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Columbia
river: The Columbia River which borders Oregon and
Washington is one of the Best Salmon fishing rivers in the world. While
it doesn't have the numbers of fish returning that it once did before
the dams, it still has huge numbers of salmon returning in many
different runs at different times of the year. It has runs of Spring
Chinook known as (Springer's) here in Oregon and
Washington, Fall Chinook also known as "Upriver Brights"
or King Salmon,
summer
Chinook (June Hogs), Coho ( Silvers), Sockeye, Chum. The last few years have seen record or near record returns in
both hatchery and wild stocks in the Columbia River
system. These increases
are due to favorable ocean conditions and many different habitat and
management
enhancement projects designed to improve habitat and downstream
migration of young juvenile salmonoids and well managed hatchery
programs.
The Columbia is where one of the most famous Salmon fishing seasons
takes place. The famous "Buoy 10" season that begins in
August at the mouth of the Columbia river in Astoria Oregon. Thousands
of anglers travel to Astoria Oregon and Ilwaco Washington each summer to
fish for the abundant Chinook and Coho salmon.
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Willamette
river: The Willamette River a tributary of the Columbia
river flows through the Willamette valley and one of the largest
rivers
in Oregon also has excellent Salmon fishing. It to has benefited from
the same programs as the Columbia. It has strong returning runs
of Spring Chinook and fall Coho. These Willamette Springer's
are some of the best eating fish found anywhere in the world with
extremely high oil contents. Willamette Spring Chinook can reach
weights in excess of 50lbs. There is also a small run of Fall Chinook
in the Willamette but not in fishable numbers.
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Tillamook
Bay: Tillamook Bay and the 5 rivers that feed it are
world famous for big Fall Chinook or King Salmon as they are also
known. Tillamook also has excellent fishing for Coho and up in the Kilchis and Miami Rivers Chum Salmon. The Chum
fishing is a catch and
release fishing only thing and the rules on the Coho or silvers change
from year to year as far as retention goes. The Tillamook watershed is a
major producer for Wild Coho and Fall Chinook. There are also
Hatchery operations that support a growing fishery for hatchery raised
Spring Chinook.
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Yaquina river: The Yaquina river enters
the pacific ocean in Newport Oregon, a popular tourist destination on the
central coast. While Newport is known for its ocean fishing and
crabbing it is also home to one of the best kept secrets - Yaquina
river fall king salmon. The tidewater sections of the river offer easy
fishing for good numbers of returning fall Chinook and wild Coho. All
wild Coho must be released in the Yaquina however. The Chinook get quite
large and with little fishing pressure this is one of my favorite fall
salmon destinations.
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Rogue
river: The Rogue river on the southern coast of Oregon
and runs into the Pacific Ocean at Gold Beach Oregon and has
outstanding runs of Spring Chinook, Coho and
Fall Chinook. Last fall on the Rogue a 71.5 pound
Fall Chinook was
caught on a fly rod. The rogue is a very popular destination for salmon
fishing in Oregon.
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Umpqua
river: The Umpqua flows into the Pacific Ocean in
Winchester Bay. The Umpqua river is a good producer for Fall Chinook
and Coho, It also has an excellent run of Big Spring
Chinook that the locals don't talk about much. Because of its
location in the central part of the state it receives much less angling
pressure than some of the more popular salmon rivers in Oregon.
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Alsea river: The Alsea is a large coastal river that drains into the
Pacific
at Waldport Oregon on the central Oregon Coast. It is a great river for big
Fall
Chinook, Coho with a small run of Spring Chinook.
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Siletz
river: The Siletz river drains into the pacific ocean at
Lincoln City. This is a large free flowing river that has great
numbers of wild salmon returning each year. The Siletz is very
popular
for Large Fall Chinook or Kings. Runs of Coho are also strong but
most are wild and must be released. It also has a small run of
Spring
Chinook.
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Nestucca
river: The Nestucca river enters the Pacific Ocean at
Pacific City and is a very consistent producer of extremely large
Fall Chinook, with fish over 50 lbs fairly common. It also has
runs of wild Coho and Springer's.
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Nehalem
river: The Nehalem River is a good river for Fall Chinook
and Coho and is also one of the few places in Oregon that has a
run of Summer Chinook. The north fork of the Nehalem river also
has a hatchery that raises Coho so you can keep the silvers in
this river that have hatchery marks. All native Coho must be released.
The Nehalem river flows into the pacific just north of Rockaway
and flows through the Coastal towns of Nehalem and Wheeler.
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Clackamas
river: The Clackamas is a very popular salmon river and has hatchery supported runs of Spring Chinook and
Coho.
It is a major tributary of the Willamette River and has Salmon or
Steelhead fishing opportunities year round. Due to the fact that it is
in Portland it can get very crowded. Even with the crowds it is a very
good fishing river.
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Sandy
river: The Sandy is another popular Portland Oregon area
river. Like the Clackamas it has runs of Spring Chinook and
Coho as well as some Fall Chinook fishing opportunities.
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Santiam
river: The Santiam river is a tributary of the Willamette
river and both the North Fork and the South Fork offer great fishing for
Spring Chinook. There are large hatchery operations on the South
Fork of the Santiam and most Willamette River Spring Chinook originated
there.
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Deschutes
river: The Deschutes river in Central Oregon is
recognized as one of the premier fishing destinations in the
Northwest.
While it is better known for its world renowned steelhead fishing and
fly fishing for trout fame it also has good returns of spring and
fall Chinook.
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Elk,
Chetco, Sixes, and Coquille rivers: These southern Oregon
coastal rivers are where you want to fish for Salmon in the
winter.
These rivers have great fishing for fall Chinook and the
runs
return later here. These rivers get good around mid November and will
produce big Salmon into January.
Copyright ©
2003 [www.nwfish.com]. All rights reserved.
Revised:
March 27, 2008
