NorthWest Kayak Anglers
Regional Discussions => Oregon Kayak Fishing => Topic started by: rogerdodger on October 06, 2023, 08:24:46 AM
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Opening day report- we did a full counterclockwise loop of Siltcoos on Oct.1, the extended storm in late Sept. really helped, despite dry summer the lake looks better then recent years, 65F water temp up both arms and weeds not heavy at top of both arms (good for trolling up there).
I checked the mouth of Siltcoos river on Sept30 at near high tide and it is not blocked at the beach, there is a nice connection (with 5 seals swimming around in it). Coho should start trickling in over the fish ladder after the next good sized rain event.
Pepper is ready, she even practiced standing way up high on our landing gear wheels, might need to give her a refresher course on low center of gravity.
Planning to be out next week in the rain and again on Oct.14 for the eclipse. cheers, roger
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Thank you Roger! Looking forward to getting out there soon!
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Thanks for the report - eagerly looking forward to trying Tahkenitch again this year...on a warmer day this time!
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checked the lake level today, just as it started to rain, the red star is about how high it usually gets before they crack open the dam. until then, we will have coho coming in over the fish ladder but the big surges of fish are usually related to dam operations.
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Siltcoos was cloudy during the eclipse but about an hour later, things got real shiny...saw him roll in an area with about 3' of water over weeds, switched to a 3/8oz spinner and about the third cast, what I thought might be a weed pulled back and then ran off about 50 yards of line. shiny 27" buck.
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Very nice! I will be watching the forecast for a potential trip on Wednesday. Should be a fair bit of rain Sunday-Monday.
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I am expecting coho to trickle in for now so it's worth fishing if you are looking for a nice day at the lake with a chance of coho.
The next significant rain just popped up on https://www.nwrfc.noaa.gov/rfc/ about 10 days out, the more the better. Based on that, looks like end of October is when Siltcoos gets really hot and Tahk fires up.
As for weather, just watch the wind, not much fun out there at 10mph or above and down right dangerous if it gets to gusting.
my video from a relaxing day out there yesterday, I did include some extra info on approach and lures I use for these lake coho...
https://youtu.be/4VUGqgbCIMM?si=W_qmtiN2elSFCQuz
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Great video! Too bad about the battey.... Fun stuff.
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Tuesday- as expected, a few coho rolling in places but not on the bite, we did hook one in the afternoon near the outlet, absolutely no other boats out in that area, it looked similar to my eclipse coho, we lost it at the PB before a netting opportunity.
next rain is the key, looking like the end of Oct and first 2 weeks of Nov are going to be lake coho fun. beautiful out there now and there are some coho, just limited numbers as of now.
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My catch of the day, lil largemouth.
Puppy was bored with lack of action too.
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Spent the day kayaking, mostly with Cameron, and with Roger and his power boat a little bit. Saw a few fish rolling and was casting at them, but they just wouldn’t bite. Didn’t see any hooked on the maple arm. We fished from 830 till about 330 so we put in our time!
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Wednesday afternoon East side Maple Arm: 3 hours, 3 rolls, 0 bites.
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Made it Siltcoos lake this morning. Talk to a couple of people launching and they were all headed to Miller arm for maybe a hail-mary salmon. They see my fly rod with the super small trout like fly and made the comment that this was more a salmon run now then a trout run. As I turn to walk away, I made the comment I wasn't here for the trout. Headed out going left towards Booth Island, at first didn't see much -you know turtles some birds, people on the docks having morning coffee and waving. The plan was to cruise the shoreline looking for any and all activity. Well, that plan fell through! So I started casting like I was bass fishing. Right off a fine jack hit and we tussled a bit before being released. A couple of hours go by and few more were had just under legal salmon size. Came to a small feeder creek and made a cast and before I could even blink the fly line was peeling out into the lake. A few scenic rocket jumps and a couple of attempts to get back into weeds she was in the net. Rested and revived I let her swim off hoping for more to come. I was not wrong, 3 more came from the same spot. Then it was time to head back for my mother-in-law birthday party. All in all 4 -Silvers and 3- jacks with one jack going to the M-I-L. Would have kept one of the Silvers but didn't want to show everyone else up at the party.
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excellent.
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Roger, I had to go really small on the flies, like 1"- 1 1/2" orange/gold.
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Roger, I had to go really small on the flies, like 1"- 1 1/2" orange/gold.
anyone that has fished the lakes with me has heard that I like gold/orange better than silver/pink, even on sunny days and especially if it's overcast or sunrise/sunset lighting. Jacks always a good sign, they seem to lead in the main run most years and are delicious stuffed and baked whole.
