Column by Richard DeChambeau

If you’re trying to figure out what to do with all those Thanksgiving dinner leftovers, make some sandwiches, round up the kids and head for the Bandon Pier or over to Charleston, as the crabbing is very good. With a lead story of how good the crabbing is in both Charleston and Bandon, you can imagine how slow the rest of our outdoor activities are right now.

The recent good weather made for a very slow ending to our elk seasons. Many hunters reported finding a few cows after many hours in the field, but bulls of any size were few and very far between. Personally I could find the cows, but the bulls managed to elude me. I’ve talked to many hunters and they all reported seeing some very fine black tail bucks. So we can look forward to next season for our deer hunting. With elk season closing, be sure to file your Hunter Harvest Report. You can file your report on the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife site by going to www.dfw.state.or.us and under “Useful Links” click on Hunter Harvest Reporting. Once there, click on “Report Now” and follow the instructions. Again, this is voluntary this year but will become mandatory starting next season. Now is a good time to get used to this system.

The lack of rain has caused the Elk and Sixes rivers to fall to very low flows. A few salmon are still being caught at the mouth of the Elk River, but overall we need rain to get these runs started once more.

This time of year we would normally be able to take our out-of-town guests to some of the local hatcheries as they would be spawning Chinook salmon. I contacted the hatcheries and the Chinook spawning has been completed. Bandon Hatchery will be spawning a few coho next week. The report from the Bandon Hatchery is that they reached their full quota of eggs for this season. Reports from the Coos System are that they will be under their quota numbers.

The Coos Chinook came in early but then slowed dramatically, so they were unable to capture all the necessary brood stock.

Thanksgiving is usually the time of year that we can start our steelhead fishing. So far I’ve heard of a couple of steelhead being caught, but they have yet to show up in any numbers. Once again I have to say……WE NEED RAIN!

With the good weather some folks went out on the ocean and did very well on bottom fish and lingcod. When on the ocean, be very careful this time of year as conditions can change quickly with little warning.

If you still want to take out the rods and reels, try our local lakes as they are producing some good numbers of rainbow trout.

I apologize for the shortness of this article, but I have to admit that I’m in somewhat of a hurry as I’m trying to get out for my last day of elk hunting. The thing that bothers me the most about this final day is the having to worry about my non-scented sunscreen. I don’t think I can remember a late-season elk hunt with this much sunny weather!

If you have a story or topic regarding our great outdoors, please email them to me at info@oregonoutdoorsradio.us and I may use your ideas in future articles.

    Good luck fishing and hunting!

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Listen to the Oregon Outdoors Radio Show Thursdays from 3-5 p.m. on KWRO 630 AM, and rebroadcast on Friday from 7-9 a.m. on ESPN 1230 AM.