Recent rainfall bumped up the flows on most North Coastal rivers.
As we move into days that are shorter, nights longer and cooler, we have had our first rainfall of the late summer season. The graph above shows the change, one that seems very slight, but to the fish it is a huge incentive to move upriver and out of tidewater.
This means that sea-run cutthroat anglers may now find fish spreading out upriver in traditional holding pools in rivers like the Alsea, Siuslaw, Siletz, and Nestucca.
Summer steelhead anglers may find their blood stirred by cooler waters and just a hint of increased flows that also stir the fish their of warm water doldrums.
Granted, this is just a little bump on the Siletz, but this is the sort of thing that anxious fish and anglers need to find motivation at the end of a hot spell, and sometimes this is all it takes to move the fish.
you can check streamflows by searching advanced hydrologic prediction ________ and typing in the name of your favorite river.
The Alsea barely budged last weekend.
As this graph shows, the bump on the Alsea was barely detectable and it is less likely that fish moved upriver on the Alsea than the Nestucca.
I hope this helps by providing a tool that can help you understand the movement of anadromous fish into our coastal rivers at the end of the summer.
Jay Nicholas – 19 September
