Willamette Valley/Metro - Although action has somewhat slowed for both boat and bank anglers, sturgeon are still a strong option in the Columbia River gorge this weekend. Smelt will remain a top bait but squid will also produce fair catches of both shakers and keepers. There are still some oversized fish being caught.

Flow at Willamette Falls more than doubled from November 16th to the 19th and the water muddied. These are good conditions for sturgeon fishing. Trout fishing was excellent above Springfield for rainbows prior to the water rising and roiling and it should be good again from Albany to Jasper as the water drops and clears. This is excellent fly fishing water when it's in shape.

Rain blew out the McKenzie but trout fishing should be good below Blue River once the water recedes.

Steelhead at this time of year on the Sandy are considered quite early, particularly since the implementation of broodstock program. There have been a few reported marking the traditional kick-off date of Thanksgiving for the beginning of the winter steelhead season.

The Clackamas is a long shot for a fresh winter Thanksgiving Day steelhead but summers are still being caught between McIver Park and Feldheimers. Unfortunately, a bright one is a rarity.

Steelheaders who like to fish high, fast water will enjoy the North Santiam this week. Late summers will be available along with a few native winter fish.

Walling Pond and Walter Wirth Lake are scheduled to be planted with hatchery trout.

Northwest ??? The Kilchis River was the first to fish on Sunday and Monday but even with ideal water conditions, a strong run has yet to show. The massive mud slide of 2003 has certainly taken its toll with very few chum and chinook salmon adults returning to the river this season.

The lower Wilson, in tidewater, proved to be a good place to catch chrome-bright chinook on Monday and Tuesday with plugs taking the lion's share of the catch. Faster flows draw harder strikes but I recently switched out the VMC perma-steel hooks for 2/0 bronze Mustad treble hooks and ever since, my strike to land ratio has improved dramatically. These hooks have a wider gap and can be sharpened to a stronger, sharper point and with all the fresh water, they last as long as perma-steel hooks do. I strongly recommend you look at these Mustad hooks! The river remained some-what colored but will be almost too clear for high success rates by Friday. Chinook will be present throughout the river but the brightest fish will be downstream of Mills Bridge and holding in the deeper pools and eddies. Eggs may be a better bait in the clearer conditions.

Tillamook Bay was still producing fair catches with the bulk of the fish migrating on the east side of the estuary. The weekend high tides will make the Ghost Hole and Bay City likely places to intercept tide-riding chinook.

The Nestucca also fished well early in the week but hopefully, the high tides will bring in another shot of fresh fish to close out the season. Crabbing has tapered and the strong incoming tide will also slow success.

In Tillamook County, Town and Cape Meares Lakes both received plants of surplus hatchery summer steelhead recently. They may be somewhat reluctant to bite but may surprise some trout anglers this weekend.

Poor numbers of chinook in the Siletz are cause for The Association of Northwest Steelheaders to petition ODFW to close it to fishing until it shows sign of recovery.

An impressive series of minus tides with maximum ebb after sundown has razor clam diggers excited for the holiday weekend. You'll need headlamps or lanterns to achieve any level of success. The other side of this lunar coin is extreme high tides, over 10 feet mid-day Friday, which has prompted the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department to issue warnings regarding 'sneaker' waves on ocean beaches coast-wide.

Southwest ??? The only place on the Umpqua producing any fishing action is the North Fork where fishing for hatchery coho has been fair. Catches of steelhead and chinook river wide has been poor. The South Umpqua will re-open to angling on December 1st.

Fishing will resume this week on the Elk and Sixes, with the latter coming into shape first. The Elk dropped from 9.2 to 6.1 overnight on Tuesday, November 20th and should provide good chinook fishing by Thanksgiving Day.

Waters of the Rogue are high and roiled. Larger rivers such as this are slow to recover so it may not fish for the coming weekend.

The Chetco peaked on November 17th at a little over 13 feet and 20,000 cfs at Brookings. It has been dropping and clearing since that date and shows promise for chinook and possibly winter steelhead for the long holiday weekend.

Eastern ??? Deschutes anglers saw a slight improvement in steelhead catches over the past weekend with both hardware and flies drawing a few strikes. The water is off-color and deteriorating below White River and snow fell in Maupin on Monday this week.

While the Fall River is closed below the falls until spring of next year, trout fishing will remain good here all winter long.

Although John Day anglers are experiencing consistent fishing, action is not what it typically is for the peak season window. Wiggle warts are taking the bulk of the fish with the Michael Jackson color a favorite. The mainstem John Day should improve when the river begins to rise.