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Coho - Willamette - 2025

7K views 63 replies 30 participants last post by  Wicked_Stix  
#1 ·
Any Coho reports from folks fishing above the falls on the Willamette? I know the counts have been low, but I'm curious what folks are seeing.
 
#2 ·
How far up the Willamette do coho go?
 
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#4 ·
That is so cool.
 
#17 ·
Slow fishing, bite still needs to improvement.
I may not be the sharpest tool in the shed but we will have slow fishing until some coho actually get over the falls. Otherwise all there is to catch is smallmouth and pikeminnow. Last year may have been a real fluke with the big numbers. Hopefully not but we had a lot of fish above the falls by this date last year.
 
#21 ·
Spent the morning from before sunup to about 11 trolling the boat launch to the falls. Saw a couple caught, no bites for me. I was surprised how many people were fishing there. It used to be so few and now it seems it has become quite popular. Too bad the run seems a lot smaller this year.
 
#22 ·
Still no fish.
It is strange that the above the falls fishery is so crowded now. I saw 2 guides last year way up river. I've seen 24 foot hardtop boats trolling up above the falls too. Looks funny but I guess if I had that boat I would fish it too.
 
#24 ·
Went out of West Linn from 10-5 today with my buddies. We gave up salmon fishing and switched to bass after trying a few different spots between the launch and the Molalla River.

Last year on this date, there were over 22k Coho over the falls + we had already been a week or more into 1,500-2,000+ fish over the falls per day. I hope to see another year like that, but I don't think this will be it. I think it will come in just above the ten year ( I hope im wrong!) and far below last year ( Also hope im wrong!!). Still better than a great day working.
 
#26 ·
Coho usually take three years from spawn to return. We have one more year left to see the the results of two years ago, and two more years to see the results of last year- It's all up to the ocean at this point. Let's hope for good conditions, wherever these things go.
 
#32 ·
Ifish’ed above the falls trolling Friday, Saturday and Sunday mornings. Friday was like what I heard a TV host recently describe as a fish desert. Very few fish marked and I witnessed no action. Saturday a completely different story. A good bite was on between 8am and 9am, I saw at least 8 fish netted and lots of fish marking. Sunday I netted one early, about 7am and witnessed two other first light fish on. Didn’t see any other action after 7:30 Sunday and didn’t mark many either.
It’s hit and miss up there, Saturday seemed the best day for the growing fishing fleet from what I observed.
 
#35 ·
Because the depth changes a good bit up there and coho biters are inclined to come up (or down for that matter) to inspect your offering, I find that about 20 or so pulls or fishing 14ft down strikes a good balance. I have a livescope and see plenty of people fishing 8-10 feet deep, and that works fine too and helps avoid snags.

The key isn't getting coho in the upper Willy to come look, it's getting them to bite. I regularly see swarms of 5-10 coho at a time mob my offering, which produces the best likelihood of a bite (are they competing?), but even that's only 50/50 and depends on offering what they're biting. On any given day, what they're biting seems to be different.
 
#43 · (Edited)
found one today. Throwing a #4 blue fox. What I learned today was, if it feels like your bass fishing (throwing into cover) you’re probably doing it right. Tried pulling maglips for a bit but no dice.


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Nice. Might go to a #3, pink body nickel blade for the daily win. Straight up nickel-nickel and copper-copper have their time and place also.
 
#42 ·
I was fortunate to net one today also. I didn’t see much action after first light . Observed three fish netted between 9:00 and 9:45 before netting a big bruiser buck myself just before 10:00. Didn’t observe any action after 10:00. Fresh coho for dinner :Yum.
 
#45 ·
Last Saturday I dragged my boys with me at 6am and we struck out. Nobody wanted to go with me today so I slept in and got there at 8:30 and ended up with two 6ish pounders, a hen and a buck. Caught both on pro-troll/spinner setup, 6oz lead with 25' on the line counter, going about 2.25mph. the first one was fun, it jumped right behind the boat and then immediately smashed the spinner.
I felt fortunate, didn't see much action for all the boats out there. These are the only pictures I took since I was by myself. Had to show my wife I'm not totally useless.

Image

Image
 
#47 · (Edited)
Last Saturday I dragged my boys with me at 6am and we struck out. Nobody wanted to go with me today so I slept in and got there at 8:30 and ended up with two 6ish pounders, a hen and a buck. Caught both on pro-troll/spinner setup, 6oz lead with 25' on the line counter, going about 2.25mph. the first one was fun, it jumped right behind the boat and then immediately smashed the spinner.
I felt fortunate, didn't see much action for all the boats out there. These are the only pictures I took since I was by myself. Had to show my wife I'm not totally useless.

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View attachment 1075504
I think we run the same exact boat other than the color (y) Congrats on the fish.
 
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