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still seems like just a few coho are coming in, Pepper and I had the lake almost to ourselves Tuesday but I did find this stunning coho while casting my spinner in the shallows. Was hoping it was a big jack but nope, a little longer than the 'legal lingcod' marks on my bow so I passed it in front of the GoPro and right back into the water...
this forecast says it all, see image below for what it was.
link: https://www.nwrfc.noaa.gov/river/station/flowplot/flowplot.cgi?MPLO3
once they crack the dam, either after tonight/tomorrows rain or after that bump starting Nov1, things should be very fun at both lakes.
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Wednesday 11am, no surprises:
Tahk dam- closed
Siltcoos dam- closed.
Siltcoos level- slightly higher than yesterday, still probably a foot below where they normally crack the dam.
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We had the dam operator at Tahkenitch lower the lake level a couple feet this summer to aid in implementing a restoration project on Fivemile Creek. As a result, Tahk may take a little longer to reach good "coho levels" than usual. I'd plan accordingly!
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We had the dam operator at Tahkenitch lower the lake level a couple feet this summer to aid in implementing a restoration project on Fivemile Creek. As a result, Tahk may take a little longer to reach good "coho levels" than usual. I'd plan accordingly!
if I read that correctly..."Larger coho expected in Tahkenitch this year, just in time for Thanksgiving!". lol
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Yep, just giving em a little more time to grow bigger 8).
The lakes typically grow the largest coho on the coast, and the average size coho for 2023 in the rivers is impressive. I wouldn't be surprised to hear of fish eclipsing 15 lbs being hooked in the lakes this year.
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wow, the lake level at Tahk is still low. This is the south end of the RR bridge at 5-mile arm. that red arrow points to the opening that I normal glide through with my drive fins snug up against the hull, rudder often bumping the wood. Normally by now, when they would be close to opening the dam, there is at least 8" of water above the large wood beam.
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Tried Siltcoos for a few hrs yesterday. Marked a few salmon, saw one jump. Lost a decent cutthroat at the boat, and caught 8 lil largemouth.
Since I still can't access the AOTY page, would an administrator kindly submit the ambitious baby bass for me, for the TFS?
Thank you!
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Hey Roger, Been pretty wet today in the Valley. Hopefully getting a good dosing at the coast as well. How many days of this do you think it will take to get the dams open?
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Hey Roger, Been pretty wet today in the Valley. Hopefully getting a good dosing at the coast as well. How many days of this do you think it will take to get the dams open?
mostly wind here so far but rain is coming and Siltcoos should open soon, I'm checking the lakes later Thursday, update below. Planning to fish Siltcoos Friday because after that, looks like 4 days of strong wind and rain...
Update 2pm Thursday- neither dam open, Siltcoos slightly higher and close to where they normally open the dam. Tahk still low. Off and on gusty wind today and just light rain, still expecting big rain soon.
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Siltcoos is full of water and it is raining hard in Florence. No coho wanted to play today, I tried flies, spinners, and my favorite Brad's wiggler. Oldhammer got a very nice SRC today, close to 20" is my guess. More kayaks than powerboats out today...
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Saturday 11am- Siltcoos up another half foot overnight, full pond. Tahk needs another foot or so. Both dams closed. All 3 trailers in the Siltcoos parking lot were duck hunters (dog kennels in the truck beds).
Strong gusty winds from SW today, see image, this wind direction isn't an issue for the west side of the lake...I'd be out later this afternoon to fish the west shoreline if the dam was open. Wind from E or SE is the bad stuff, I really avoid that at Siltcoos.
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Siltcoos is full of water and it is raining hard in Florence. No coho wanted to play today, I tried flies, spinners, and my favorite Brad's wiggler. Oldhammer got a very nice SRC today, close to 20" is my guess. More kayaks than powerboats out today...
Followed rogerdodger around the lake on Friday. My pedaling was no match for his new trolling motor set-up. Saw two rolls but no coho love. Caught a fat 18 in src that looked to have escaped a sealion or two.
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I have talked with several boats this weekend that report little or no coho action so far but they mentioned catching some larger than normal (for the last few years anyway) SeaRunCutthroat (16"-20")- nice chunky ones that have been eating really well in the ocean. ;D
(FYI- trout on the coho lakes are normal regs- 5 per day all year but only 1 per day can be over 20".)
Lake keeps rising...
