Posted by William on Nov 6, 2009 in
General On 11/05 Clam Diggers Association member Jerry Lynch reported thousands of Dungeness crabs washed ashore at the southern section of beach at Seaside. His report follows:
Bill, I’m writing to give you a clamming report from Wednesday 11/04, 7:38 pm low tide from South Seaside Beach.
1. Damn dark, even with the Coleman Northstar lantern on “high”, because the wind keeps blowing it to “dim”.
2. The wind has come up from “nothing” at dusk, to steady 50mph NNE. It is almost hard to stand up, and if not braced properly with shovel the lantern will blow over when set down on the sand so as to free my hands in order to “gun” a clam.
3. The beach is covered with large dead crabs. Most are legal size, some are HUGE as dinner plates. All are dead. I am not saying 100’s, I am saying thousands. THOUSANDS.
My suspicion is that the “dead zone” of zero oxygen is the culprit. I wonder at the eventual impact on the commercial crab fisherman…
4. The clams are showing with the help of a little shovel banging, so I manage to scratch out my 15 and get the hell out off of the beach before the winds get worse…-Jerry Lynch
If I recall ODFW biologist, Dale Snow’s publication “Where Have All the Crabs Gone?” correctly, he describe the carapace from thousands of crabs that molted and washed ashore onto Oregon’s Beaches. Jerry’s report of thousands of dead Dungeness crabs is not to be confused with the carapace from molted Dungeness crabs. As always good digging, Bill
Matt Hunter the ODFW Shellfish Project Leader from the ODFW Astoria office provided a timely answers to Jerry Lynch’s observation with the following,
“Bill, We noticed a fair number of crab on the southern Clatsop beaches on Monday. Upon inspection they were not molts as they still had meat within the legs and carapace. These were very large crab, easily the commercial size limit or larger. If I was to hypothesize to their demise it would either be senescence or asphyxiation from the protein surfactants (mucilage) caused by the Akashiwo sanguinea bloom that we have had off the north Oregon coast. There are laboratory reports that indicated that oysters and mussels are impacted by large amounts of surfactants in the water. It interrupts the respiration process by hindering the flow of water through the gills thus asphyxiation. We will keep an eye out but it won’t be until after the storm surge has ebbed. Matt”
Matt Hunter and staff investigated the crab die off and emailed his their findings. We thank Matt and his staff for their immediate response to our inquiry.
Bill, Upon revisiting the data and visual accounts from my assistant we believe that the number of crab we saw on Monday was less than 50 for a 14 mile stretch of Clatsop beach. We went out today and drove a 15 mile stretch, including Seaside, and did not see a single crab. At this point it is difficult if not impossible to determine what if any event occurred. Matt
Posted by Webmaster on Nov 5, 2009 in
General Local lakes: The Tenmile Bass Club hosted a local tournament last weekend at Tenmile Lakes in Lakeside. The new owners of Lakeside Marina told me that largemouth bass fishing over the weekend was good and that anglers fishing in the tournament caught several nice largemouths. Rainbow trout fishing at Tenmile Lakes also has been good. Anglers trolling wedding ring spinners tipped with nightcrawlers have been doing the best. Trout fishing at Empire Lakes in Coos Bay remains very good after the recent stockings. We haven’t received any reports from Bradley Lake recently. Access has been tough because of the lower lake level and weed build-up at the boat ramp. If anyone fishing the lake would like to share some information, please give us a call at 347-2875.
Local rivers: The Chetco River above the U.S. Highway 101 bridge will open for fall Chinook fishing on Saturday, Nov. 7. With more rain in the forecast, look for Chinook fishing to improve. Traditionally, the Chetco is known for its large fall Chinook. Anglers fishing the lower Rogue River for fall Chinook over the weekend caught a few early winter steelhead. Most of the fall Chinook have been being caught in the Agness area. Anglers fishing the Elk and Sixes rivers last weekend reported catching plenty of jack salmon, along with some nice adult fish. Bob Dearth of Bandon caught two nice Chinook Saturday, one of them weighing more than 30 pounds. Anglers reported slower fishing conditions on Monday, but with a series of big high tides and rain forecasted, look for fishing to heat up again. There have been plenty of good salmon fishing opportunities on the Coquille River recently. Jon Vining of Bandon has been launching his boat at Sturdivant Park in Coquille and fishing downriver to Clausen’s Corner. He told me they’ve been catching some nice coho salmon along with a few kings. Anglers fishing the Rocky Point area are still reporting good coho fishing. Most anglers have gone from bait to spinners, which have been very productive. As of last week, the wild coho harvest on the Coquille River was at 55 percent of the 1,500-fish quota. Shore-based salmon fishermen had a good week fishing Seven Mile Slough, just above Rocky Point. Most of the fish are being caught on sand shrimp under a bobber. Anglers fishing near the forks of the Coos River are still reporting good fall Chinook fishing. Some fresh Chinook salmon are still being caught by shore-based anglers fishing the boardwalk in downtown Coos Bay. Most of the anglers fishing the boardwalk area are catching their fish casting spinners.
