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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (April 4, 2018)
2 B SIUSLAW NEWS ❚ WEDNESDAY, APRIL 4, 2018 Long-term study shows thriving cutthroat trout in coast range CORVALLIS — A decade-long study of cutthroat trout in the Oregon Coast Range has found that logging practices conducted in accord with the Oregon Forest Practices Act had no adverse impacts on coastal cutthroat trout and coho salmon populations or movements. In studies of logging practices prior to passage of the act in 1971, changes to fish habitat were documented from the use of stream channels as trans- portation corridors for logs and from other changes to riparian areas adja- cent to streams. One of the landmark studies of such practices occurred in the Alsea River watershed in the late 1960s. Starting in 2006, a team of researchers from Oregon State University, the U.S. Geological Survey, Colorado State University and the forest products industry returned to the Alsea basin to study the impacts of modern logging prac- tices conducted in compliance with Fishing from 1B caught. Casting spinners, drift- ing bait or using a bobber and jig can be effective. NESTUCCA RIVER and THREE RIVERS: Steelhead Fishing has been fair to good on the Nestucca. There should be good numbers of broodstock hatchery fish and wild steel- head throughout the system. Float fishing jigs, beads, or bait, drift fishing, nymphing, and swinging flies or spinners are all good techniques. Three Rivers is getting on the low side but there are fish throughout the system. SALMON RIVER: Steelhead Wild winter steelhead can be retained on the Salmon River. Daily and annual bag limit on wild winter steelhead are 1 per day and 3 per year. Casting spinners, drifting bait or using a bobber and jig can be effective. Winter steelhead has picked up throughout the river. SALMONBERRY RIVER: Steelhead The Salmonberry is getting low and clear but there should be some big wild steelhead showing up this time of year, but be prepared to catch and release. Check with the Port of Tillamook Bay for access restrictions. SILETZ RIVER: Steelhead Winter steelhead is continu- ing to pick up throughout the river. A mix of wild and hatch- ery fish are being caught. Rain over the weekend has raised the river level and got fish moving again. Casting spinners, drifting bait or using a bobber and jig can be effective. • Note: The 3.5 mile bridge (aka Steel Bridge) in the Siletz gorge is now open to motorized vehicles. The road is open as far as we go, MP 13 but is only open to public vehicles on the weekend. Anglers can walk/bike in the road during the weekdays. If anglers do walk in they can park at the one mile gate and start from there. TRASK RIVER: Steelhead This is mostly a wild fish river, although some hatchery strays are caught. Float fishing jigs, beads, or bait, drift fishing, nymphing, and swinging flies or spinners are all good tech- niques. WILSON RIVER: Steelhead Fishing is fair to good on the the act. They assessed the numbers of cut- throat trout, aged one year old and older, annually through 2014 in the watersheds of Needle Branch and Flynn creeks. The researchers also documented forest cover, stream habitat conditions and stream temperature and discharge. Logging occurred in Needle Branch in 2009, but Flynn Creek was left unharvested, just as it had been in the 1960s. The results were published March 1 in a professional journal, Forest Ecology and Management. “In the 1960s, the stream channel in Needle Branch got hammered, and the cutthroat took it in the shorts,” said Doug Bateman, the lead author of the paper, now a retired researcher in the College of Forestry. In the latest study, the biomass of cutthroat trout in Needle Branch increased after the tree harvest rela- tive to the trout in Flynn. In the head- waters area of Needle Branch, nearly Wilson with some nice fish bring caught, including some broodstock hatchery fish. Float fishing jigs, beads, or bait, drift fishing, nymphing, and swinging flies or spinners are all good techniques. YA Q U I N A R I V E R : Steelhead Wild winter steelhead can be retained on the Big Elk. Daily and annual bag limit on wild winter steelhead are 1 per day and 3 per year. Casting spin- ners, drifting bait or using a bobber and jig can be effective. Winter steelhead fishing continues to improve as more fish have moved in to the river. COOS RIVER BASIN: Dungeness crab, bay clams, rockfish, steelhead Streams and rivers are now closed to trout fishing until May 22. The steelhead rivers in the Coos Basin are running a little high after the rain over the weekend but are clearing quickly. Steelhead anglers are having success fishing eggs or yarn balls along the bottom or by fishing a jig suspended below a bobber. In the Coos Basin, 1 addi- tional hatchery steelhead may be retained per day for a total aggregate of 3 adult hatchery fish harvested daily. Anglers fishing the South Fork Coos River above Dellwood will need a permit from Weyerhaeuser, which allows the angler access up to the Seven Mile Bridge. Permits can be obtained at Weyerhaeuser’s Coos Bay office. • Recreational fishing for bottomfish is open in the ocean along with bays and estuaries. The daily bag limit will be 5 marine fish plus 2 lingcod. • There will be no retention of cabezon until July 1. • Anglers have reported catching rockfish and lingcod inside Coos Bay near the north jetty. • Crabbing and clamming updates can now be found in the Crabbing and Clamming section of the Recreation Report. TENMILE LAKES: Trout, warmwater species, large- mouth bass (Located 10 miles north of North Bend alongside Highway 101, at the town of Lakeside. County park with camping, boat ramp and a fish- ing dock.) Trout anglers trolling spin- ners and wedding rings have OF THE WEEK all of the trees were cut with the exception of the required buffer strip along the fish-bearing portion of the stream. By monitoring the movements of fish