FRANK ARMENDARIZ for The Chronicle

Winter steelhead, “the gray ghost,” have arrived on north coast rivers. This is just the type of a run that will continue into spring. Tami Armendariz and good friend Phil Strader admire a wild Umpqua steelhead that was safely released.…

Brandon GoodBuffalo of Florence is a sit-on-top kayak pro angler and the representative of a kayak manufacturer that specializes in SOT fishing kayaks. An SOT kayak technician, Brandon can help design and outfit an SOT to meet your angler needs.…

Siuslaw River The exceptionally high tides recorded along the Oregon coast last weekend – referred to as “King Tides” – are nothing new. The alignment of the earth to the sun and the moon that causes the abnormally high tides…

Siltcoos River was flooded by high tides and a storm surge several days last week that washed out the sandbar at the beach, allowing coho salmon to stream into Siltcoos, Tahenitch and Tenmile lakes on the central coast. PHOTO BY…

Low slack tide on Coos Bay, the salmon trolling lane takes you under the McCullough Bridge and regularly has ocean-going freighters pass through the channel. Working the edges in 30-40 feet of water rewarded our group with three keepers. FRANK…

Lunching at the base of Clay Hills Rapid. There is a lot of good steelhead water in this section of the river and the largest of the rapids are now behind us;ses. FRANK ARMENDARIZ/CHRONICLE PHOTOS As you float away from…

There are plenty of out-of-the way places in Oregon and fish to catch but accommodations are difficult to secure. Also in much of western Oregon, small-town restaurants are understaffed, supply-chain disruptions are common and many eateries have limited their days…

FRANK ARMENDARIZ/CHRONICLE PHOTOLarge and smallmouth bass are abundant in western Lane and other neighboring counties. Pictured here a hefty smallmouth caught along the BigK Ranch on the Umpqua River. A “pay-to-play” fishery, call 541-584-2295 or go to [email protected] for info.…

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE ARMY CORP OF ENGINEERS Detroit Dam creates the largest lake in the Willamette Valley, completed in 1953. It is one of 13 Army Corps dams built in the Willamette basin with no passage for migrating fish.…