In spite of ominous warnings issued by salmon fisheries officials predicting “low numbers” of returning fall salmon this season, the salmon angling experience on the Siuslaw and other coastal rivers has been far better than anyone expected. With predictions so off-base, the ODFW is likely scratching their heads over why[Read More…]
Anglers Log
Wildfire smoke presenting challenge for anglers, businesses
The article in the Aug. 17 edition of The Chronicle by Erin Tierney-Heggenstaller (“Smoke & Heat High Temps Strike”) reported on the number of wildfires that had recently ignited in forested parts of eastern Lane County. The story noted that those fires were made worse by high temperatures, and the[Read More…]
Smallmouth can present big problems
As the story goes, it was in the early 1960s that the ODFW planted a few dozen smallmouth bass into the main Umpqua River near Elkton. Salmon and steelhead primarily used the main river as a highway to reach their spawning waters in the rivers’ north and south forks and[Read More…]
ODFW moves to protect salmon; trout stocking through Labor Day
In a move to protect wild salmon, and ensure ample broodstock numbers, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) took protective measures and closed a section of the McKenzie River to salmon fishing. The closure extends downriver from Leaburg Dam to the mouth of Trout Creek. A small tributary[Read More…]
Oregon boating history includes Lewis and Clark escapades
According to archaeologists, boats in the form of a canoe have been on Oregon waterways for at least 6,000 years. They also add that they were used much like they are today, socially, at the center of family and tribal gatherings, as transportation, for commerce, and were foundational to the[Read More…]
Anglers Log: Chinook season has likely peaked
Let me start by wishing all of you a happy and safe 4th of July weekend, we have a wonderful stretch of sunny and warm days in our forecast and I hope you are all able to take advantage of the delightful Oregon summer weather. … The number of spring[Read More…]
Anglers Log: Troubling environment for salmon
I have been working on the river and in the Oregon wilderness for better than 40 years now and I was pretty naive to a whole list of environmental changes that I remember watching happen. For instance, from 1980 to 1985 we received more than 40 inches of rain each[Read More…]
Water levels at ‘wonderful’ stage
As I prepare this week’s Angler’s Log, the McKenzie River at the Vida gage site has fallen to about 2 feet, an ideal range for fishing and boating, and will continue to recede as we inch closer toward summer. You can also easily correlate the current conditions on the McKenzie[Read More…]
Heat, spring runoff slow chinook action
“Spring runoff” is a condition that merited your consideration a few years ago. But the recent unseasonable heat wave accelerated the melting of our ample statewide snowpack, causing the rivers and streams that drain the west Cascades to spike upward to levels where the probability of a quality angling experience[Read More…]
Snow pack, rain pushing up river levels
As I prepare this week’s Angler’s Log, the patter of raindrops is clearly audible on my roof and my most immediate observation of the upcoming week’s fishing conditions is that it is hard to overlook how persistent Old Man Winter has been this year. Last week’s precipitation pushed the McKenzie[Read More…]
