June 16 outdoor column

[Pete Heley]

Over the last several months, when I have been attempting to sell a fishing license for the Stockade Market, I have encountered a number of “would-be” anglers or hunters who do not have any angling or hunting options available to them. Although this can happen when the computer is on the year 2010 (a necessary option because of a few hunting-related licenses or tags than span the yearly break), it has been happening with increasing frequency because an outdoor recreationist owes back child support. Getting much information from the help line for license sales is difficult, but what I learned was that these “blocks” come to them from the Department of Justice (DOJ) and do not affect any licenses or tags that have already been purchased, unlike a “block” that is due to some hunting or fishing related felony.

Many of the people with such “blocks” have been unaware of them until they attempted to purchase a hunting or fishing license. Others could not get out of the store fast enough when learning that they could not purchase any fishing or hunting licenses or tags. The most surprising thing, to me, is that it took Oregon so many years to actually adopt this policy. More than ten years ago, Idaho started a similar program and was absolutely amazed at how many people who were behind in child support would come up with the money to keep from losing their right to hunt and fish, but wouldn’t do so to keep their drivers license. At that time, Oregon indicated that they intended to follow in Idaho’s footsteps, but until recently never did.

Despite increasing fishing pressure directed at the female redtailed surfperch in the Umpqua River above Winchester Bay, the bite remains slow. However it has improved to the point where there are perch carcuses in the dumpsters every day. There are lots of perch in the area near Marker 12 and a red-hot bite could happen at any time. While many anglers plan their fishing around tidal activity, other anglers do well by fishing in the early morning and when there are lots of boats targeting these perch, the early boats often enjoy good catches before increased boat traffic spooks the fish. While there are lots of female perch in the river above Winchester Bay, the male perch, which almost always remain in the ocean, are biting well at North Beach at the end of Sparrow Park Road, around the mouth of the Siltcoos River and along the beach south of Winchester Bay which is accessible from the three parking areas.

While the regular scheduled spring dates for halibut are over, there is a good chance for additional three day openers with the first such one starting on Thursday, June 23rd. One angler, fishing out of Charleston in water less than 20 fathoms deep, hooked and landed a 60 pound halibut last Saturday. Also, last Saturday, the two charterboats that fished halibut for Salmon Harbor Charters landed a halibut for every angler - which is much easier to do when the ocean conditions are calm enough to allow anglers to concentrate on their fishing.

High Umpqua River flows and cool water has reduced the weed problem that usually drives spring chinook salmon anglers off the river by early June. While the season on the lower reaches of the river above tidewater is winding down, salmon are still being caught. However most of the fishing pressure for the salmon has moved up into the North Umpqua.

Fishing for chinooks in the ocean has become much tougher for sport anglers. Although the commercial anglers are doing quite well, they are fishing depths that are unreachable with normal sportfishing gear. A few fish are being caught in front of the bar and some of them have been spring chinooks getting ready to ascend the Umpqua River. One angler landed a 30 pound chinook last Saturday while fishing about halfway down in 80 feet of water. He was using a herring strip on a hoochie which, because of trolling speed, allowed him to cover much more water than if he was trolling a whole or plugcut herring.

There should be plenty of stocked trout left in area lakes after last weeks plants. Warmer air and to a lesser degree, water temperatures, have improved fishing for bass and panfish. The decent smallmouth bass catches that a few anglers were making on the Umpqua, immediately prior to the river getting muddy, should resume with much clearer water.

Seeing a picture of a young angler with a sizable largemouth bass from the pond at Mingus Park in last Saturday’s edition of The World newspaper was extremely satisfying. After I published a small book, “Oregon Coast Bass & Panfish Guide”, a number of people asked me why I included that pond in my Coos County warmwater fish listings. When I mentioned that the pond had largemouth bass, bluegill and brown bullheads in it and some of them reached good size, I was always rewarded with looks of complete disbelief.

Many shad anglers are still having trouble fishing their favorite spots during the high river flows, but a few anglers are making very good catches. Most of the best catches have come in the late afternoon. Hot pink and chartreuse remain the favorite shad colors and an increasing number of shad anglers are resorting to the use of bobbers to reduce the amount of tackle they lose.

A few sturgeon were landed over the weekend, but overall sturgeon angling in the Umpqua remains slow. Striped bass fishing at night remains a viable option with almost all of the fishing pressure taking place on the Smith. A nice striper was landed near Deans Creek on the Umpqua recently, however.

A lucky Oregon angler may wind up one million dollars richer should he catch the a fish tagged as part of Cabela’s “Wanna Go Fishing Promotion” in which 65 lakes in the United States have been chose to receive specially tagged stocked fish. The total prize money available is 2.2 million dollars and the top prize is a cool million. Two Oregon waters have been chosen for inclusion in the contest. Detroit Reservoir received 12 tagged three pound rainbow trout and at Henry Hagg Lake, 15 bass weighing between two and five pounds were tagged with the small spaghetti tags. The contest runs from May 14 through July 14th and one needs to go on Cabela’s website (www.cabelas.com/fishformillions) and register to be eligible to win. One effect of the contest will be to ensure that two of Oregon’s most heavily fished lakes will receive even more fishing pressure - but if lightly fished lakes were selected, the increase in fishing pressure would probably have an even greater impact on fish populations.

[returnofthefish]

Thanks for the info on shad. How much distance are they setting between the bobber and shad dart?

[Pete Heley]

The proper distance between bobber and shad lure, or any other lure, is never written in stone. One needs to experiment on each outing to find the most productive distance. You really need to avoid locking yourself into any strategy because "one size does not fit all". Of course you don't choose a distance that is deeper than the water depth. Most often, shad are in the bottom half of the water column when the water isn't too deep, but even then, the most active, most likely to bit fish may not be acting like the majority of the fish. Some anglers don't use a bobber to find the proper depth, but instead use the bobber to keep the lure at the proper depth after they found the most effective depth by fishing without a bobber. The biggest advantage of the bobber is that it usually saves lures and keeps the lure at the proper depth, once that depth is determined.
Sincerely,
Pete Heley