Category Outdoors

FRANK ARMENDARIZ/PHOTO – Don Mike Cambra, with an Umpqua winter steelhead – one of the four that we landed last week on a morning of side drifting. This one was wild and released. At mid-winter, things are not as they should be. The dry spell…

Smith River Falls, on the Smith River, is a tributary of the Umpqua River. Still bank-to-bank with water, and carrying a fair amount of color, it had “turned over” and was falling. The Smith River and almost every other steelhead stream will fall to perfect…

Before moving on to an improving steelhead fishing report, at the end of the year there are a couple of housekeeping issues. …  Don’t forget to update your fishing license this week, and purchase a steelhead and salmon tag. And if you plan to fish…

Fishing pontoon boats are fun, and easy to row and transport. They allow access to miles of river but have safety issues consistent with any “microsized” river boat. Always wear a life jacket, share your float plan, and boat with a friend. FRANK ARMENDARIZ/CHRONICLE PHOTO…

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. FRANK ARMENDARIZ/PHOTO For my readers…

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. FRANK ARMENDARIZ/PHOTO With salmon season…

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 has happened since the beginning…

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 FRANK ARMENDARIZ After a long,…

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 ARMENDARIZ/PHOTO In the first light…