up and downstream, the researchers were able to determine that increases in Needle Branch were related to local changes rather than to influxes of fish from other areas. “It’s rare to be able to say that,” said Bateman. “In other studies, it is often unknown whether changes in population size are associated with fish movement, but here we show that the fish responded to conditions in the harvested portion of the channel. We weren’t set up to study the causes of the increase, so we can’t really say for sure. It’s possible that increases in sunlight or increased export of inver- tebrates from upstream areas con- tributed to the increased fish biomass, but it could also be related to any number of other factors, such as stream temperatures, changes in pred- been catching holdover hatch- ery rainbow trout in Tenmile Lakes. In the spring anglers on Tenmile Lakes will occasional- ly catch large wild coho smolts (sometimes up to 14-inches). These coho smolts need to be released alive immediately. Trout fishing is open all year in Tenmile Lakes. Fishing for largemouth bass has been slow. Water tempera- tures are cold so anglers will need to slow down there pre- sentations. Most bass will be found in deeper water near structure or weed edges. Anglers have reported the fishing for yellow perch has slowed down. There are lots of small yellow perch so anglers will have to sort to find larger perch. ators or disease.” The researchers also recorded changes in numbers of juvenile coho salmon, which were found generally downstream from harvested areas where increases in cutthroat trout were most apparent. No changes were observed in num- bers of salmon over the course of the study, possibly due to the fact that these fish were located downstream from the logged area. The salmon numbers are also com- plicated, said Bateman, by the species’ migratory behavior, which exposes the fish to a variety of factors such as sport and commercial harvest and to conditions in the ocean and estuaries that most cutthroat trout do not experience. “We can confidently say that, in this watershed, cutthroat trout were not negatively affected by logging activities over the course of the study,” said Bateman. “We’re cau- tious about generalizing these results There is a rare opportunity to fish for chum salmon (catch- and-release only) on the Kilchis and Miami rivers beginning in mid-September. S TEELHEAD : These ocean-going rainbow trout are divided into two runs: winter and summer. For those that prefer frost bite to sunburn, to other watersheds since conditions can vary so much. Still, these fish are probably well adapted to changes in the streams, and forests provide some of the best remaining habitat for them. “When you move downstream into areas adjacent to farm fields and urban areas, the changes to rivers and streams can pose significant chal- lenges. It’s important to look at the watershed as a whole.” Funding for the study came from public and private organizations including: the College of Forestry and Watershed Research Cooperative at Oregon State University; the U.S. Geological Survey; Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board; USDA Forest Service; the federal Bureau of Land Management; the National Council for Air and Stream Improvement; the Oregon Forest and Industries Council; Plum Creek Timber; and Hancock Forest Management. winter steelhead begin entering area rivers and streams from November and December (depending on the timing of the fall rains) and runs can contin- ue through April. Summer steelhead returns begin in early April to early June in the Nestucca, Siletz, Trask and Wilson rivers. Summer fish will continue to arrive through late summer and early fall, sometimes overlap- ping with winter returning fish. T ROUT : Cutthroat trout live in these coastal rivers and streams. Although resident fish may be small, they are feisty and fun to catch. W I N C H E S T E R B AY: Bottomfish, perch Fishing in the Triangle and South jetty has been successful. PACIFIC OCEAN and BEACHES: Bottomfish, crab, surfperch Starting April 1, bottomfish anglers will need to fish inside the 30 fathom curve. The daily bag limit will be 5 marine fish plus 2 lingcod. There will be no retention of cabezon until July 1. Anglers have been catching big lingcod fishing in deep water outside of Coos Bay, Bandon, and Winchester Bay. • Anglers also are catching lots of rockfish. Anglers may also choose to fish the offshore longleader fishery outside of the 40-fathom regulatory line January-March and October- December. • The longleader fishery has a daily bag limit of 10 fish made of yellowtail, widow, canary, redstripe, greenstripe, silvergray, and bocaccio rock- fish. • No other groundfish are allowed and offshore long- leader fishing trips cannot be combined with traditional bot- tomfish, flatfish or halibut trips. • Surfperch fishing has been decent when the ocean swells have been small. Anglers are having the best luck fishing the beaches with sand shrimp or Berkley Gulp sand worms. Anglers need to be careful of rough ocean conditions and sneaker waves. Bratwurst-Red Cabbage Pretzels - Sauerkraut German Potato Salad Apple Strudel & Much More! Listening, Singing & Dancing to Music of Sam’s Polka Gems & Th e European Take-Out Band S ALMON : In May/June start thinking spring Chinook in rivers and basins from Tillamook south to the Siletz. By August attention turns to fall Chinook and coho. Highlight: This week’s Athlete of the Week goes to Junior Siuslaw Softball player Hayley Meier who went 4 for 9 with 3 singles and a triple in last week’s battle for the beach in Newport. Hayley hit .444 for the tournament that included 1 RBI and 3 Runs Scored. All proceeds will go to the Vocational Educational Scholarship Fund Benefi tting the Youth of our Community. Highlight: Honorable Mention goes to Hayley’s teammate Lexie Smith who went 3 for 9 with a single, 2 doubles and 3 walks. Lexie hit .333 and was 4 for 4 on stolen bases.
