Upper Willamette sturgeon

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Hey all,

The lower Willamette sturgeon fishery is awesome. I feel that I have it figured out pretty well and can do pretty well under any conditions.

I am now interested in figuring out the upper river. I am not interested in keeping any fish, but I do find the upper Willie a much more peaceful place to fish (no furbags + very few people = nice kayak fishing experience). I have made 3 trips to the upper Willamette (2 to Hebb park and 1 out of Willamette park) with only a few small catfish to show for it so far.

The water I have been fishing looks amazingly perfect based upon my lower river success. I have marked fish, but they are probably other species based upon my lack of success. I have tried breaks in deep fast water, breaks in deep slow water, breaks in fast shallower water. I have not tried shallow slow water.

I have read in old posts that Newberg seems like it was a popular spot. I have not tried it yet since it is a longer drive. I am sure that there must be sturgeon at Hebb park and at Willamette park, there is just too much good looking water. I think I must be approaching these fish wrong and that they must behave differently than lower river fish. Maybe there is seasonal movement I am not aware of or the fish have a different food base and set up differently. Right now I am at a loss.

If anyone has any advice/suggestions/pointers for this fishery I would be deeply indebted. Please feel free to PM if you do not want to post information on an open forum. Of course I will gladly honor any requests that any shared information remain secret (I will not post a report a public report anywhere if asked not to do so).

I am planning on fish tomorrow (perhaps in the upper again) so any timely advice would be appreciated.
 
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Ok from what i have found research wise, the harrisburg area was one of the old stocking locations for sturgeon above the falls. There are a few launches around harrisburg and I am sure i can find the holes that I was taken to, however it isn't my place TO divulge those locations. I will suggest sending MOSD a PM as he has some knowledge of the area and may be willing to give you some advice.

And just to add I have heard of sturgeon caught all the way up by dexter dam.

My information is limited and of limited use but should help. Also if you look into the stocking attempts by ODFW in the harrisburg area of the sturgeon that should help you find some information.
 
Rogers Landing

Rogers Landing

Hey bass.
I ve fished the crap out of the upper Willie out of newberg. Its one of the coolest places to fish. I havent gone farther down (toward the falls) but newberg is maybe 40 min from downtown, not too bad.
Any way the fish in the upper river are a little more hot and cold. Im not sure why but somedays you can't get a bite and some days you can't keep them OFF. The 2 most productive baits in my opinion are Roll mop herring, and pickled squid. I prefer the squid because you can catch a ton of fish on one. I used to just cruise around and look for holes. However, on a warm day Ive caught them in the shallows probably feeding on all the good nutrients in the small mouth nursery areas.

Also Ive caught the biggest Bass of my life back behind the island. If you put in at Rogers Landing (Newberg) go up river for 1/2 mile and stay to the right. Awesome bass fishing AND Ive caught most sturgeon around and behind that island.
Finally when the bite gets super hot just throw a worm on an ugly stick or something. SUPER fun.
Lots of shakers / barley full sizers + the occasional dino-fish. ODFW stocked upper river like 10 years ago with thousands of babys so the are all perfect size now.

Finally, Its year round retention. I Know youre just C&R ing, but, This is probably the last year for a while to retain a sturgeon (yum!) if you find that one perfect one.. you can keep tag it any time.. crazy huh..

PM me with questions. I Love That Fishery!!!
 
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the_intimidator03 said:
Ok from what i have found research wise, the harrisburg area was one of the old stocking locations for sturgeon above the falls. There are a few launches around harrisburg and I am sure i can find the holes that I was taken to, however it isn't my place TO divulge those locations. I will suggest sending MOSD a PM as he has some knowledge of the area and may be willing to give you some advice.

And just to add I have heard of sturgeon caught all the way up by dexter dam.

My information is limited and of limited use but should help. Also if you look into the stocking attempts by ODFW in the harrisburg area of the sturgeon that should help you find some information.
Click to expand...

Thanks! I have read about the stocking taking place in Harrisburg.

