Way back in the day, it was pretty easy. With your fishing license in hand, you’d head out, park anywhere you wanted, and recreate on public lands that, for the most part, were free of fees and access restrictions. Unfortunately, all of us and the other thousands of[Read More…]
Outdoors
Winter steelhead, free fishing highlight the outdoors calendar
In decades past, it was about Thanksgiving of each year that hatchery winter steelhead would begin to quietly slip into our coastal rivers and by the middle of December we would be well into a season that still runs into the spring of each year. It was pretty common[Read More…]
‘Let’s gather on the Rogue’
It’s been a challenging season of sport fishing, a lack of consistency between fisheries and regions being the main driver. Fall fishing was good in a few places, fair on some rivers and poor on most others. My fall favorite has always been steelhead fishing on the McKenzie. In good[Read More…]
Anglers log: A season past …
The arrival of the first significant rainfall of the season always means that the bay fishing season for fall salmon will also soon be winding down. Now, by no means is the fall salmon season over but the dense accumulation of salmon that provided much better-than-expected salmon fishing in the[Read More…]
Slamming salmon on the Siuslaw!
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…]
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…]
Mismanagement of lands causing grief in wildfire season
As I sit here writing this, the hazy air brings up anxiety reminiscent of September 2020. It also brings up frustrations over the continued mismanagement of our federally managed state lands. I’m Melinda Montgomery. My roots in Lane County go back to the 1850s when my great-great grandfather Parvin settled[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…]
Water safety tips for summer
Two of Oregon’s 34 wild and scenic rivers run right through Springfield, offering numerous water recreation opportunities. The Willamette River, McKenzie River, and their tributaries are enticing in the hot summer months, but these are fast-moving, dynamic waterways that need to be explored with caution. Life jackets are for everyone•[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…]
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