12 — THE CHRONICLE
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2019
COMMUNITY
OUTDOORS
Chinook salmon thriving through wet weather
eather
tures below freezing,
came
to
though the daytime
Oregon last
temperatures remain
week. It brought
mild. The combina-
rain to every part
tion has turned many
of Lane County
Cascade lakes “over,”
and dropped a few
with the cooling
FRANK
inches of snow on ARMENDARIZ water temperatures
the Lane County ANGLER'S LOG bringing active fi sh
Cascades. Initially,
up to the surface.
last week’s series of
Of course, when most
unusually strong early people think lake fi shing, the
fall storms slowed most fi rst thing that comes to mind
fi sheries
across
the is a boat. But bank anglers do
county and state. But as pretty well this time of year
I assemble this report we too, as fish move into the
are looking at the return shallow bays and nearshore
of much milder weather fl ats to feed before being iced
that looks to extend into in for the year. Fly fi shing,
at least mid-October.
casting spinners or bobber
There was a “silver lining” and bait fi shing are all effec-
while most other fisher- tive in the fall. Brook trout,
ies took a pummeling: the rainbow and cutthroat trout
bad weather is good news are among the species most
to many and the fuel that casual anglers will encounter
gets anglers looking west in natural lakes.
this time every year, as the
The storms put a little
chinook salmon fi shing along color into many of the west
the Lane County coast and Cascade rivers and streams,
the other counties that border but the event was short-
the eastern Pacific Ocean lived as quality conditions
continue to be the premier quickly returned, though the
angling opportunity in our numbers of anglers work-
state and region. I’ll get back ing the water has dropped
to salmon fi shing in a bit, off. There are still plenty
but let’s do a quick fl yover of of hatchery trout in the
the county – starting in the McKenzie; the wild trout are
Cascades.
up on the surface and fi shing,
The cold weather fronts including fl y fi shing, remains
that rolled through and the solid. A few summer steel-
snow that fell ushered in head are still being caught in
some much colder tempera- both the McKenzie around
tures. Many west slope Leaburg and the Middle Fork
Cascade locations are now Willamette below Dexter. It
seeing nighttime tempera- wasn’t a particularly great
W
steelhead season, but steel-
head continue to trickle into
the system, ensuring that the
fi shery will last through the
fall or until an extended rain
event shuts it down for the
year.
About this time every year,
the Army Corps of Engineers
that manages our local fl ood
control reservoirs begins to
draw down the pool behind
them in anticipation of winter
rains. Most will drop below
boat ramp levels and rivers
below the dams will rise for
a time. On the McKenzie,
Blue River and Cougar
were drawn down early in
the summer to accomplish
a number of repairs, so the
drawdown on the McKenzie
will be modest.
Not so on the Willamette.
Hills Creek and Lookout
still have plenty of water and
once the drawdown begins
will likely affect condi-
tions downstream until early
winter, negatively affecting
the steelhead fi shery for a
time. The drawdowns are
generally accomplished by
mid-November.
Further west, the last
couple of storms brought
some of the highest rainfall
totals in the state to western
Lane County – about three
times the average for this
time of year. The Siuslaw
River was floatable from
Linslaw for a few days and
the river levels have held at
FRANK ARMENDARIZ/THE CHRONICLE
Fall weather has come to Oregon and Fall fi sh can be rewarding on a number of levels.
about 3.5 feet on the gauge
near Mapleton.
Salmon are now spread
from the lower estuary past
the deadline at Lake Creek.
Tiernan Landing and C & D
Dock have been among the
busiest as most powerboat-
ing anglers have moved up
the bay, fi shing the bay water
all the way to Mapleton.
Up in the river, the holes at
Davis Slide and Rain Rock
have had fresh fi sh on just
about every high tide for the
last couple weeks.
A lot of chinook have
now gone upriver, but by
no means is the chinook
run over for the fall. The
forecasted milder and drier
weather will likely slow the
upriver migration, stacking
fi sh in the lower bay again
until the next big rain.
The storm made ocean
conditions pretty rough
for a few days too, forcing
this reporter to reschedule
a bottom-fi shing and hali-
but trip. Hopefully, condi-
tions dependent, I will have
updated information in the
next report.
Now go fi shing. Take your
kids or a friend with you.
Those will become some of
the best memories of your
life.
Frank Armendariz can be
reached at frank@rivertrail-
outfi tters.com.
PHOTOS BY FRANK ARMENDARIZ/THE CHRONICLE
LEFT: Cutthroat trout are indigenous and naturally reproduce in just about every lake, creek and river in Lane County. Aside from the McKenzie River, where all wild fi sh must be released, wild
cutthroats can be retained in many locations. Check the regulations fi rst because the number you can keep is specifi c to some bodies of water.
MIDDLE: My good friend John Landau and I spent last Saturday trolling a tributary of the lower Siuslaw River for chinook salmon. We hooked one fi sh that day but were unable to bring it to the net.
RIGHT: We went 0-for-1 on chinook salmon this bright, sunny day, but the blueback cutthroats were thick in this lower Siuslaw River tributary. It was hard to keep them off the hook. Everyone
should have that problem!
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