Fishing Report 11-05-2021
Robert from our Oregon City store with a chrome Coho he twitched up earlier this week from a Washington River. Quality B-run Silvers are still available in many Northwest rivers still open to fishing for them. Be sure to check the regulations for the water you intend to fish, and good luck!
Fishing Report - November 05th, 2021
Tributary Fall Chinook fishing has been pretty good along the Oregon Coast this past week as most rivers shot up and dropped back into shape. When this happens, the Chinook start flowing into the river as they now have the required amount of water in the river to push through all of the obstacles they will face. Fisherman’s Pro, Andy Martin, has been finding success on the Chetco and Smith rivers back trolling 5.0 size Mag Lips. This technique can be especially deadly when rivers are still high but the water clarity has cleared up. Large Fall Chinook just can’t resist the wiggle of a properly tuned plug backtrolled down the river. This fishery should stay good for most of November, giving anglers an extended amount of time to capitalize on these large, hard-charging Chinook. Bobber fishing, backbouncing, backtrolling and plunking are all effective techniques when targeting these fish.
Tributary Coho are still on the menu, specially for Southwest Washington anglers. The Cowlitz, Kalama and North Fork Lewis all get good runs of B run Coho, and this gives anglers opportunity all the way through December. These large, hard- fighting Coho are bigger than their A Run cousins, and typically are much better biters as well. Twitching jigs, spinners, spoons, eggs, shrimp and beads are all good bait choices when targeting these Coho.
Winter Steelhead are not here yet, but we typically start to hear of one or two getting caught throughout November by anglers fishing for Fall Chinook and Coho. Look for an update on Steelhead as we get near December.
Bottom fishing remains an excellent choice this time of year, although it may be difficult to cross into the ocean with the unpredictable weather we can get at the coast. The most important part of your trip will typically start by looking at wind and wave predictions, weather forecasts and talking with locals before you head out. When bottomfishing, you never really know what you might encounter as there as many different species and types of fish on the ocean floor. Vertical jigs, Shrimp Flies, Rock Cod Rigs, curly tail grubs and ChaseBaits have all produced fish lately.
Crabbing has been excellent In both Nehalem and Tillamook bays lately with folks finding large, full Crabs. Whether you are doing a dedicated Crab trip, or, just dropping your pots before a fishing trip, be prepared to clean some Crab.
Razor Clamming has been great in Long Beach and WDFW just opened it backup for another 7 day opener. Razor Clamming has also been good on the northern beaches of Oregon from Seaside to the South Jetty in Astoria.
Trout fishing around the Northwest is starting to slow down some as the catchable Trout plants are diminishing for the season. That doesn’t mean that there aren’t fish to catch, just not as many freshly-stocked Trout. Trout that have been in a lake for a year or two are typically pretty smart to have stayed alive that long and have been feeding off the natural forage in the lake to stay alive. This means that the meat quality will be better than that of a stocked Trout. These fish will be trying their hardest to stock up on fatty foods to try and survive through the winter. This means that spinners, spoons, Kastmasters and plugs will all be good options as they imitate a nutrient-rich bait fish. Sometimes, the largest fish of the year are caught during late fall as they just have to put on some weight before winter sets in.
Always be sure to check local regulations at ODFW and WDFW before heading out. Find reports and two most widely used baits, information on the Fisherman's Community page.