Area shellfish: Crabbing in the bay at Bandon was still very good over the weekend. The numbers of crab moving in and out of the bay have been changing daily due to the rough ocean conditions. The quality of crab has been excellent, since most of them have gone through their molting stage. Crabbing in the Charleston and Empire areas of Coos Bay has been great. Boaters crabbing near Empire last weekend reported easy limits of nice Dungeness crab.
(Tony Roszkowski has owned and operated Port O’ Call — TonysCrabShack.com — on the Bandon waterfront since 1989. Many South Coast anglers rely on his fish and shellfish reports. Hear more from Tony on ‘Oregon Outdoors’ Thursdays on KWRO 630 AM.)
Tags: Bandon fishing report, bass, Crabbing in Oregon, lakes, salmon, tenmile lake, trout
Posted by Webmaster on Oct 26, 2009 in
Clamming in Oregon Good Morning my fellow clam diggers. The attached revised letter originally dated October 24th is the Clam Diggers Association’s response to the proposed NOAA port facility on Yaquina at Newport. Oregon clam diggers are going to loose access to a large portion of the tidal flats associated with the development of the NOAA port facility in Yaquina Bay. I encourage each of you to read our letter to ODFW and make your opinion known to Doug Cottam, the North Coast Wildlife Biologist for ODFW or Bob Buckman the Central Coast District Fish Biologist. You can count on both Doug Cottam and Bob Buckman to be honest and forthright. You can reach both Doug Cottam and Bob Buckman at: Bay
Read more…
Tags: Clamming in Oregon, NOAA, Yaquina Bay
Posted by Ocean Harvester on Oct 23, 2009 in
Fishing,
General,
Ocean Harvest
Record Year Tuna Fishing on the Harvester
This was the best year ever for the Harvester Albacore fishing. We landed 4600 fish in 36 days on the ocean averaging 16lbs each for nearly 47,000 lbs. Pretty incredible for our small boat since last year we only landed 1600 fish for the whole season. What made the difference?
The Weather!
 Short Video of Jumper School |
 Video: Landing Two Albacore |
This July was the clear and calm nearly all month. It was an amazing month with very little wind so it was no problem fishing so we got a lot more days on the Ocean than we did last year and we found the tuna big time. As you get later into the season you have to change your strategy to find the tuna. In the early part of the Summer, when the tuna are moving in they follow the warm currents so you can have a pretty good idea where they will be. They’re here in the summer to put on weight so early on they’re always biting so its just a matter of finding the warm waters and trolling a pattern through it.
Read more…
Tags: albacore, commercial, fishing, jumper schools, ocean, Tuna Fishing, video
Posted by Webmaster on Oct 21, 2009 in
Clamming in Oregon The city of Coos Bay’s wastewater treatment plant in Empire exceeded its permitted fecal coliform limits Tuesday
The beach that would be most likely affected is accessible from the parking lot on the west end of Fulton Street near the entrance to the plant. Posted signs will remain in place until bacteria results are within permitted limits. For any questions contact CH2M Hill OMI at 267-3966.
Tags: bacteria, beaches, Clamming in Oregon, wastewater
Posted by Webmaster on Oct 16, 2009 in
Fishing 
John Martin, left, Chad Brunick, center, and Sean Metzger, all of Klamath Falls, boat a fall chinook salmon in Chetco on Sunday. AP Photo
BROOKINGS (AP) — Despite having only a sliver of the Chetco River open to angling this month, John Martin of Klamath Falls does not lament the loss of upstream fishing access.
He drops his anchovy into the estuary between the jetties, then motors his small aluminum boat, already loaded with two friends and three adult Chinook. The fish are all around 30 pounds.
They’re trolling, though, through no more than 200 yards of the Chetco.
“Because this is where the fish are,” Martin says.
Though most of the Chetco remains closed to angling to protect a poor return of wild Chinook to this South Coast stream, anglers are finding they don’t need much space to catch fish eclipsing 50 pounds in an ongoing fishery that is as popular as it is maligned.
