Idaho Fish Report

The Nehalem fall Chinook fishing has been fair although sporadic with the creel sampler checking an average of 10 fish/day over the past couple weeks. Harvest has been about equally split between the lower and upper bay so far this season although the past week or so most harvest has been from Wheeler to Nehalem.

The Nehalem gets a return of hatchery coho salmon that should be showing up soon as well. Nehalem Bay is also open to retention of 1 adult wild coho/day and 2/season on WEDNESDAYS and SATURDAYS only, from Sept. 7 to Oct. 23. See the regulation updates online for more details. There appears to be plenty of coho in the bay. Fishing has been sporadic with some good bites here and there.

Trolling with flashers and spinners seems to be the go-to technique for this fishery in the bay, but trolling herring is always a good option for Chinook as well. In upper tidewater bobber fishing bait can be effective. The bag limit for wild adult Chinook is 1/day and 5 for the season from July 1 to Nov. 30. See the regulation updates for more details.

There are cutthroat trout throughout the Nehalem basin. Most of the sea-run cutthroat are up in the rivers and tributaries by this time of year.