2023 Siltcoo/Tahk coho thread

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.

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!

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!

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. 

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.

I take it you've never seen the seals and sea lions miles upstream in the rivers?

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

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

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.

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?

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.

Thanks for indulging my curiosity, roger.  I appreciate it.

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.

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.

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