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Monday 10am-
Siltcoos dam open.
Tahk dam still closed.
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Thank you Roger for all of your updates. Now all I need is for the weather to cooperate with my schedule. Unfortunately that my day is a week out.
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less coho activity than expected Tuesday, lake level even higher so dam might not have been open very long. I woke up a big coho buck at 10am casting a spinner near shore at the south end and he was not happy with me. I'm guessing 30" and 10#, not chrome but would have kept it except I wanted to fish more, easy release...all I heard at the launch was a few jacks being caught, I left at 1pm so might have been an afternoon bite...
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Fished from 0930 to 230. Saw or heard only one guy with a salmon. I lost one trout at the boat. Fished west side near the outlet and then made the trek across the lake to the Maple Arm. Boats seemed to be shifting around a lot which often means no one is finding fish so they keep trying new spots.
Beautiful day on the lake after about 1000
Going to give it another go tomorrow
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Holy smokes there was a lot of boats on the lake today. They were coming 5 and 6 at a time during launching. No idea where they all parked. All the usual spots had a cluster of boats trolling or casting. More than a couple times I found myself lined up with a boat on either side trolling towards a couple boats heading towards us. Always worked out, but lots of close passes.
Saw a couple fish, didn't seem super fast. I was twice as good as yesterday with two trout. No salmon, very sad. I may need to stick to rockfish and smallmouth, they like me.
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just 8 trailers at the launch Thursday at 8:15am but it's going to get crowded real soon. river moving but not as much as Monday, so looks like they have set the dam to try and match water flowing into the lake, but lake is even higher than Tuesday so the next dam change would be to open it more. main coho run should be moving in over the next week.
Tahk dam closed 8am Thursday and I don't think it has been opened yet, foot higher than Monday and lake level getting close to where they normally open the dam there.
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report from Siltcoos- crowded but not combat fishing, especially if you avoided a few well known areas, we put 3 chrome hens on my PB, all about 28", they had been eating real well....lake is full of water.
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Nice work Roger! Good lookin' fish!
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Awesome!
Thanks again for all the updates and reports. This is Reed, the guy in the Hobie PA14 that said hi over in the Fiddle Creek Arm towards the end of October. I’m planning on heading down from Portland Sunday afternoon, and fishing Siltcoos Mon-Wed/Thur.
Any thoughts on hitting Tahkenitch in the near future?
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Awesome!
Thanks again for all the updates and reports. This is Reed, the guy in the Hobie PA14 that said hi over in the Fiddle Creek Arm towards the end of October. I’m planning on heading down from Portland Sunday afternoon, and fishing Siltcoos Mon-Wed/Thur.
Any thoughts on hitting Tahkenitch in the near future?
yes, I saved 2 coho tag spaces for Tahk, planning to hit it on Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday and maybe the week after Thanksgiving.
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Gave Siltcoos a whirl today on my buddy's boat. I've only fished it via kayak, so the ability to zip around from one place to another was a treat. We pitched spinners towards sunken timber, weed lines, etc. Hot color was silver blade/chartreuse body...for coho, anyway.
After catching a few largemouth and cutthroat on silver blade/pink body, we came upon some rolling coho in the back of a cove. I missed a coho jack right at the boat, then my buddy got a jack 10 seconds later. Couple minutes go by, and he picked up a nice adult buck coho. He switched over to a dark blue Keitech swimbait to try for bass, and hooked another coho on the swimbait! It threw the hook after a few seconds.
I released another cuttie, and my buddy was nice enough to loan me his silver blade/chartreuse spinner. A few minutes later, I'm rolling the spinner over a weed bed and hooked up on something bigger than a bass or trout. Heavy fish! A few minutes later, we slide a 32+ inch, 13.5 lb buck in the net. A little blush on him, but he cut beautifully. We were done by noon.
Everyone else we saw on the water today were trolling in the open water. We were the only ones casting towards shore. Not sure how the trollers were faring, but all the rolling fish we saw were too tight to the shore for effective trolling.
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right on, nothing going on at Tahk today, lake is still low, chrome coho in December? sounds good to me...
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Hit Siltcoos today as well for my third try at a Coho this year in the kayak. It was a beautiful morning and I launched around 730 or so. Paddled over to the river outlet made one cast and realized my line was wrapped around my pole in between the eyes. I cut the line and re-rigged, and on the second cast of the day hooked into a super chrome 25” buck! My very first salmon from my Compass😀 headed back to EUG and was home by 9:30 to watch some football. Got one pic with the cell phone. Clayman I spoke to you in the parking lot as you guys were launching. Super nice fish dude!
