Gales Creek coho

[sapo]

I'm gonna somehow make some time to find a spot on the Tualatin this weekend to throw some kinda hardware out there. If there was any water moving I think you could sorta plunk a spinner or plug, like backtrolling from the bank, but it's gotta be so slow moving that I'll just spend an hour tossing spinners and call it quits.

Pinstriper, go to the lower mile or two of the Tualatin. It's where most of the coho will be right now and it is a night and day difference from the Tualatin at say cook park. It's fast flowing, clear and colder. Go to the YouTube channel in my signature and we have a video of the Tualatin at fields bridge park. Hardware would work, I'll probably get out there the weekend before it closes.

 

[sapo]

Also rogerdodger thanks for the regs help!! You're my go to guy for that stuff lol

 

[pinstriper]

sorry for the perceived thread diversion but avoiding a $600 ticket would be considered 'helping' to most people..

not sure I am reading pinstriper correctly above so to be safe: Willamette Zone regs allow only retention of fin clipped salmon unless modified by Special Regs.

bottom line: only fin clipped coho can be retained in the Tualatin River and it's tributaries like Gales Creek. cheers, roger

I'll argue the point. Everywhere else in the special regs, they go out of their way to say "adipose fin-clipped whatever". To me, the omission of that means any coho, and its open. The only time they use the phrase "non-adipose fin clipped" is when they follow it with "over 24 inches".

I think it's open for any coho, any length, per the special regs.

Maybe I'm wrong, but once again an example of how ambiguous the regs are and difficult to interpret. Which is driving people out of the sport, and hindering their entry.

 

[damonspreng]

Didn't mean you were stealing my tad or anything just looking for more info on my topic I appreciate you looking out for others on regulations and fines

 

[rogerdodger]

I'll argue the point. Everywhere else in the special regs, they go out of their way to say "adipose fin-clipped whatever". To me, the omission of that means any coho, and its open. The only time they use the phrase "non-adipose fin clipped" is when they follow it with "over 24 inches".

I think it's open for any coho, any length, per the special regs.

Maybe I'm wrong, but once again an example of how ambiguous the regs are and difficult to interpret. Which is driving people out of the sport, and hindering their entry.

I think you are correct, the "Open for coho" would seem to modify the zone regs on only clipped salmon being retained, so that means it is open to retention of any coho, which surprises me for the Willamette zone but I guess the Santiam river is also open for any coho...carry on.

 

[FishNinja]

According to odfw there were no native coho above willamette falls. Any there now are descendants of hatchery stock. That's why they allow retention. There are no hatchery coho above the falls.

Sent from my LG-H631 using Tapatalk

 

[GungasUncle]

For those not familiar with the area...

Clapshaw Hill Rd intersects Gales Creek Rd (Hwy 8) just outside "town" in Gales Creek - about 5 miles outside of Forest Grove, a few miles before the Hwy 6 junction at Dorman's Pond. It's all private land in that area, and no place to park to hike under the bridge. Strange place for a deadline, but the majority of the creek runs through private land with little/no public access.

Right now the creek is very low water - fishing is likely very poor. I would doubt any salmon have made it up the creek - those that have made it up the Tualatin into Gales are probably in the lower reach of the creek near the mouth where the water is a bit deeper on average (probably best access will be the pull out on B street on the south end of Forest Grove)

I was just out fishing Dorman's Pond yesterday and the creek was really scary low. Even Dorman's pond is at the lowest I've ever seen it - there is an exposed land bridge cutting the eastern third of the pond off from the main body and there's a huge mud flat on the SE corner of the pond right now.

If Tualatin Basin coho are on the agenda - the lower reaches of the Tualatin will be the best shot by far - more water, more oxygen, and likely way more fish. Plus there's quite a bit of public access compared to the upper reaches of the system and the tribs.

This "Super El Nino" they're forecasting for this winter has me worried - they're predicting most of the country will be wetter than usual, while we here in the PNW will be drier than usual and will continue to see drought conditions. That sucks. My early prediction is that if the El Nino pans out like they say - we're going to see a repeat of the stream fishing restrictions next year, with an earlier start date to them, if not an outright stream fishing ban once summer kicks in. Bring your own parking space, and your own rock to stand on to fish whatever still water body you wish to fish on.

Gales, Rock, Dairy - and the Tualatin won't fare well with continued droughts and the fish will suffer. The coho on these streams are self sustaining wild populations - but another drought year might do them in.

 

[DrTheopolis]

...

 

[sapo]

Actually, GungasUncle, on the El Nino winter, I would have to disagree.

