Fishing Report 01-06-2023
Customer Ryan Barger caught this impressive winter steelhead from the Willamette River near Oregon City on Wednesday and promptly entered it into our Winter Steelhead Derby. The big fish weighed 18.2 pounds after being gutted. Awesome fish, Ryan!
Fishing Report:
Winter Steelhead fishing is starting to pick up. We have had good reports from the Tillamook area from Fisherman’s Pro, Terry Mulkey. He reports a few fish being caught from the Wilson with a Corkie and eggs being the go-to bait option. Up in northwestern Washington, Fisherman’s Pro, Robert Kratzer, has also been on the fish. After the last high-water event it seems as though there are better numbers of fish around. Robert reports finding a lot of his success by Bobberdoggin Mad River pink worms. As we start moving through the month of January, look for most of the rivers to start having Steelhead trickle through the entire system. Bobber fishing will allow many anglers to effectively cover a lot of water. Jigs, pink worms, beads and bait will all work well under a bobber. Bobberdoggin is another widely used technique. In fact, many anglers will Bobberdog an entire stretch of river and shuttle their boat back to the top of the float, allowing people to float the whole section twice and cover twice the amount of water.
Sturgeon fishing above Bonneville Dam has been good for many folks that have been making the drive up to the Gorge. There is a retention season going on above Bonneville, but it may not last long as the fishing has been very good. In the Willamette, the catch and release fishery is definitely still a great idea as well. Smelt, squid, herring, and sand shrimp are all good bait options.
Crabbing has slowed down some as we have had a huge influx of fresh water over the last few weeks. As the bays flush out the Crabbing should improve.
Bottom fishing is another good winter option, and more anglers are starting to figure that out each year. One person who can attest to that is Fisherman’s Pro, Andy Martin. He has been getting his clients into quality fish almost every trip out. Most recently he got a boat full of clients their Lingcod limits in short order while fishing near Mack Arch. Vertical jigs, Rock Cod rigs, curly tail grubs and shrimp flies all will evoke strikes from bottom fish. Always be sure to check conditions and watch the weather.
Trout fishing has still been going on, however, with the lack of freshly stocked fish, many anglers are not finding the large numbers as they do during the fall months. But, that can also correlate to a larger size of fish being caught. With less fish around to fight for food, the hold over Trout from last season get to be first in line at the Trout buffet. This can definitely mean that bigger fish get caught and some folks have found some really big fish this year. Fishing bait off of the bottom is still the most common technique as Trout don’t move as much during the winter months, so a still bait gives them plenty of time to find it.
