Tami Armendariz, a professional fly-tier, shows off one of 12-plus rainbow trout she “mostly” released on the McKenzie River this past Friday.
As many anglers begin to cast an eye to the west and to the fisheries that are becoming increasingly productive, I’ll start this week by addressing general conditions along the Oregon coast. About this time every year ocean conditions begin to change, the strong north winds common in the early summer begin to subside. Cold-water bubbles driven by those winds diminish and ocean temperatures always stabilize as we reach late summer and early fall. The settling conditions are widespread and usher in some of the best coastal weather and fishing conditions of the year.
ALBACORE TUNA WITHIN REACH: It is still a good 30- to 40-mile boat trip west but reports suggest that last year’s record albacore catch of over 100,000 tuna wasn’t a single-year anomaly. In Oregon it has only been about 20 years since sport anglers began to turn their attention to the pelagic fish but last year about 15,000 ventured out and I expect those numbers to continue to grow. Our struggling salmon runs aren’t news to anyone and the diminishing runs are likely at the root of the growing popularity of the fish that shows up in the mild summer weather, where the individual catch of a novice angler can at times be counted in the dozens. The albacore are hard-fighting and run in schools, so when you find them the action is fast and heavy. Growing up in a commercial tuna boat family, it is still my preferred seafood. Barbecue seared tuna, served rare like my grandfather made, is still the way I prepare all my tuna.
CLOSER TO SHORE: A weak cold front down the Oregon coast last week welled up a bit of cold water that slowed most of the near-shore fisheries for salmon and bottom fish for a couple of days. Those conditions were diminishing at press time and a few salmon were caught last weekend by anglers fishing from Port of Siuslaw. As an indication that salmon are moving near shore, captains fishing out of Garibaldi had a real good weekend. The conditions that accelerated their success rates have begun to move southward and the best of the fall salmon season is here. I know a lot of you drop crab pots before heading out to fish. FYI: The Dungeoness crabs have been plentiful but a little on the soft side.
CLOSER TO HOME: I have done my fishing on the McKenzie River the past couple of weeks and for me, the summer steelhead have been elusive and a bit humbling. The run is not that great this season but in the cool McKenzie steelhead generally bite pretty good if you can find one. I’ll keep trying. … On the other hand, trout fishing has been solid on the McKenzie River all season. Although they haven’t published a stocking schedule or fishing report this summer, the stocking of hatchery trout by the Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife has gone on as usual. I fished with my wife Tami and my friend John Landau who often serves as my guide manager on trips I am not able to run myself. Yes, I had a couple of pro flyfishers up front but the trout have been incredibly willing this season and in less than four hours of fishing we caught-and-released about 40 trout, retaining several of the larger ones for dinner that day. A plus for everyone that fishes the McKenzie, the McKenzie River Guides Association donates money to have the diet of the trout raised at Leaburg hatchery supplemented with nutrients that improve the quality of the fish meat, making it pink, firm and delicious.
THE RIVER IS ALIVE: The aquatic insect activity is at its peak on the McKenzie and so are the feeding patterns of the native rainbow, cutthroat and planted trout. On my most recent trip we got on the water at the Leaburg Town boat ramp about 10:30 a.m. and the air temperature was 75 degrees. Fishing down to Taylor Landing, we got off the river about 2 p.m. Air temperature was 87 degrees by then. At the beginning of our float, trout were rising to bugs on the surface, making our caddis imitations fished “dry” pretty effectively. But by noon the surface bite dropped off and we switched to a subsurface fly. In all honesty, the numbers of trout we caught over the next two hours got a little silly. It is the time of year when the McKenzie sees the heaviest caddis and mayfly hatches and the trout do respond. They did that day.
HEADS UP: Of importance to lake boaters and anglers. The Army Corp of Engineers that manages most of the reservoirs in the Willamette Valley issued a warning last week about the quickly dropping water levels behind their dams. So far there have been no serious incidents but a few folks have found themselves solidly grounded on Terra Firma that is usually a dozen feet deeper at this time of the year. I posted the link to the Willamette Valley Reservoir levels in a past report but a Google search will help you find that info.
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A CORRECTION: Last February I shared a week of spectacular steelhead fishing with a group of friends on the Umpqua River. The report appeared in the early March edition of The Chronicle. I made a typo that turned our host, Phil Strader, from a “woodlot” owner of 3,500 acres into an Oregon “timber mogul,” the owner of 35,000 acres of trees. Oops!
Contact Frank at [email protected]