I'm very into weather myself, so anyway: Typically El Nino winters are mild in Portland and usually they are pretty dry because of the upper level high pressure in Western Canada causing most of the heavy precip to head into Southern Oregon and California (El Nino means wet for Cali). However, it's looking like a strong El Nino year, as you said "Super El Nino" and usually the stronger the El Nino, the more precip we get here. For example, the years where we had strong El Ninos, 82/83 and 97/98, those winters were also wetter than usual.

So if we get a strong El Nino (we probably will), we'll probably have a wet winter. Meteorologist saying we'll have a drought winter may not be accurate..I tend to trust Mark Nelsen and he's also calling for a wet winter.

So, most likely we'll have a wet, warm winter in Portland this winter which will help the river levels a lot. I'm not too concerned..But for the snow lovers, probably no big snow event (there's a chance, but typically those are on La Ninas), but we may see a freezing rain event. We'll see. Point is, we are not having a drought winter.

 

[pinstriper]

Pinstriper, go to the lower mile or two of the Tualatin. It's where most of the coho will be right now and it is a night and day difference from the Tualatin at say cook park. It's fast flowing, clear and colder. Go to the YouTube channel in my signature and we have a video of the Tualatin at fields bridge park. Hardware would work, I'll probably get out there the weekend before it closes.

Whelp, I went to FBP, found a couple nice bank spots above a riffle with a nice wide area of slow water - gotta figure them to rest there.

Had been planning to plunk a spin n' glow, but there were lots of large rocks in the water and I thought it would probably be snag city.

So I took a wiggler plug and did some cast 'n retrieve, seeing as how it is a diving plug that floats when still.

Manged a smallmouth around 1#, same some larger fish rolling, closer to the fast water. Gotta be coho, so they're there. Also saw some bass jumping WAAAAAY over in the quiet water by the opposite bank.

But man, I hauled in a lot - and I mean A LOT of this moss-like crap that must be the stuff they make scotchbrite pads from. Nasty grabby stuff, real strong fibers.

 

[sapo]

Sweet thanks for the report! I'm going to try to get out there soon, before it closes. Coho runs are super far behind but if coho are in the Tualatin, that's where they'll be. And I KNOW..I don't know what's up but that seaweed stuff is really annoying.

 

[bubs]

Saw them jumping/rolling in the Tualatin past 2 days

 

[DrTheopolis]

Saw them jumping/rolling in the Tualatin past 2 days

Where abouts? I finally get home Friday after months on the road, and I'm hoping you guys save me a few at all the places I plan to hit, but the Toilet is my hood, and I can go for short trips.

 

[troutmasta]

This "Super El Nino" they're forecasting for this winter has me worried - they're predicting most of the country will be wetter than usual, while we here in the PNW will be drier than usual and will continue to see drought conditions. That sucks. My early prediction is that if the El Nino pans out like they say - we're going to see a repeat of the stream fishing restrictions next year, with an earlier start date to them, if not an outright stream fishing ban once summer kicks in. Bring your own parking space, and your own rock to stand on to fish whatever still water body you wish to fish on.

(

first OFF- Great Post Gungas! Super insightful or those not from the area-

2nd OFF- I read the same thing about this winter...scary stuff.

 

[sapo]

@DrTheo, I think most of the coho are in the lower few miles, (Fields Bridge Park), but the Tualatin rose a lot today with the rain and I'd bet they are distributed all throughout the river. Cook park might be worth a shot if you're close..I think your odds would be better in the lower stretches with cooler, faster water, but if you're close, Cook park might not be a bad option..BTW, when using spinners, you tend to catch a lot more bass than coho, lol, no matter how large the spinner. But the T is a fun local fishery! Let me know how you do, I'm going to get down there this weekend if I'm not slaying chums on the Miami..

 

[sapo]

@Troutmasta and Gungasuncle, where are you guys reading that we're gonna have a dry winter? I mean, the years we've had pretty strong El Ninos (we've had a few-1957, 1965, 1972, 1982, 1987, 1991, 1997, and 2009)-if you look at the average for, say, December-those winters have been wetter than normal. There really isn't anything to point to us having a dry winter. On typical El Ninos we are more likely to have a drier than normal winter, and on stronger El Ninos we are more likely to have a wetter than normal winter.

So I am definitely not worried about streams being too low/warm for the coming summer. I'm confident we'll have an average or slightly wetter than normal winter this year. It's not just me though, Mark Nelsen (IMO best meteorologist in the state) also says he's not really inclined to believe we're going to have a dry winter, and the evidence points to a wet winter.

We'll see what happens-either way, October and November are usually dry with El Ninos..precip picks up in December. But essentially, don't freak out about having a dry winter, because we probably won't.

 

[sapo]

Last comment on the winter, NOAA updated their long range forecast and it looks like we won't be dry (http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/predictions/long_range/lead01/off01_prcp.gif) but northeast of us might have a tough one.