Sports Page Updated: Thursday, September 25, 2008 5:05 AM PDT

Fishing report

Local lakes: Anglers are still reporting good catches of largemouth bass out at Tenmile Lakes and other local lakes. Fall is a great time of the year to fish for largemouth bass. The fish are aggressively feeding with winter approaching and with little boating pressure on local lakes, anglers can fish undisturbed. The best time to fish is during low light periods of the day. Use jigs, crankbaits or plastic worms, and concentrate your efforts near any structure.

This is also a great time of the year to fish smallmouth bass on the Umpqua River with river levels at their lowest. Smallmouth bass will gather in deeper pools. A great source for information on the small mouth fishery is the Big K Ranch in Elkton, (541) 584-2295. Ask for Scott Wolfe.

Local rivers: Monday morning, Van Tenney and his wife finished catching their limits of Dungeness crab and decided to troll for salmon in the bay at Bandon. As they were letting out their bait, they hooked and landed a 28-pound fall Chinook. Remember, this is the time we are expecting to see some 3-year-old Chinook returning to their acclimation site on Lower Ferry Creek. Fishing up at Rocky Point has slowed as Chinook move up river. We should see some new fish enter the system this week.

Plenty of coho salmon have been moving into Coos Bay over the weekend. Remember: All coho must be fin-clipped hatchery fish, and the deadline for coho is up to the Chandler Bridge.

Anglers have reported catching two more legal size sturgeon on the Lower Coquille River. Concentrate your effort near the cannery hole, and try fishing herring on the bottom with a sliding sinker rig.

Pacific Ocean: The calm ocean conditions and a two fish halibut limit brought hundreds of anglers to the South Coast last weekend. Halibut fishing was red hot out at the Bandon high spot and inside 40 fathoms over the weekend.

Mike, Reef and David Berry caught several nice halibut at the high spot Sunday morning. Reef Berry, who is 5 years old, had such a good time fishing with dad that it was hard to convince him it was time to go home.

One angler brought in a Pacific halibut that weighed 125 pounds. Clarence Pruitt and Tim McKenzie caught five halibut over the weekend just outside the second can, ranging between 16 and 75 pounds.

Local shellfish: Dungeness crab fishing in Bandon continues to be red hot. Dock and boaters are bringing in plenty of limits. The crab should remain in the bay until the larger rain events start.

(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. Hear more from Tony on ‘Oregon Outdoors’ Thursdays on KWRO 630 AM.)