Alsea River fishing reports

[Raincatcher]

The river is soooo low and clear! Basically today was a great day for a boat ride. Took my mom out...she hasn't fished for anything other than trout since I was a kid and has only caught one steelhead (which was an accidental occurance) so it was an educational trip lol. She'd never been in a drift boat (much less with me on the sticks), or used a jig/float. Basically I spent the day rowing the boat and trying to help her get into fish, and hardly got my line wet, but it was worth it. She had a solid takedown that I know was a steelhead, I saw the big flash, but she had too much slack in her line. 2nd takedown a little downriver, and it was fish on...for about 5 seconds. Jumped out of the water, and spit the jig, again, too much slack . Caught some nice cutties, and I swear to you I've never seen anyone so excited about trout. She had a blast, which made it an awesome day. Now I have to go tie up half a dozen jigs to replace the ones that were donated to the river for educational purposes.

What a cool way to spend the day with your mom! I'm sure the smile will stay put for days. You're a good person and a great daughter. 8~)

 

[JeannaJigs]

Oh it was a great day, she loved it. If I had known it would be that easy to make her day, I woulda took her sooner! Lol. I think it would have been different if it had been raining and nasty, but it was a really nice sunny day. Gotta say though if I had been trying to teach anyone but my mom whom I have a healthy fear of and do not want to anger, I wouldn't have been so easy going about it lol. Props to people that have the patience to teach someone to fish, especially kids...man. It was definitely a test for me, I'll say that much but in the end, well worth the fleeting moments of frustration. Just wish we coulda got one of those fish to the boat, that woulda been the icing on the cake of a great day.

 

[Kodiak]

Hit the north fork near the hatchery today. Hit 5, two to the bank. A new shot of metal showed on the heels of the rain we had. My brother who went with also tagged out and lost two others. I gotta go fire up the BBQ...fresh steel for dinner.

 

[Johnny Southpaw]

Hit the north fork near the hatchery today. Hit 5, two to the bank. A new shot of metal showed on the heels of the rain we had. My brother who went with also tagged out and lost two others. I gotta go fire up the BBQ...fresh steel for dinner.

Nice! Enjoy that fresh steel!

 

[Kodiak]

Took my daughter a couple of days ago and helped her catch her first steelie! $yrs old and layed the smack down on a 8 1/2 lb buck. They are no longer called steelhead but "big pink princess fish", which annoys me to no end. Needless to say the river has been kicking out a bunch of fish lately, mostly hatchery broodstock fish. Having to sift through for chromers. I've been averaging 5 -6 h/t (hookups/trip). I will be heading down sunday, if anyone wants to meet me there.

 

[Mike123]

Took my daughter a couple of days ago and helped her catch her first steelie! $yrs old and layed the smack down on a 8 1/2 lb buck. They are no longer called steelhead but "big pink princess fish", which annoys me to no end. Needless to say the river has been kicking out a bunch of fish lately, mostly hatchery broodstock fish. Having to sift through for chromers. I've been averaging 5 -6 h/t (hookups/trip). I will be heading down sunday, if anyone wants to meet me there.

That is hilarious, big pink princess fish.. haha.

You must be fishing the hatchery.. I fished the entire area of Clemens Wednesday and I must have seen over 14-15 spawners. And that was it, not a single decent fish. Last weekend I caught one just above Campbell that was a broodstock and soon as a I bonked it, the thing started shooting eggs.. it was a pretty gross fish.
What are the ones up by the hatchery looking like?

 

[autofisher]

When I was up at the hatchery a couple of days ago, there were about 15-20 chromers in the pens. Most of the fish in the water are the broodstock, but there are quite a few chromers if you know which pockets to hit. Most of the chromers that I saw taken were on flies. I had one the other day that took off with my gear. It hit so hard and so fast, that by the time I had a chance to turn it, it was about 100 yards down river to my buddy. That thing looked and ran like a Mac truck with fins.

 

[Kodiak]

That is hilarious, big pink princess fish.. haha.

You must be fishing the hatchery.. I fished the entire area of Clemens Wednesday and I must have seen over 14-15 spawners. And that was it, not a single decent fish. Last weekend I caught one just above Campbell that was a broodstock and soon as a I bonked it, the thing started shooting eggs.. it was a pretty gross fish.
What are the ones up by the hatchery looking like?

Sorting boots for chrome. A suprising amount of chrome flat bookin' it in on the last rain. White bellies, light pink stripe, med. dark back, not ripe. I saw one that was two tone steelgrey back/ polished nickle to the belly....maybe thre to four days out of salt....no sea lice.