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Right on hobster, congrats again on that fish! We tried the outlet first thing this morning, but no dice. I've always wanted to hook a fish that close to the ramp. Half dozen boats trolling around the outlet when we were heading back to the ramp, so maybe it turned on there again?
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Thanks man! I was supposed to hit Tahk with Roger, but decided I might have better luck at Siltcoos. Glad I went😀
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As my Tahk trip was more about a guaranteed supply of chanterelles and less about coho, I might have been nudging people towards Siltcoos...in other words...
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Arrived Sunday evening in a pouring rain, and set up “camp” (ADA Fishing Resort) in the dark. Fished hard (mostly trolling) for the past 3 days, and only have 6 cutthroat trout, 4 ducks, and a nutria in the cooler for my efforts. Kind of a cast and blast trip. I’m planning to set up for ducks in the Fiddle Creek Arm early in the morning, then try for coho. I’ll probably try more casting tight to the banks, as that seemed to work well for Clayman. I dressed out the nutria (swamp rat) and kept the rear saddle, which is really good when slow cooked.
I drove into Reedsport tonight, and checked the Tahkenitch dam on the way back. All the gates are still closed; all that’s open is the fish ladder. Probably going to hit Siltcoos for 2 more days, then head back to the abyss (NW PDX). I’ll post again if I figure anything out.
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Fishing buddy here in Florence calls the lake 'Sillycoos' because the coho bite bounces between hot and cold for no reason.
Tahk dam still closed 9am Thursday, rain coming Saturday night will hopefully get it opened!
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Fished “Sillycoos” today in my Compass. Launched about 8:30 and fished hard till 2:30. Lots of powerboats today, mostly trolling the travel lanes so I focused on casting spinners at shore and trolling a bit. Hooked and lost one at booth island, was off pretty quick but felt like an adult coho but never got to see her. Seemed quite slow, didn’t see any hooked or roll and only talked to one boat with a fish. Overall just a beautiful day, my Compass is still fairly new to me and my first kayak so I just love being on the water. Had a great day!
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quick holiday week update- fished Siltcoos Tuesday afternoon, just a few (5 or 6) boats out, saw one adult coho caught and met a kayaker that had a jack, nothing happening for Pepper and I.
Tahk dam still appears to have remained closed, water level slowly increasing in the lake, it's about where I normally expect the dam to open. Fished 5 mile arm for almost 3 hours on Wednesday, smooth as glass all morning with light mist and absolutely no sign of any coho. I can't remember ever getting this late into November without the dam getting opened.
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took four attempts, but I got a Siltcoos salmon. Not a giant at 6lbs, but nice silver fish.
Also saw a seal in the lake. Just what we need freshwater seals. I think it would have been entertaining to see the thing waddle up the fish ladder or however it got over the dam.
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I take it you've never seen the seals and sea lions miles upstream in the rivers?
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I know they go far upriver, but I was hoping the dams would be more of an impediment to something their size with no legs and a tubular body.
I have seal stolen salmon PTSD from fishing the rocks in Winchester where they seem to get 75% of the catch
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Nice fish, well done! I’ve never seen seals or sea lions in the lakes. But I’ve only been fishing there for about 6 or 7 years. Not good either way
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Excellent, shiny coho in late November!
Seals are not uncommon in Siltcoos this time of year but I have only seen them in years when the coho run is strong, I don't consider seeing them a bad thing. Back in like 2015-16, I remember seeing a couple all the way up Fiddle Creek arm. More common is to see them near the outlet river/marina. I heard radio chatter about seals on Tuesday.
Looks like solid rain coming about December 1!
PS- I've never seen a seal in the lakes steal a coho.
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I know they go far upriver, but I was hoping the dams would be more of an impediment to something their size with no legs and a tubular body.
I have seal stolen salmon PTSD from fishing the rocks in Winchester where they seem to get 75% of the catch
Well, they're land mammals after all. I've seen a bull elephant seal and a bull California Sea Lion on top of mighty steep, 30-feet tall reefs, and after that, it's easy to believe they can get around a dam without too much strain.
As Roger said, they aren't too much of a problem in freshwater and they're often a signal that a good run is underway.
The forecast is bouncing around a bit, but it could start raining overnight on Wednesday and keep building through the weekend.
Roger, I'm just curious about this: we're still in the middle of unusually high perigean spring tides. Does that affect the number of salmon entering the creeks below the dams? Do more come in with the high tides and make it up and over the dams?
