April 11th column

[Pete Heley]

Improved weather has improved fishing conditions on many fronts. The lower Umpqua River has cleared up and fishing for bottomfish off the South Jetty should show increased fishing pressure and better fishing results. Although muddy water doesn’t seem to slow the sturgeon bite, it does seem to affect how many anglers are fishing for them. Striped bass on the Umpqua River between the Scottsburg Boat Ramp and Sawyers Rapids as well as the upper tidewater portions of Smith River should show improvement with the clearer water. The one thing that seems to be lacking is warmer water and should we get that, fishing for almost all species should improve.

A less muddy lower river has meant an increase in crabbing activity, but the river is still high and sublegal crabs have dominated recent catches. Smaller crabs can better handle lower salinity levels and as the river level drops, more legal crabs should enter the lower river.

Although a number of spring chinook managed to get past the anglers fishing below Roseburg, because of the muddy water, most of the fish have not yet entered the Umpqua and there should be plenty of springers yet to be caught. Some spring chinook have recently been caught near the Umpqua River mouth prior to last weekend and any increase in ocean fishing pressure should ensure additional catches.

Although steelhead season is still open in most waters, almost all of the winter steelhead caught will be post-spawners attempting to reach the ocean and recover for another spawning try. The heavy rains of the past few weeks will mean that very few steelhead get trapped in Eel Lake because of low water levels in Eel Creek. The good news is that a few of the steelhead may make it back to slightly increase the number of steelhead in future runs.

This writer sees considerable confusion with the complications regarding recent bottomfishing regulations. Inshore halibut may be taken at depths up to 240 feet (40 fathoms), but bottomfish may only be taken at depths up to 180 feet (30 fathoms). Additionally, the 30 fathom line consists of straight lines between selected waypoints which does not allow for depth changes. I am only mentioning this to encourage halibut and bottomfish anglers to check the current regulations closely and while I can see some problems ahead, I do not have a better solution.

Virtually all of the fishing waters in our area that receive trout plants have been planted multiple times, but if you want to concentrate your efforts on lakes with freshly planted trout, you might want to consider Carter, Cleawox and Woahink lakes which received, respectively, 500, 2,000 and 1,000 foot long rainbows. Carter and Cleawox were also slated to each receive 2,500 barely legal rainbows this week. Barely legal rainbows were also scheduled to be stocked in Butterfield Lake (2,000), Eel Lake (2,500), Empire Lakes (8,500) and Lake Marie (1,000).

While nicer weather should offer improved bass fishing, temperatures have a ways to go before largemouth bass enter shallow water in good numbers. It is difficult for water temperatures to reach the 60+ degrees when the air temperaturs do not reach that mark for even a short period of time. As soon as there is a noticeable temperature differential between shallow and deeper water, bass and panfish will move into the shallows in big numbers and become easier to catch for most anglers. One advantage to bassfishing after extended cool or harsh late winter and early spring weather is that because of reduced fishing pressure, when good fishing conditions finally arrive, the fishing is usually even better than normal.

As for the smallmouth bass in the Umpqua, the quickest places to warm are the waters out of the main current - especially the dead end coves without water pouring into them and their upper ends facing upstream. These spots don’t receive much current and their waters are capable of warming up more quickly.

Yellow perch should either be spawning now, or very close to it. A very interesting article by Steve Quinn in the March/April issue of In-Fisherman Magazine deals with spawning yellow perch and how they deal with ultraviolet radiation. It seems that yellow perch spawn at different depths depending upon water clarity. In clear lakes, they usually spawn at depths of at least 15 feet, while in muddy water they almost always spawn in water between two and five feet deep. Ultraviolet radiation (UVR) seems to have a lot to do with spawning depth and in the muddy water that the researchers from Lehigh University studied, 99 percent of UVR was filtered out at a depth of only 18-inches, while in the clear lake they tested, it took a depth of 16 feet to filter out the same amount of UVR. Muddy water is often warmer than clear water and the eggs would tend to hatch more quickly reducing their exposure of UVR prior to hatching even more. Of course there are other factors including different predator species that may influence how deep perch spawn, but anglers fishing for yellow perch in early spring in muddy waters should at least consider fishing shallow for their fish.

While the preceding study dealt with spawning yellow perch, ultraviolet radiation affects all life, including that of other fish species. Ice and snow cover can reduce UVR, while consistent cloudy conditions can reduce it. A nominal increase in elevation (a half-mile or less) and the resulting, almost unnoticeable shrinkage in the thickness of the atmosphere, can have noticeable increase in UVR.