crab in the cooler.. Lots of fun.
thanks for the great site.
Jeff Greene
Junction City

Hi Jeff, glad to hear you and your family are out there enjoying this great weather we have been having on the coast this year, an Indian Summer of sorts. Those are some great memories for you family many years from now. You should drag along the family camera on the next trip and send us a photo or two, to share with the folks here at www.Fish-Works.com . The fishing reports seem to have all but disappeared this fall, at least in terms of Salmon fishing. In spite of the less than successful Salmon runs we have seen this year, there is good reason to expect much better things next year. The ODFW and many other recognized and respected marine biologist have predicted record breaking runs being witnessed over the next few years on the Oregon coast. So I guess the old adage that you can't truly appreciate the taste of a good steak without having first eaten a few slices of liver, well this was our liver dinner year, now bring on the steaks :).

I received an email recently from a reader who was looking for some instructions for cleaning and preparing a sturgeon. We all have our own ways of going about it but I decided to email a friend of mine that is pretty successful in his sturgeon fishing efforts and does what I have always thought was a pretty nice job of getting them from the river to the ice box.

Scott: I have caught and cleaned several sturgeon in the past and the easiest way I know is:

Thanks for taking the time to put this together for us. I'm sure a lot of folks new to sturgeon fishing will appreciate it as well.

Hello Jeff, the weather has been pretty nice this week, I hope you and the family have taken advantage of the sunny days. I don't know that sunshine has any bearing on crabbing, they seem to eat rain or shine. There were not nearly so many crabs in the river this fall as we usually see through August, September and October. The ocean on the other hand was really productive for crabbing. I'm always glad to hear some one say they appreciate the site and we hope you will continue to visit us over the years ahead.

11-24
Here are a couple of STEP program Coho one with my Dad (Ed) the other with my Son (Eric). You will also not see pictures of me ! But thanks to the STEP program a good time was had by all. (even with about 4 inches of rain in the 5 hours we were out)
Nick

Hey there Nick, thanks for the report and the pictures for our gallery. I know a lot of us really appreciate all the hard work the STEP program does on the coast every year. If it were not for their efforts we all might not be fishing for salmon anymore and instead would be teaching our kids about it in history classes instead of out on the river with a pole in their hands.

It is 47 inches long with a 30 inch girth caught by Steve Barnes of Eugene. The water was high and fast so we were fishing all the soft stuff and that is where we found this guy along with 6 others! before 10 a.m. I'll be fishing Sturgeon on the Umpqua for the next couple of weeks at least so I'll check in soon and let you know what we find.

Todd Harrington <><

Hi there Todd, when the reports get this thin, we'll start taking them from Alaska...hahahaha.
Actually I want to try and expand the site to cover the entire Oregon coast this next year. It's a fairly big job but I would like to break the site up to cover the north coast, central coast and south coast regions individually. Looks like you have been following the action and staying busy with all the rain and wind lately. Keep me posted on how you do chasing the sturgeon the next couple of weeks. That is one dandy looking Salmon you guys have there!

Scott

Hi Scott: A friend and I got out on the big pond Sat. the 18th. We went out of Charleston to the high spot north west of the bar. We enjoyed a nice 3 to 4 foot long ocean swell with no wind. We had 4 ling in the box by 10:30 A:M and headed back. The last fish a 14 pounder was being eaten by a 30 plus pounder. We did let the 30 pounder go, we'll catch him another day. We have taken 3 dozen out of that hole since Oct.1. Next time I go I will send pictures of our trip.

Hell Rick, sounds like you have the Ling Cod dialed in this fall, I guess it's survival of the fittest out there. When you hook up with that 30 pounder, it will probably have a 60 pounder hot on it's tail. As always you're fishing report is appreciated. Be careful out there on the big pond, this weather lately has been pretty rough stuff.

Hello Scott.

Dave Gilbert and I fished with Mike Springer yesterday on the sixes River. We had a great day excluding the nasty wind and rain, it was relentless. We boated three fish, and hooked three others with one biter that didn't stick. From what we saw it was a pretty slow day, we only saw and heard of one other fish caught. Mike did a great job getting us fish, and making sure we had a great time, anyone that is in the market for a guide, I highly
recommend him. The fish we caught were nice and bright with sea lice on them. the fish ranged from 20 lbs, to the biggest one being around 28 or so. I really enjoy the site keep up the good work.

