Spring chinook and summer steelhead counts are dwindling at Willamette Falls with the water temperature climbing past the mid-70s. View this email in your browser Oregon Fisheries Update Northwest Oregon's most complete and accurate fishing forecast

The Guide's Forecast - volume 16 issue number 29

Forecasting for the fishing week of July 18th – July 24th, 2014 Thanks for being a subscriber! Paid Member's access all the extra content and most up to date information made available to you at anytime from anywhere by going here. Willamette Valley/Metro – With summer steelhead numbers peaking, interest in the gorge is also peaking. It’s a race however; as temperatures rise, success will drop. Small spinners and plugs will take fish in the fast water at Bonneville while beach plunkers down to Longview will take fish off of area beaches using spin-n-glos and coon shrimp.



Spring chinook and summer steelhead counts are dwindling at Willamette Falls with the water temperature climbing past the mid-70s. Bass fishing has been good on the lower Willamette. As with most summer angling fare, mornings and evenings have been most productive. Catch-and release sturgeon fishing is receiving slight attention with fair to good results in the Portland Harbor. Salmon and steelhead are primarily concerned with escaping the warm water of the lower river for cooler alternatives upstream.



Hot weather combined with low water creates less than ideal fishing conditions. The McKenzie has been fishing fair early and late in the day, however. In the absence of hatches, try terrestrial patterns, attractors or nymphs fished in deeper water.



North Santiam levels have been on the drop over the past week and are expected to continue in this trend with no rain in sight. With a denser fish population consisting of both salmon and steelhead with the bonus of stable flows, the South Santiam is the better bet for weekend fishing.



As the Clackamas has continued to drop and clear, fishing results have continued to slow. First and last light fishing become the only options in these conditions with the probability of a steelhead hookup greater than that of a springer in skinny water.



The Sandy is fishing fair at best with only mornings and evenings offering the opportunity for some action. Gray-green water conditions are expected on the Sandy at this time of year due to its glacial origins but some fish are being taken regardless by anglers fishing high on the system. NOW IS THE TIME to prep yourself for a RECORD return of salmon on the lower Columbia. Don’t go into this fishery thinking it’s still going to be easy! Go to our tech report page at http://www.theguidesforecast.com/techrpt.shtml and order your Buoy 10 tech report for home study.



You’ll need every advantage you can to outshine the competition you’ll have this year. Good luck! Northwest – With a staging population of salmon at the mouth of the Columbia, ocean salmon trollers are enjoying easy limits on both the south and north sides of the river entrance. One boat reported multiple whales and birds feeding on evident baitfish NW of the river mouth. He attained a 16-fish limit in just under an hour. Chinook were oddly absent however; that should change in the near future.



Sturgeon fishing remains nothing short of awesome. Fresh anchovies is all you need and action will likely remain excellent through July. Keeper range fish have inundated the estuary but no one area is consistent. Targeting fish in the deeper water as temperatures rise should produce remarkable catches from the East End Basin to the mouth of the Skipanon River.



Further south, coho action is picking up but limits are not necessarily the rule. Garibaldi is posting consistent catches but action should ramp up as Columbia River coho migrate up the coast. Chinook are rare in the catch here too but they should start to show in better numbers next month. Offshore and bay crabbing is picking up and crab are starting to fill out a bit more. Halibut fishing out of Garibaldi is fair for those targeting fish in the 150 to 190 foot range.



The Nehalem system is starting to produce more consistent catches of chinook. The soft outgoing tides over the weekend should produce good to great chinook catches in the jaws for herring trollers. Bay crabbing is picking up here too.



Albacore become more prevalent out of Garibaldi this time of year. Good catches were reported when seas permitted but fish remained out of reach for many. Seas may calm by the weekend.



Southwest - Bottomfishing out of Depoe Bay is yielding great catches of rockfish but lingcod remain elusive. Ocean salmon trolling is producing primarily coho with a high percentage of those hatchery fish. Many limits are returning to port on charter and sport craft.



