One salmon weighed in was caught by an angler who didn’t bother to purchase a $10 derby ticket, so his humongous Chinook salmon that weighed 45 pounds, 6 ounces when he caught it at 7 a.m., — 42 pounds 6 ounces when it was weighed in at the Reedsport ramp four hours later — did not win him $650.
Winners from Albany
The winner for the first day was Richard Bresch of Albany with a 33.2-pound salmon that barely edged out a couple of other fish. Sue Rifenbark of Roseburg won the second day’s $150 prize with a 26.1-pound fish. Her fishing partner led much of Saturday with an equally sized salmon. Monday morning’s winner weighed 33.5 pounds and ended up putting $650 into Taylor Bayne’s pocket. Ironically, Taylor’s father fished with Richard Bresch for many years, and Bresch would have won the contest if Taylor had not topped him by 5 ounces on Monday morning.
The winners of the three $100 Blue Tag drawings for anglers turning in salmon were: Roger Bagge of Shedd; Jarvis Pryor (no address given) and Tracy Hitt from Redmond. The winner of the $100 ticket stub drawing was Keith Wilson from Atlanta, Ga.
Good river fishing
Salmon fishing, while somewhat inconsistent, has occasionally been very good and big salmon seem to be in abundance. A few anglers are catching fish between the entrance to the East Boat Basin in Winchester Bay and Marker 12 and also in the ocean near the Umpqua River mouth and along the South Jetty. Ocean anglers need to be aware that last Monday was the last legal day for ocean salmon fishing.
A very few anglers are fishing above Reedsport near the Elk Viewing Area and also below Sawyers Rapids. Salmon fishing on the Siuslaw is slowly improving and the Rogue has been slow due to cooler than normal water temperatures, but Coos River and the lower Coquille have produced some very good Chinook salmon fishing last week. The Siuslaw has been producing some very good sea-run cutthroat trout angling.
Crab Bounty Hunt
The Crab Bounty Hunt, which runs a month later this year, got off to a quick start as several tagged crab were caught during the initial weekend. People catching crab with numbered spinner blades attached to their hind legs should take them to the Sportsmen’s Cannery in Winchester Bay. Initially, they will win a T-shirt or hat, but they may find out at the end of the month that their tagged crab was worth a cash prize of $1,000.
After giving the proper contact information, the lucky crabber gets to keep his crab. A total of 100 tagged crabs are being released, but the initial drop consisted of 33 tagged crabs released between Half Moon Bay and the entrance to the East Boat Basin. Art Dever, who is in charge of making sure all 100 tagged crab are actually dumped into the river, goes out of his way to show dock-bound crabbers that a good portion of those tagged crabs are being put into the water very close to their crab-catching devices.
Ocean crabbing better
Crabbing was absolutely incredible entering the Labor Day weekend in the lower river between Half Moon Bay and the entrance to the East Boat Basin, but when that many crab are taken out, replacement crab, or new recruits, need to enter the lower river from the ocean to replace the caught ones. In other words, it is possible to drastically reduce the available legal crab in the lower river if they are caught too quickly. That is a problem, that sports crabbers have a very difficult time doing in the ocean.
In other words, while the crabbing at Winchester Bay is really, really good, it is even better in the ocean. As an example, Sam Gardner and Bob Painter left several large crab pots in the ocean Saturday night and picked them up Sunday morning and got limits of crab for seven people (84 total) — but one pot had 45 legal male crabs in it and three females.
Perch fishing
A few people are starting to get over their salmon mania and are once again fishing, with good success, the North Beach Area for surfperch and also the South Jetty for assorted bottomfish. Although sturgeon and striped bass are available, there have been few reports of successful catches.
Windy afternoons have pretty much canceled all would-be tuna trips. They are still available when conditions are right, but the fish have recently been scattered and catches have been nominal.
Most area lakes are providing decent fishing for yellow perch, but the area’s hottest warm-water fishing is for smallmouth bass on the Umpqua River above Scottsburg.
Inconsiderate folks
I simply have to address the problem of some incredibly inconsiderate people using our outdoor resources. I have recently watched a boat and trailer avoid a curbside parking spot near the Pah Tong Restaurant and pull crossways into the adjacent parking lot and take up seven parking spaces.
Last Saturday morning, I watched as a boat and trailer, instead of parking across the street on U.S. Highway 101, as truck drivers so often do, instead parked crossways in the 7-Eleven parking lot, blocking both entrances from Highway 101.
Recently, a crabber at Winchester Bay dropped crab pots well within casting distance of anglers casting for salmon at Osprey Point, greatly reducing the fishable area that anglers could cast into. Whether it is due to ignorance, arrogance or downright meanness, these acts can greatly reduce the amount of pleasure most visitors to our area enjoy.
Amateur derby
The 11th Annual Coos Basin Amateur Salmon Derby takes place this coming weekend. Tickets are $20, and kids under 13 years of age can fish for free. People who have already purchased tickets can attend the barbecue and oyster feed that will run from 5 - 8 p.m. at the Menasha facility, 1515 Sheridan in North Bend. In addition to some great food, there will be a silent auction.
The actual contest will run from an hour before sunrise on Saturday and Sunday to 6 p.m. on Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday. The awards ceremony will start at 4:30 p.m. Sunday at the Eastside Boat Ramp. The four weigh stations are: Eastside Boat Ramp, Myrtle Tree Boat Ramp, California Street Ramp (North Bend) and the Dora Ramp (Millicoma). Tickets for the derby may be purchased at Englund Marine in Charleston, Coos Bay Marine, the Y Marina and The Bite’s On Bait & Tackleshop (all in Empire), Butler Pronto Print in Coos Bay and North Bend Lanes.
The cash prizes for the largest salmon will be $500 for first place, $250 for second place, $150 for third place and $100 for fourth place. In addition, there will be a ticket stub drawing for a cash prize of $500.
The heaviest salmon taken by a junior angler will be worth $100. Every participant in a boat must have a valid derby ticket to be eligible. Since it is an amateur tournament, guides and their clients are not eligible.
For more information, call the ODFW office at 541-888-5515 or Valerie Pena at 541-759-2709 or 541-404-3712. Email this story | Print this story | Local sports IndexThe comments above are from users of theumpquapost.com and do not necessarily represent the views of The Umpqua Post or Lee Enterprises. Participation Guidelines
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