by Dave Graybill, October 11, 2013

I had an interesting week. I was hoping that the weather forecasts were being overstated and drove down to the Oregon coast for an annual fishing trip. If anything the weather was worse than I had anticipated and I spent most of the time watching football and doing “touristy” things while I was there.

My host, Richard Robinson, has a great view of both the Tillamook and Nehalem jetties from his perch on top of the hill at Rockaway, and we watched the storm rage. The barometer kept dropping and the wind and rain made it difficult to concentrate on the football games. It didn’t prevent us from eating very well, including a lunch at the famed Pirate’s Cove Restaurant in Garibaldi. If you are ever in the area, don’t miss the opportunity to have lunch or dinner here (the oyster stew is amazing). We even had dinner with Dan Ross, of D.R. Sportfishing, my contact in Costa Rica. Ross is also from this area and returns every year to take advantage of the run of big kings and coho to the Nehalem. He was also frustrated, and had to cancel several days of fishing with clients.

One day Robinson took me to the Nehalem Hatchery, to see the handicapped fishing area that he and his chapter of Northwest Steelheaders had built back in the 90s. This was a very impressive access for physically challenged anglers. It’s right below the entrance to the hatchery and I am sure that plenty of kings and coho are landed here. The river was three or four feet higher than normal and running mud and debris, so there weren’t any anglers fishing when we were there. I did get to see the hatchery staff sort out coho for spawning. They were standing in a small concrete box, wielding a large net. They would scoop as many fish as possible into the net and then into a holding box. They would then sort males from females and jacks, too, and then slide them into pipes that lead to holding areas where they would mature for later spawning.

This is a beautiful area, with many famous rivers reaching the ocean. There is great fishing for kings, coho and steelhead through the fall and winter, weather allowing. In addition to the salmon and steelhead fishing there is very good crabbing, with generous limits. Off the coast there is a good run of tuna. We made a stop at one of the local fish markets and picked up some canned tuna and also found a fresh ling cod that we had filleted, so I didn’t come home completely empty handed.

I left for home a day early, and got caught up on my work. I then spent Thursday and Friday at Lake Chelan, celebrating my wife’s birthday. We had some great weather here and she was able to spend some time on her new bike. I stopped by the dock at Mill Bay and visited with an angler that was packing up. He said that this is the time to start fishing for big rainbow right here in Mill Bay. Last year it was at the end of October and early November that he caught large fish, meaning 2 to 4 pounds, right from the shore here. I am going to keep this in mind. I saw rainbow rising while talking to him, and I know that the rainbow fishing on Lake Chelan has been improving the last couple of years. Something to try this fall and winter.

Speaking of good rainbow fishing, I just sent out my new E-Letter on Fall Fishing, and mentioned some very good prospects for trout fishing in the fall and winter. One of the places I mentioned was Jameson Lake. It has a special fall season the month of October, and is often the favorite of many local anglers. I checked in with the folks at Jack’s Resort, and they confirmed that the fishing is good again this fall. There are a lot of 10- to12-inch rainbow being taken, and there are always some big carryovers landed in the fall. There was a 28-inch rainbow taken earlier this week. Banks Lake is another one that I talked about. The fall fishing for rainbow can be very good for fish weighing 4 pounds and even larger, and very few people are out fishing for them. These are just a couple of suggestions I had for trout anglers for the fall, along with a feature story on fall salmon fishing. If you would like to read everything I had to say, just go to my web site and sign up for the E-Letter. I send it out quarterly, for each season. It’s free and there are now over 900 anglers that are getting it.

I am eager to get back down to Vernita and wrestle with some of the big fall fish that are abundant down there. I scrounged up some eggs, so I feel that I am prepared to have some busy days. I also want to try jet planning some herring, and back bouncing eggs and herring. Also, I like to jet plane big Flatfish this time of year, too. There are times when the action on sardine-wrapped Mag Lips can be terrific.

I am already making plans to hit the Columbia for steelhead when it opens. I have some spots that treated me very well last season and I want to get to them early. We may have a short season this year, so I want to get out as often as I can in October and November. In addition to the Columbia I have a trip planned to the Methow River. My fishing buddy Jim Passage treated me to a trip with guide Jeff Brazda on the Methow last year and although I am not much with a fly rod, I had a blast and caught several steelhead on the float. He has invited me to come along on a trip in October, and I am pumped.

Fall salmon at Vernita and steelhead season right around the corner. Man, I love living here!

By Dave Graybill

FishingMagician.com