Thursday, July 24, 2008 |
Local lakes: Despite the wind, anglers fishing Bradley Lake are still reporting easy limits of legal-size rainbow trout. Early mornings have been the best time of day, and wedding ring spinners tipped with a piece of nightcrawler have produced the most fish. One angler reported having a largemouth bass take his rainbow trout just before he was able to net the fish. Many anglers who frequent this lake have heard of or experienced a visit by a large bass, although the lake isn’t known for largemouth bass fishing. The bass in Bradley Lake have good cover, deep water and a yearly supply of hatchery trout.
Laird Lake, located approximately 15 miles up Elk River Road, is a great place to take the family on a fishing trip. Stocked with plenty of rainbow trout, the lake is out of the wind. Plenty of good bank access makes this lake a great day trip for anglers.
Local rivers and streams: Anglers camping on the Elk and Sixes rivers have been reporting good catches of cutthroat trout, which are spread throughout both rivers. The best times to fish for cutthroat are early mornings or late evenings when they move from deep holes to the heads of pools to feed. Local angler Steve Hutchinson has reported having success fly fishing for cutthroat on the Elk River recently. Steve likes drifting a weighted nymph down through his favorite holes.
Fall Chinook salmon fishing on the lower Rogue River was good over the weekend. Anglers will want to fish the estuary from the U.S. Highway 101 bridge downstream to just below the sand spit. As usual, an anchovie with a spinner blade is the No. 1 bait.
Effective Aug. 1, there will be an in-season regulation change for the Coquille River sport salmon fishery. Anglers may harvest up to two adult salmon or steelhead per day, one of which can be a non-fin-clipped adult Chinook. Fishers can land 20 per year, five of which can be non-fin-clipped adult Chinook.
Pacific Ocean and bays: Rick and Ellen Howard beat the wind the other morning and got their limits of monster black rockfish between the buoys outside Bandon. They were jigging Point Wilson darts and got their limits in 30 minutes. The spring all-depth halibut season reopens today and runs through Saturday. The summer all-depth season for this species is scheduled to begin Aug. 1 under a separate quota.
Schools of smelt and other bait fish have been moving in and out of the bay in Bandon. Anglers targeting smelt last week did the best fishing on outgoing tides. A local favorite, smelt can be fished without a license. The daily bag limit is 25 pounds per angler.
Area shellfish: Dungeness crabbing in Bandon was excellent last week. Plenty of crab were taken from Weber’s Pier, and boats were catching easy limits out by the Coquille River Lighthouse.
Bandon Crab Derby update: So far, 21 of the first 60 tagged crab have been turned in. The second drawing for cash and prizes is set for this Saturday, July 26, at 4 p.m. at Tony’s Crab Shack in Old Town.
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Tony Roszkowski has owned and operated Port O’ Call on the Bandon waterfront since 1989. Many South Coast anglers rely on his fish and shellfish reports.)
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