Albacore anglers were frustrated over the past weekend as tuna were nearly 50 miles offshore, a distance at which they are out of reach of most recreational boats.



Salmon fishing and ocean crabbing are producing limits for boats out of Reedsport. The pinkfin surf perch fishery showed no signs of waning on the lower Umpqua over the past weekend.



Offshore boaters launching out of Charleston have been enjoying a variety of options. Crabbing is good and bottomfishing has produced excellent results. Boats venturing 25 to 30 miles out of port have been scoring some seasonally large tuna.



When boats have been able to get out of Gold beach, bottomfishing has been excellent. Most are returning with limits of rockfish, lingcod and Dungeness. Salmon trollers have found chinook and coho on the bite. A few fall chinook are being taken in Rogue Bay but it's still early for these fish. While the lower Rogue isn't offering much to anglers, summer steelhead are being caught by bait fishers on the middle river with best results occurring in the evening. Spring chinook catches are fair to good on the upper Rogue with summer steelhead hitting occasionally.



Local residents are saying the salmon fishing out of Brookings is the best in decades. That's a bold statement but the scores of three and four-salt chinook and hatchery coho which are weighing in at 10 pounds or better at the cleaning tables seems to substantiate it. Best results have come to those trolling anchovies near the Oregon/California border.



Diamond Lake was stocked over the past week to boost catches but the effect was minimal due to warm water. Fish deep for best results.



Eastern – Caddis are hatching on the Warm Springs to Trout Creek drift on the lower Deschutes and large redsides are responding well to imitations. Steelhead fishing remains spotty but should improve in the coming weeks.



While hookups begin to slow on the Crooked River at this time of year, catches will remain steady. It'll be mostly a nymph show throughout the month with Caddis variations most effective.



Water levels on the Wallowa River are finally dropping. The stonefly hatch is about done but Caddis are hatching in earnest.



Good-sized bull trout and rainbows are being taken on the Grande Ronde River now that flows have dramatically moderated. Try large, dark, wet offerings.



Fishing is fair to good at East Lake where fly anglers have been taking mostly rainbows and a few brown trout to 18 inches on nymphs.



SW Washington- The Cowlitz River remains the hot spot for all district tributaries but the most effort is taking place along lower Columbia beaches. Plunkers will continue to have good access to fish for the next few weeks but warming water temperatures may slow the bite. Sockeye and fin-clipped chinook remain open but fewer are showing in the catches.



Tributaries are still weeks away from measureable salmon runs but steelhead should keep side-drifters and bank anglers interested for the next several days. Early mornings remain best but these tributaries are expected to be plugged with coho and chinook in the months of August and September.



Paid Member's access the complete and most up to date information here. Want to become a member or learn more about it? Go here If you have questions, comments or problems, please contact us. Soapbox Update: Here’s our action alert from last week. PLEASE DO THIS FOR THE FUTURE OF SPORTFISHING ON THE COLUMBIA RIVER:

It’s good times for salmon on the mainstem Columbia and thanks in large part to spring and summer flow for out-migrating juveniles. It’s high time that you commented on the benefits of spring and summer spill on the mainstem Columbia. Email Richard Whitman and Brett Brownscombe on how we appreciate Oregon advocating for spring and summer flow. Here are their email addresses, they are negotiating with Bonneville Power Administration on appropriate flow and spill regimes for the mainstem Columbia:



PLEASE reach out to:



Brett Brownscombe: brett.brownscombe@gmail.com and

Richard Whitman: Richard.M.Whitman@state.or.us



It’s long past time that these two natural resource advisors hear from us on the importance of flow and spill! It’s a small ask for a big return on investment! Please email NOW!



Links of the week 482-pound halibut disqualified from world record Trout Dying To Get a Good Photo Whale Driveby (this week) Facebook Twitter TGF Website