Siltcoos/Tahk/10mile lakes coho thread

Monday 9:30am:  dams are open.  Tahk just a little (plus lots of water flowing down the fish ladder now), Siltcoos river really moving plus a big high tide at 11am and 10' surf.  Based on previous years, the next week or 2 will be the main runs and catching, with some fish coming in right through December. 

Woo-hoo! Tear em up Roger! Thanks for the update!

Good news with weather to fill up the rivers and lakes for the coho run.   What typical lures are used for the coho in the lake? If all goes well I am scheduling to fish for two days (Fri/Sat) of this week.
What are the possibilities to connect for these two days?

Good news with weather to fill up the rivers and lakes for the coho run.   What typical lures are used for the coho in the lake? If all goes well I am scheduling to fish for two days (Fri/Sat) of this week.
What are the possibilities to connect for these two days?

the most popular/productive plug to troll, near shore or in travel lane, is a Brad's Wiggler (not the Wee or Magnum, must the regular sized Wiggler), 2 mph about 50' back, no weight.

spinners of various colors (depending on weather/sun), 1/2 to 3/4oz (Blue Fox 4 or 5), with or without hoochie, cast near shore or trolled in coho travel lanes (scattered PBs will show you those), some people troll small flasher with spinner behind but I just troll them bare so that I can cast and troll with the same rod. my trick to minimize weed cleaning is to cast my spinner back while moving and drop the rod into holder, "spin-trolling" is what I call this.

12# test leader and good hooks, state record coho 26# was caught in Siltcoos, I'm expecting some big ones (15#+) in there this year.

not a bait fishery, lots of weeds and shallow, max depth 20', end of the week there should be lots of coho up in the spawning arms, Maple creek (NE corner) and Fiddle creek (SE) corner.

I'm fishing the lakes Tue-Thur but switching to CoosBay Friday to chase lingcod and grab some winter crabs, probably resting Saturday to watch my Cougs get bowl eligible. lol 

good luck, post pictures!

Hope to get down there after my Tioga elk hunt.  I’ve fished Tahkenitch for the past several years, but never Siltcoos.  I’ve dropped crayfish traps in Fiddle Creek, while camping at Tahkenitch in the past, and caught some large signal crawdads.  Really love that area, and wish it wasn’t a 4 hour drive from where I live in NW Portland.

Thanks for all the great info!

not as many fresh fish in as I expected but we saw lots caught up the Maple arm, 27" hen for me casting a spinner after I saw her roll, really nice eggs for my winter steelheading and nice orange flesh.  Siltcoos is full, they should be opening the dam more.

Shoot, I worked towards booth island and up to the Fiddle creek trestle and back with two rainbow trout (not big) to show for my effort.  Guess I should have gone over to the Maple Creek arms instead. Oh well I'll try again in a week or so.

Last year I learned that I cannot cover Siltcoos Lake in one day on a kayak … or a pb for that matter. It’s too big.
Tomorrow AM I plan to launch from the ramp off 101 and cover the west side of the lake past booth island. Then I’ll return to the ramp, load up and … move to Ada, launch, fish Maple Arm then sleep overnight.
Thursday AM is still undecided. It could be Maple Arm or Tahkenitch Five Mile, or Tahkenitch Creek to the dam, or a reverse of Wednesday.

Hmmm. Suggestions?

Last year I learned that I cannot cover Siltcoos Lake in one day on a kayak … or a pb for that matter. It’s too big.
Tomorrow AM I plan to launch from the ramp off 101 and cover the west side of the lake past booth island. Then I’ll return to the ramp, load up and … move to Ada, launch, fish Maple Arm then sleep overnight.
Thursday AM is still undecided. It could be Maple Arm or Tahkenitch Five Mile, or Tahkenitch Creek to the dam, or a reverse of Wednesday.

Hmmm. Suggestions?

these are big lakes, if I am doing all of Siltcoos, including both arms, I go counterclockwise- west shoreline, past Booth Island, over to ADA resort, then jump up Fiddle arm (only fishing the top of arm), jump to east shoreline (trolling that side past the RR bridges), up Maple arm, jump west to to Arrowhead Pt, troll past Jernigan Island and to the outlet marina, fish west shore a bit, go home, rest the next day.  lol

Tahk creek starts at the 101 bridge (fishing deadline), dam is just below that, so no creek to fish at Tahk. The small marina area just east of 101 occasionally has fish rolling on their way through when the dam is open but I've never hooked one there. 5 mile arm is closest to the 2 boat launches by 101, start fishing past the RR bridge. Mallard arm is way far from the BLs but same thing, get past the RR bridge and fish.

the fish I saw caught yesterday (about 10) looked to have been in the Siltcoos tidewater (ocean to dam) for a while, reddish bucks (including about a 16pounder) and off-chrome hens (like mine). The 'chrome' run that usually comes in after the dam has been opened and lots of fresh water is flowing into the ocean has yet to make much of an appearance this year, hoping to see it soon.   

I'm going to say the lake coho run is well underway, fish being caught in areas and hopefully lots more coming, especially at Tahk, water level seems very high, more dam opening likely soon...

just a stellar 29" hen for me today, other boats were catching fish today but seems like only at certain times in a few locations. close by, SD2OR released one not long after mine and I'm not sure he located another after that.  Been there, done that. lol

Thanks for the update! I will be at Tahkenitch at first light tomorrow - grey/dune 2018 hobie revo. I'll be in an orange dry suit (staying both dry and warm, hopefully). Hope to see some of y'all out there.  --Steve

I plan on fishing the Mallard Creek arm Saturday.
Is there going to be an issue parking or is that fiasco more at the boat launches?

As Roger said, caught a 26", slightly dark hen in Maple arm Siltcoos yesterday, and released it, hoping for bigger. I later regretted it, cause I was only able to manage a 14" cutthroat afterward.

I had two other salmon on breifly,, and one drive by. Saw at least 8-10 caught, and lots of boats headed in early,  that I assume limited.

Only took me about 20 mins this morning to get a cutty and a 29.75" buck. Was quite red, but cut surprisingly well. Got it within sight of the launch at Tahk's Mallard arm. Was a beautiful misty morning.

Always a pleasure fishing with ya Roger!

Sounds like a number of people will be hitting Tahk tomorrow,  good luck to you all.

Forgot to mention, last night at about sunset, there were a ton of fish, both below and above Tahkenitch dam, including some really big ones. You guys should do well tomorrow.

I plan on fishing the Mallard Creek arm Saturday.
Is there going to be an issue parking or is that fiasco more at the boat launches?

there seems to be plenty of parking along the gravel road at Mallard creek.

sounds like some NWKA folks were there today and had some fun, I'm planning to fish it Friday early.

Yesterday I spent nearly six hours on the CCW tour of Siltcoos from West Lake.  It was a nice day for a boat ride.  I got to chat with some nice folks and I got to see some nice fish caught ... but I got skunked.

This morning I launched from Nightingales at about 9:30.  At 10:15 I was heading back to the dock with a shiny 27" hen ... she succumbed to the local trolling recipe and a spicy cayenne/black Brad's wiggler.  She went on ice.

By 12:15 I was on the water at the Tahkenitch/Mallard Water Hole.  It was a beautiful afternoon with only two PBs in the search.  After three hours I found no fish and I headed for the barn.