I am assuming the fish have spread out over the past 20 years and that there should be plenty of fish available further North. I am not looking for holes or hot spots, but rather some general locational and as much behavioral information as I can get. I am sure that there must be sturgeon in the area I am fishing. I am guessing that for whatever reason they may use somewhat different water (perhaps they like shallow flats more than deeper water or that deeper water needs a very shallow flat above it, etc). I want to figure out how they behave. Perhaps they behave the same as in the lower and the density of fish is so low that I am doing the right things but not being patient enough.

I will send MOSD a PM and see if he has any advice.
 
troutmasta said:
Hey bass.
I ve fished the crap out of the upper Willie out of newberg. Its one of the coolest places to fish. I havent gone farther down (toward the falls) but newberg is maybe 40 min from downtown, not too bad.
Any way the fish in the upper river are a little more hot and cold. Im not sure why but somedays you can't get a bite and some days you can't keep them OFF. The 2 most productive baits in my opinion are Roll mop herring, and pickled squid. I prefer the squid because you can catch a ton of fish on one. I used to just cruise around and look for holes. However, on a warm day Ive caught them in the shallows probably feeding on all the good nutrients in the small mouth nursery areas.

Also Ive caught the biggest Bass of my life back behind the island. If you put in at Rogers Landing (Newberg) go up river for 1/2 mile and stay to the right. Awesome bass fishing AND Ive caught most sturgeon around and behind that island.
Finally when the bite gets super hot just throw a worm on an ugly stick or something. SUPER fun.
Lots of shakers / barley full sizers + the occasional dino-fish. ODFW stocked upper river like 10 years ago with thousands of babys so the are all perfect size now.

Finally, Its year round retention. I Know youre just C&R ing, but, This is probably the last year for a while to retain a sturgeon (yum!) if you find that one perfect one.. you can keep tag it any time.. crazy huh..

PM me with questions. I Love That Fishery!!!
Click to expand...

Thanks a ton for the info. I will shoot you a PM.
 
I will also shoot you a pm.
 
Thanks CC!
 
Night crawlers are the bait of choice around Harrisburg, and the locals that target the over-size fish use trout....Fish deeper water side channels where they reconnect to the main river, especially those that have good flow in them.
 
i fish the willamette by harrisburg for sturgeon

i fish the willamette by harrisburg for sturgeon

ive have fished the upper willamette for 15 plus years , and only in the last few years have i figured out there are sturgeon up here , there aint very many compared to down there so fishing for them is a lot tougher its best when the water is very low so you can find one easier , we spend all day out there and on a good day we will hook up with one . many many many days spent with no hook ups or bites
 
gold_smokie said:
ive have fished the upper willamette for 15 plus years , and only in the last few years have i figured out there are sturgeon up here , there aint very many compared to down there so fishing for them is a lot tougher its best when the water is very low so you can find one easier , we spend all day out there and on a good day we will hook up with one . many many many days spent with no hook ups or bites
Click to expand...

That makes me feel a lot better. I knew there were not as many in the upper river, but they seem ghostly scarce to me. I was expecting to catch at least one an hour in a good spot, perhaps my expectations are way off.
 
Thanks to everyone for all of your advice. I fished out of Newberg on Saturday and had an interesting, but sturgeon-less day. Since it was a multi-species report I posted it under on the Willamette forum.
 
It's a bit of a row (atleast to me with how out of shape I am) but upstream of willamette park in WL there are several good spots I used to go to.
 
osmosis said:
It's a bit of a row (atleast to me with how out of shape I am) but upstream of willamette park in WL there are several good spots I used to go to.
Click to expand...

I fished out of Willamette park in WL a few weeks ago. There were quire a few compelling spots, but I did not catch anything at any of them. For fun I actually went all the way up past Rock Island. When I as going along the channel beside Rock Island I was going about 1-2 mph on the way up and 5.5-6.5mph on the way back. I would guess that the current was about 2-3 mph. In my kayak I can go about 4mph in flat water and going a couple of miles is not a big deal. I do like to go upstream first though so at the end of the day I get the current assist on getting home :)
 
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