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Stripers in Oregon

25K views 13 replies 9 participants last post by  RnB 
#1 ·
How is the striper fishing on the Smith River in Oregon?
 
#2 ·
Hi twig maybe a move to the west coast forum will spur some answers here. i know theres stripers in that part of the world. In fact theres one or two guys have fished it that are members. Have a go on the search feature in the west coast forum. Coos Bay, Coos River, and Coquille River: Striped bass, shad, and sturgeon are available for anglers in the spring. The population of striped bass in the Coquille River has been stronger in recent years than the population in the Coos Basin. The striper bite usually slows down during the spawning period in late May and early June, but picks up again post-spawning.
In the marine zone at Coos County beaches and jetties: Striped bass are caught by surfperch anglers casting in the surf.
I think the Umpqua is a winter steelhead and springtime chinook fishery.

Good luck and welcome
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edit ** Theres also a little bit of info on our oregon page. Stripers247 oregon
 
#7 ·
I've never heard of any Stripers being caught in the Siuslaw but if I was to hunt for them there I would start around Mapleton. It looks like the areas I fish on the Smith, Coos and the Coquille rivers. But if your new to Striper fishing I would go down to Smith River, put in at the second boat ramp (13 miles up) and go up river above the North Fork, there is a tight corner that is shallow at low tide but you can cross. I fish from there up to the 21 mile concrete bridge. I put some maps on to look at. Good Luck!!!!

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#10 ·
I've never heard of any Stripers being caught in the Siuslaw but if I was to hunt for them there I would start around Mapleton. It looks like the areas I fish on the Smith, Coos and the Coquille rivers. But if your new to Striper fishing I would go down to Smith River, put in at the second boat ramp (13 miles up) and go up river above the North Fork, there is a tight corner that is shallow at low tide but you can cross. I fish from there up to the 21 mile concrete bridge. I put some maps on to look at. Good Luck!!!!

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Back in the late sixties-early seventies there were Stripers in the Siuslaw. There is a back-channel (South side) from just East of Cushman, seven or so miles to where the Midway Dock use to be. We would drift in and out with the tides and throw top-water bass lures. It was an easy drift where you only had to touch your electric motor to keep off the bank curves. The old man who used to own the Cushman store had one about fifty pounds hanging in the store. He caught it there. The Siuslaw fishery died about '75 and I went to the Umpqua/Smith. The limit then was 5 a day. We should not have kept as many as we did.

I have never fished very far up the Umpqua/Smith. I usually fish late April to Oct. from the railroad bridge to the mouth. I knew nothing of the water so I went to the Fish&Wildlife and the OR institute of Marine Biology at Charleston to get info about Stripers. The Fish&Wildlife did not know squat, nor did they want to as the Stiper was not a 'gamefish' and was being legally netted for cat-food. At the 'Institute', the woman who ran the thing asked ME what the Latin name was so she could look it up.
So....I told her (it was Roccus Saxatilus Then) and she pulled about three generic sheets of paper out of a file cabinet. My 'fact-finding' was in the toilet so I thought for a minute and thought 'forage'. I then asked if anything was known about shrimp or seaworms in the estuaries.

You could have knocked me over with a flyrod. They had JUST finished a survey, with divers, on shrimp and worm beds in both the Umpqua AND Coos systems. Everything was in the lower ten miles of both systems. I marked everything on my charts and went off grinning.

The Stripers in the Umpqua are at low cycle but rising slowly according to current F&W info. I booked days with Tod Hannah the last two summers (thought I would learn something). I should have learned something the first time. We caught a few just under length but I nearly cast my arm off. The guy does not use bait and does not do nights.

Back in the seventies, after the Striper was made a game-fish, I have watched gill-netters after Shad pull up nets and throw dead male Stripers back in, many dead Stripers. Striper spawning run from hell...you think?

The Coquille is the deal now. The average depth is about 12 feet on the straight runs but every curve has a hole fron thirty to forty feet deep, clear up past the town of Coquille. Use an underwater camera to see which holes are holding fish.

Good luck.....and... I haven't killed a Striper since 1975. Please put them back in the water......at least until Safeway and Albertson go out of business . By the way, I believe the Oregon State record was caught on a fly by a Florida pro named Joe Brooks.

Bud
 
#8 ·
Thanks for the intel there striperchaser1. I have heard the striper fishing is slim to none on this river too BUT I have heard the same stories about the Sturgeon. I have found those to not be so true. Locals will tell you about some good shad run in this river and a couple years ago a kid from the valley caught a 50lb chinook on the N. Fork. I think we just dont get the exposure down here that the smith/umpqua etc gets. I like it that way too! I would like to hope they may be in here. Its worth a shot to me.
 
#9 ·
I believe there was a pretty good run of Stripers in the Unpqua river years back...Havn't heard anything lately..These were fish from San Francisco delta that traveled that far & maybe started spawning in the river..I believe the Fly caught striper record was in the umpqua...Probably by a Salmon fisherman..years ago. Jim
 
#11 ·
Went out on 1-17-09 on Coos River above the forks and got lucky.
We were on the water for 3 hours and landed 4 fish, 31-33-34-36 inches.
The size limit up to this year was 30 in and up, this year it's 24 and up
still 2 fish in 24 hours. In the winter month I try to hit the rivers when they start coming
down after the rain, just like the Steelhead fishermen. They are going home and I'm
just getting started. Here a picture of the fish we landed.

Striperchaser1
 

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#12 ·
Hi, I'm new to this forum but am interested in learning about striper fishing on the Coquille river. I noticed that the last posts regarding stripers in southern Oregon were in 2009. Is there anyone that still fishes the Coquille for stripers that still is involved with this forum? I have fished the Coquille for salmon and did well trolling for chinook around Riverton this last fall (Oct. 2010). I am retired now and have time to fish when and where I want now. I have done a lot of night fishing for largemouth bass . I live in Riddle, about 11/2 hours from the Riverton and would be eager to hear from someone who is currently fishing for stripers on the Coquille. Back in the 1980's I made several trips to Reedsport and fished the Smith and the Umpqua---I ended up with one striper about 12 lbs out of at least six trips. I stopped going because I coulden't find anyone that knew how to fish for them. I am going to start fishing the Coquille now trying to incorporate what the 10 previous posts at this site said regarding technique and timing. If I don't hear back I guess it will be trial and error, but at least I'll be fishing---and that's what I like to do. Thanks for any updated info.

dstewart
 
#13 ·
Hey dstewart,
Funny that I would respond to your post. I moved from Corvallis, OR to Florida just over 2 years ago. I fished stripers on the Umpqua, Coos, Smith, & Siuslaw rivers from about 1967 through about 2004. I would suggest you call the regional ODFW office and ask to speak to a fisheries biologist who knows about the Coquille fishery. I spoke to one several years ago and he had good info.
The Smith still has fish, but it's mostly night fishing with an electric motor, trolling floating rapala, rebel, and bomber stick baits (troll with the tide, rather than against it, at least until fish are located). Most of the action in the winter is above the north fork, while in the spring the fish may be scattered all the way down to the Umpqua.. We used to fish the lower Smith in May and June casting stick baits at night beginning about high tide and fishing around pilings and mud flats on the outgoing.
A guy did catch a 66 pounder on a fly in the exact area we fished (it was not Joe Brooks, as someone suggested). His fish was caught in the early dawn hours. My best were a couple of 42 pounders, although a friend (?) cut off a fish I had fought for over an hour that I knew was much bigger.
Good luck in your quest.
 
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