Ryan Keith

Hi Keith, it looks like you got back in off the river right before sundown. Some nice fish you guys are holding onto there. It seems that the Elk and Sixes wins the contest for the most action on the central Oregon coast right now for Salmon. Thanks for taking time to send us your report and the photo for our 2006 gallery. You're right about Mike, he is a great guide and works hard to see his customers go home happy :).

Hi Scott, here is a fishing report for you. The Sturgeon fishing on the Columbia has been over the top. Friday we had 5 in the boat and we were tagged out before 10:00. We ended up catching 12 keeper size fish and 1 oversize, in addition to a bunch of undersize fish.

Hi there Bob, good to hear from you, I guess not everyone headed for the Elk and Sixes :). I just wrote yesterday that with all the rain and muddy waters in our rivers, we should start getting some good sturgeon reports pretty soon. Sounds like you found some good action up on the Columbia.

Hi Scott,
I fished the Elk River on Friday and went two for three with one fish being a jack. I hooked all three while bobber fishing eggs in back eddies. I fished the Sixes on Saturday and did the exact same thing, two for three, with one jack. These three fish were all hooked behind a small wing dam below mid drift while bobber fishing. There were fresh fish rolling above and below me for about a half hour while I was there. I saw more fresh fish below 101 but never got any more bites.

Hello Keith, looks like whatever action there is has moved to the Elk and Sixes. I'm glad to hear that you had some successes down there. You're report is a welcome site during a bit of a fishing report drought. The wind and rain has chased a bunch of the fishermen and women indoors. I getting all my sturgeon gear polished up and ready to go, with all the rain and muddy waters there should be some good sturgeon reports rolling in before too long.

Hello Scott,
I fished the Sixes River yesterday with my wife and friend Greg Nee. We managed just one fish about 18lbs and had only 2 other take-downs. This is the 3^rd time I have fished either the Elk or Sixes this year and while I have not got skunked it has been pretty poor fishing. Some of the guides I know have had a FEW decent days, but several are stating the same thing…there aren’t a lot of fish this year. It might be that they are just late, but I personally think it’s very down year. Seems to be more jacks around than in recent years so that bodes well for next year.

Larry http://www.riverwolfboats.com

Hello Larry, it's was nice to get you're report after a bit of a dry spell. There is great year round fishing here on the coast but the rain and wind keeps a good number of the anglers inside until spring rolls around again. It has been a tough year for Oregon coast fishermen, just not real impressive numbers of fish showing up or getting caught. I guess we can all hope that this was just a pretty uneventful year and that next year will be a better year for all of us.

Hi Kirk, I'll settle for a report with no picture today :), as you can see the reporting has dried up quite a bit this past week or so with all the rain and wind, allot of folks are staying indoors where it's warm and dry. The buzz bomb company will definitely benefit from this report . It sounds like you put in some pretty serious time and miles chasing Salmon and managed to make it pay off. It looks like you hit all the right places for this time of year. Once of the biggest Chinooks I ever hooked came out of Siltcoos when I was fishing for bass a few falls ago. Mapleton seems to be a good choice right now, I also spoke on the phone with Jack Duncan last week who said the Coquille was producing some nice fish right now too. Thanks for keeping us in mind and sending us the report, as always, it's greatly appreciated.

Hi Scott,
Here’s my report. Rick Eveland and I fished the Sixes Thursday and managed just this one single fish. We had another takedown that peeled 20 feet of line off but didn’t stick. Water was just a bit high but the color was great. I talked to several other guides who had anywhere from 0 to 3 fish in the box. Fish are either very late and/or the numbers are very poor. I hope just late…

Larry Mercer

Hello there Larry, thanks for sending us in a report and photo. Things have been kind of quite through November with all all the rain and rough weather. It sounds like while fishing is still not at it's best, they are still landing a few down that way. The salmon fishing number have been pretty poor throughout the year in 2006, I hope the numbers dramatically improve in 2007 for everyone.

Scott

Todd Harrington <><

Scott