Oregon Fishing News

Link: http://www.nwfish.com

West Coast salmon fisherman can look forward to having some salmon around to fish for this year. Fisheries managers have approved limited Ocean seasons this year for Chinook salmon and Coho Salmon along the entire west coast. While the numbers arent fantastic at least they are big enough to have an open season. Each river up and down the coast is a bit different as far as its run forecast goes. Some rivers will see huge returns of chinook salmon this year, some are forecast to have poor returns. Oregons's Columbia River which is already full of spring salmon looks to have nearly a million summer and fall chinook return in 2010. California's Sacramento River which has been in real trouble the past couple of years is forecast to have a better run this year, not the numbers it usually has but decent enough to allow limited fishing. Most of the coastal rivers are expected to experience higher numbers of fish than the last couple of years. Its time to go fishing again in 2010. Since most everyone is out of work you should have plenty of time to go fishing.

Link: http://www.nwfish.com

Spring chinook salmon are in the Columbia and Willamette Rivers in huge numbers now. This years run is shaping up to be even bigger than the record run size that was predicted. The fishing now is limited to above Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River after salmon fisherman easily reached the allowed catch from the dam to the Mouth.

This is good news for the fisherman above the dams that many years get shut down because of high catch rates below the dams. This years run of fish looks to be large enough they wont have to worry about that this year. The popular Drano Lake and Wind River fisheries are in full swing now with great success on plentiful salmon being had by all. The Columbia isnt the only show in town, the Willamette River in Oregon is also experiencing huge numbers of returning spring salmon and steelhead. The Willamette River which flows through downtown Portland is absoulutely full of fish now and its still open for fishing with a two salmon per person limit. The fish numbers and catch numbers are going to be very good into early or even mid May. If you like to salmon fish, now is the time to get in on some of this red hot salmon fishing action. Spring chinook salmon are well known for being the best eating salmon on the planet. I do have a few open dates left if your interested in a guided trip, call 503-551-6369

Link: http://www.nwfish.com

All of the news you see is about the ocean chinook salmon closures off of most of Oregon and all of California. None of the news seems to mention that Oregons rivers are set to have a fantastic year of coho salmon fishing, so good that a few rivers will most likely have a limited harvest of wild coho salmon. Many areas of the Ocean while closed for chinook salmon will have expanded limits of hatchery silver salmon. This years ocean quota is over 100,000 fish compared to last years of around 20,000 fish which will give most of the Oregon coast a full season of salmon fishing. You wont be able to keep the kings but with abundant silver salmon most fisherman wont mind. The Columbia river is forecast to have over 2 million fish returning in the fall of 2009 which will make the popular buoy 10 fishery at the mouth quite a specticle with huge crowds and tons of fish caught, approximately 1.2 million of those fish are predicted to be hatchery silver salmon. In the buoy 10 fishery as well as upriver in the Portland area fisherman can keep up to one chinook salmon per person per day as well as coho salmon. Buoy 10 is scheduled to allow 2 fish per person per day only one of which may be a chinook salmon until September 1st. On September 1 it changes to 3 coho salmon per person and closed to chinook salmon. The river remains open for chinook salmon further upstream. The Chinook runs on other coastal rivers are forecast to be down again this year but huge returns of silver salmon will likely allow those fishery's to enjoy good fishing for large coastal coho salmon with many of them allowing harvest of wild fish. So if you like to salmon fish and all of the bad news about ocean chinook is getting you down, you may want to make plans to visit oregon from June to November to get in on some great coastal or Columbia River salmon fishing.

Link: http://www.nwfish.com

Headline - West Coast salmon fishing facing closures again in 2009. I for one am getting sick of seeing this in the news. At least the news media should be reporting the whole story, not just the doom and gloom. Yes the ocean salmon seasons both sport and commercial will most likely be limited or closed in 2009 or for at least all of California and most of Oregon to protect a depressed run of chinook salmon that call California's Sacramento River home. People that love to salmon fish read this and assume that fishing is poor or closed. Did you know that this year our spring salmon run on the Columbia River is forecast to be the third largest on record. Did you know the coastal forecast for coho salmon includes terms like "possible all time record". Did you know that virtually every river that drains into the Pacific ocean that has salmon runs is still open for fishing. This year alone the Columbia River is predicted to have nearly 2 million fish made up of coho and chinook salmon enter the river August and September. The spring chinook run on the Columbia which happens in March and April is forecast to be near or over 300,000 fish. The only thing the "Salmon fishing closed in 2009" headlines are refering to is the Ocean and only the part that has Sacramento River fall King salmon swiming in it which are the reason for the concerns. The rest of the pacific coast is all open and looks to be a year with huge numbers of salmon to catch, especially Coho salmon. The predictions for the next few years are for all of the Salmon fisheries on the west coast to rebound to abundant levels. If your planning on a salmon trip you can still fish you might just have to travel to Oregon or Washington. Fishery managers are already considering expanding daily catch limits for many fisheries due to the predicted abundance of hatchery coho salmon. Forget the headlines - go fishing if your a sport fisherman, if your a commercial fisherman read the headlines and collect your government assistance check.

Link: http://www.nwfish.com

Oregon and Washington fish and wildlife officials met this week and decided on seasons for the extremely popular Columbia River Spring Chinook Salmon fishery. Anglers, Guides and Commercial gill netters every year engage in heated battles over who gets the bigger share of these highly prized salmon. The Spring Chinook return to many rivers in Oregon but the biggest runs of fish return to the Columbia and Willamette rivers, 2009's forecast is for a huge run of springers to the Columbia. Spring Chinook salmon or Springers as we call them here are without a doubt the best eating of any salmon found anywhere. Springers on average are 10-20 lbs with a large springer being over 30 lbs, on rare occaisions 40 or 50 pound fish are caught. This years battles over sport vs Commercial allocations was particularly nasty with the fish and wildlife commissions of Oregon and Washington fighting as much as the fisherman. Finally they decided with the run of fish arriving in a few weeks with early pilot runs already in the rivers it was time to set the season so that the fisherman could make plans to fish. The Columbia river is complicated when it comes to salmon fishing. Wild fish from several tributaries are mixed in with multiple hatchery stocks of salmon. Most of the wild salmon are listed as threatened or endangered. Hatchery fish are for folks to catch to take home and eat as well as to replenish the hatchery to make more fish. The balancing act comes when trying to allow people to catch fish without harming the wild fish. Fishery managers us an impact formula to determine how many wild fish are released and the estimated mortality rates of wild fish handled to determine how many hatchery fish we can catch before the season closes. This year in an attempt to make sure we dont exceed the impacts on the wild fish they opted for a conservative but stable fishery. During the peak of the run fishing will only be allowed 3 or 4 days a week and will close with a few weeks left on the run to allow run size updates to be made. If the numbers are good it most likely will open back up in May. With it only 4 days a week finding seats on a good fishing guides boat will be tough and if your planning on it you best get on the phone ASAP, just in case here is my number 503-551-6369. I wont go into the exact dates and open areas - go to my fishing report page for the official press release.