Estuary waters west of U.S. Highway 101 are the only part of the Chetco open under a restricted bag limit of one wild Chinook a day and no more than two this season. The low wild fall Chinook return is blamed largely on poor ocean conditions, and is expected throughout Southern Oregon streams.
But anglers are making the best of that one wild Chinook a day, hauling in some of the largest salmon seen here in two decades. Tops so far comes courtesy of Carl Johnson of Brookings, whose 58-pounder caught Sept. 30 unofficially is the largest Chinook caught in the Chetco Bay since the early 1980s.
“That was a gorgeous, gorgeous fish,” Johnson said. “I’ve caught several in that category, but none on the Chetco and not in the estuary.”
Read more…
Tags: anchovy, brookings, Chetco, Chinook, fishing, salmon
Posted by Webmaster on Oct 13, 2009 in
General SALEM (AP) — Health officials have reopened Pacific coastal beaches for recreational razor clamming from the south jetty of Yaquina Bay down to the California border.
The state Monday also approved recreational mussel harvesting from Bastendorff Beach near Charleston to the California border.
The Department of Agriculture and Department of Fish and Wildlife says shellfish samples taken last week show levels of paralytic shellfish poisoning toxins have dropped to a safe level. The entire coast had been closed to recreational razor clam and mussel harvest since Sept. 21.
Razor clamming is still closed from the mouth of the Columbia to the north jetty of Yaquina Bay, and mussel harvesting is closed north of Bastendorff Beach.
Tags: Clamming in Oregon, ODFW, Razor clams, toxins
Posted by Webmaster on Oct 12, 2009 in
Crabbing in Oregon REEDSPORT — A handful of boats in Oregon’s crabbing fleet returned to sea last week for one last hurrah.
Their quarries were the derelict pots and buoys left behind this year by commercial crab boats.
During a volunteer effort held nearly seven weeks past the close of the Dungeness season, fishermen focused their attention on crabbing gear trapped near shorelines or otherwise forgotten at sea during the Dec. 1 to Aug. 14 season.
Read more…
Tags: clean up, crab gear, NOAA, ocean, recovery
Posted by Webmaster on Oct 8, 2009 in
Crabbing in Oregon,
Fishing Chinook fishing in the Coos River has slowed this past week. But with a forecast of rain and larger tide exchanges, we should see more salmon coming into the river. The wild coho season on the Coos has closed but you may still retain fin-clipped coho.
Chinook fishing in the lower Coquille River has also slowed, but the wild coho season has remained strong with good numbers of fish being caught in the lower river and bay. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife estimates we have taken about 45 percent of our 1,500 wild coho quota. Some fishermen have remarked that wild coho are larger the later we get into the season. The Coquille is also producing some 30-plus pound Chinook, and we still have plenty of jacks in both river systems to keep the fishermen excited.
Salmon fishing on the lower Rogue River in Gold Beach still is producing some Chinook, and there are plenty of fin-clipped coho being caught in the bay.
Read more…
Tags: Chinook, fishing, huting, Oregon, recreation, reports
Posted by Webmaster on Oct 6, 2009 in
General The Oregon Department of Agriculture has reopened recreational and commercial clam harvesting in all bays along the entire Oregon Coast, from the mouth of the Columbia River to the California border. However, all recreational and commercial razor clam harvesting along coastal beaches remains closed.
Recreational and commercial razor clam and mussel harvesting will remain prohibited on the entire Oregon coast until paralytic shellfish toxin levels fall within the safe range, a press release said.
Coastal scallops are not affected by this closure when only the adductor muscle is eaten. The consumption of whole recreationally harvested scallops is not recommended. Crab and commercially harvested oysters are not affected by this closure.
Shellfish contaminated with PSP toxins can cause minor to severe illness or even death. The symptoms usually begin with tingling of the mouth and tongue. Severe poisoning can result in dizziness, numbness and tingling in the arms and legs, paralysis of the arms and legs, and paralysis of the muscles used for breathing.
Shellfish contaminated with PSP toxins cannot be destroyed by cooking, by adding baking soda, or by any other method of processing.
Shellfish toxins are produced by algae and usually originate in the ocean. ODA will continue to test for shellfish toxins weekly, as tides permit. Reopening of an area requires two consecutive tests in the safe range.
For information, call ODA’s shellfish safety information hotline at (800) 448-2474, the Food Safety Division at (503) 986-4720 or visit the ODA shellfish closures Web page at http://oregon.gov/ODA/FSD/shellfish_status.shtml.
Tags: clam harvesting, harvesting, mussel, razor, scallops, toxins
