Lower Chetco River open for Chinook, steelhead fishing

The Elk and Sixes rivers have received the needed rain to bring them into very fishable conditions. As a matter of fact, the Sixes River was too high to fish a couple of days last week. Fishermen who were able to take advantage of the rising water reported good catches of nice Chinook. If you’d like to receive an update on the conditions of the Elk River, you can call the hotline at (541) 332-0405.

Salmon fishing continues to be slow on the lower Rogue in Gold Beach, but winter steelhead are entering the system.

There was very little fishing pressure on the Coquille River this past week, and recent rains have pushed most of the fish upriver near and above the forks. Salmon fishing is closed above the State Highway 42 bridge (Sturdivant Park). We have reached 65 percent of the wild coho quota of 1,500 fish.

Fishermen on the Coos River system reported a small run of bright chinook entering the river. Fresh fish are being caught in the Dellwood area and at the mouth of Daniel’s Creek.

The lower Umpqua River also experienced a surge of bright Chinook, and anglers are reporting Chinook with sea lice are being caught at the mouth of Mill Creek. Mill Creek is a part of the Umpqua River STEP Hatchery Program and has experienced late runs in the past.

Coho fishing has started at Siltcoos Lake just south of Florence and also at Tahkenitch Lake eight miles north of Reedsport. Siltcoos Lake has one of the best late season coho runs in the state. Coho enter the lake each fall from the Siltcoos River and travel through the lake to tributaries where they will spawn. The best bite has been on brightly colored Hot Shot plugs. The lake is open for coho fishing until Dec. 31. The daily bag limit is one adult salmon and one jack salmon per day, with a total of five per year. Siltcoos Lake also has produced the state record for sea run cutthroat trout at 6.4 pounds and coho salmon at 25.5 pounds.

The Chetco River is open to Chinook and steelhead fishing downstream of the U.S. Highway 101 bridge. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife had extended the closure due to low water conditions, but recent rains have allowed for them to reopen this fishery. The bag limit on unmarked Chinook is one per day and two per season in combination with other streams that have a two-fish season limit, including the Siletz, Yaquina, Yachats, Alsea, Floras, Sixes, Hunter and Pistol.

The ODFW has instituted an interesting program in which they are planting dead salmon carcasses in many Pacific Northwest rivers. The salmon carcasses are from late arrivals of coho back to the hatcheries that were not needed for spawning.

These carcasses will be placed in and along the tributaries of many north coast rivers and have their tails cut off so they will not inadvertently count as part of the spawning salmon counts. The declining runs of salmon raised concerns about the health of the watersheds as they lose the nutrients provided by decomposing salmon. Therefore, the carcasses will release calcium, phosphorous and nitrogen into the water to help feed algae, aquatic insects and juvenile salmon.

The ODFW just released the Snowy Plover count for Oregon beaches, with 201 to 208 birds counted between April and September. This is the highest number since monitoring began in 1990 when biologists estimated there were only 50 adult plovers. Plovers responded to the removal of non-native European beach grasses and control of predators such as fox, crows, ravens and skunks. Good luck fishing and hunting.