 

[Mike123]

Man, I must have just missed them... Maybe one last trip is worth it. lol

 

[Teo]

Man, I must have just missed them... Maybe one last trip is worth it. lol

You and me Mike. I've drifted from Campbell several times in the last couple weeks with little to show. I think it's all up in the North Fork, so maybe I'll go back to the bank. Hate not drifting though, it's a beautiful river.
Ken

 

[Mike123]

You and me Mike. I've drifted from Campbell several times in the last couple weeks with little to show. I think it's all up in the North Fork, so maybe I'll go back to the bank. Hate not drifting though, it's a beautiful river.
Ken

For sure.. I hate waking up at 2am to go fish the hatchery hole...

 

[Teo]

For sure.. I hate waking up at 2am to go fish the hatchery hole...

I won't go up there. Clemens is as far up as I'll go. Elbowing your way into a hole sort of defeats the purpose of being there. The way I see it is if you just want fish, you can go to the store.
Ken

 

[Kodiak]

I let the Old timers have the meat hole, besides they aint holding there. I've been slaughtering them below and above..the water no one else wants to fish,,,finding pods of five or six and sniping one or two of them....guys packed elbow to elbow in the meat hole...300yrds of bank to my self.

 

[steelhead1]

fish still coming up

fish still coming up

There are still plenty of bright fish to be had from clemens all the way down past five rivers.We have been gettin em to the boat and bank every trip for the last couple weeks Tons of cutties around too!

 

[steelhead_stalkers]

Clemens is the lower meat hole! :lol:

 

[Kodiak]

clemens is the lower meat hole! :lol:

roflma!

 

[steelhead_stalkers]

There are a few fish around it just seems like you have to work really hard for them is all. Its hard to have a 6 or 8 fish day this year that's for sure. Still nice to hook into a few fish though. Good job out there!

 

[Mike123]

Yea for sure... in all my trips over there this year I've yet to see someone with more than 2 fish.
And on the bank I haven't talked to hardly anyone with fish, but that's more around Clemens and down on the lower river.
Maybe one more trip is in effect to the meat area... the upper one with non-rotten meat.

 

[Kodiak]

3-7-10

3-7-10

Upper section 06:30...sunday, 4 cars in the parking lot, 0 fish on the bank, TCO arrives. 09:45, my next door nieghbor lands first steelhead ever!! 10:30...Next door neighbor lands 2nd steelhead ever, goes home. 11:00 Put on #3 white&red inline...ding 3 steelies 1 riffle. 1:00, switch to candy orange pred mini...steelies hiding in deeper riffles, Find a "chromish" hen hiding behind small rock pile in the shade, spook 3 more fish in ensuing battle...they went down stream. Fill out tag, go looking for more fish. 3:00 hrs....a pod of four steelies moves into hole Sniper two, released darkies. 4:00 see tail fin in next to impossible spot to reach...will come back later.. Hook small buck, hand off to my son...5 lbs..maybe. 4:30 check on tail. Big fish 2 ft from bank now lying far enough back to squeeze a shot off. First cast...epic fail hooked nice tree. Candy orange pred now lives there..next cast, fail again, root wad eats candy red inferno. fish moves into heavy riffle to drown out recitle from "Sailors Guide Book to Frustration". Candy pink inferno flies...Second cast fish on. 12 mins "chromish" 15lb 11oz alsea buck slides to bank...liberally apply wood shampoo. Two young gentelmen watching the slaughter..toss them #3 cop car and candy green. Start pointing out fish on the move fish 1 slams copcar...fish on, big run, Fish off! Watch fish swim back into slot, out goes cop car, slam! same fish same results...big run, fish off. Fish swims back into slot..4 casts later slam goes cop car, bonk! goes wood. Next hole up: silver flash, out goes copcar, fish chases spinner, next cast fish chases cop car..slam, 5 min fight apply wood shampoo.

There are fish in the river....just not holding in the deep water and are turning on later in the day. Pressure was light this weekend.
Scoreboard:
neighbor:2 fish on two home
Kodiak: 7 fish to the bank, 2 go home (1 pig)
random kid: 2 on, 2 go home ( same fish smashed same spinner three times)

 

[steelhead1]

super sweet! I landed one down at clemens,two at the tree farm.all wild.all on eggs.Went and checked out the hatchery on the way out,only one guy at the meat hole.I walked the whole accessable area super slowly,with the x ray specs on and didn't spot a single steelie!You musta cleaned em all out!