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I have definitely seen correlation between strong high tides and surges of coho into the lakes. Having visited the mouth of the Siltcoos river numerous times over the years, it makes sense as the connection at low tide can be a trickle (or nothing) but a strong high can create, for several hours, a 50 yard wide connection to the ocean that is several feet deep in areas.
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Thanks for indulging my curiosity, roger. I appreciate it.
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Nov.28, 9am, Tahk lake level slightly higher and no evidence that the dam has been opened yet this year. Big rain and serious wind coming Friday to Monday, so looks like middle of next week could be very shiny at Tahk. hopefully...
Wednesday update from the Northwest River Center...zoiks.
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I fished tahkenitch last Sunday. Was hoping to catch a coho on the fly rod. There were fish rolling on the five mile arm. Fly rod snapped in half on the first cast. Must have shut it in the truck door or something. Caught one small, dark fish around 24 inches on a spinner.
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had a weather window today between waves of rain so Pepper and I hit the conduit launch at the Tahk Mallard Arm for about 4 hours, lake still very high, wind and light rain most of the time. Fished the whole arm and way up the narrow part, no coho jumps or rolls but I did get an 18" dark red jack (that I cooked whole tonight and it was very tasty) and a small bag of chanterelles.
we got absolutely dumped on for about 15 minutes. At this point, I think Pepper was ready to climb up on my lap and steer us back towards the launch. lol
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Shot up to Siltcoos yesterday - mid morning to evening - 1 barley legal jack and 3 cutthroats. Jack wanted to come home with me and the cutties are still(14"-16") in the lake to get bigger. Was down by the far side of Booth Island getting soaking wet and then some. Casting close to/into structure. Duck hunters where in Heaven thou.
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Duck hunters where in Heaven thou.
especially the ones that know how to turn coots into something tasty...
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I've never seen Tahk this high, I actually didn't think it was 'allowed' to get this high.
This was 1pm on Sunday and my guess is in a few hours, so later this afternoon, Tahkenitch is going to be flowing OVER the spillways and also over the edge of the fish ladder. At this point, no need to ever open it, just let the water flow over it. ???
Update: Siuslaw hit flood stage (18') at 3:45pm Sunday.
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especially the ones that know how to turn coots into something tasty...
Dunk them in a crab pot?
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8am Monday, Tahk dam 2 spillways wide open, the other 2 being overflowed by water...fish ladder is full of water, Tahk creek below the dam is same level as the lake now.
Big question- this late in the year with so much rain and more coming, will the remaining coho just shoot right through the lake without so much as a 'howdy do' along the way to the spawning creeks. Only way to find out is to fish the lake Wednesday and/or Friday (low wind days).
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as of my departure, 1:30pm, no joy at Tahk for a group of us out today in excellent rain. 5mile arm lots of brown but the lower lake not brown. lake is at what I would call flood level, so sign of coho, good reports of chanterelles if you can find an entrance into some shoreline national forest land.
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Is there any bank fishing access at either lake where fish might wander by? I'll be in the area next week, sans any floating device and might a have some time to throw a line in the water.
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Is there any bank fishing access at either lake where fish might wander by? I'll be in the area next week, sans any floating device and might a have some time to throw a line in the water.
Your best shot is to fish the Siltcoos River where it flows through Tyee Campground. Cast a spinner there long enough and you might intercept a fish en route to the lake. The fishing deadline is the Hwy 101 bridge.
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Is there any bank fishing access at either lake where fish might wander by? I'll be in the area next week, sans any floating device and might a have some time to throw a line in the water.
Your best shot is to fish the Siltcoos River where it flows through Tyee Campground. Cast a spinner there long enough and you might intercept a fish en route to the lake. The fishing deadline is the Hwy 101 bridge.
correct but I think it's a bit late for that this year. the best time is right after the dam gets opened (and closed, and opened, and...), usually in late-October or early November. There is a bit of bank access at the 101 bridge across the outlet at Tahkenitch but you need to make sure and only fish on the lake side of the bridge because same as Siltcoos, it's the fishing deadline.
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not really any coho activity on Friday up the Mallard arm of Tahk, saw one big fish roll twice early but that was it, water has cleared and is still very high at both lakes, the conduit launch was super easy to use with plenty of water to get out over the weeds. Lake is maybe 2' below the road level.
that wraps up my salmon season, time to chase some crab and see if I can find some biters! lol
my 4 Siltcoos coho all were caught casting the same spinner at the shoreline.