Column by Richard DeChambeau

Here’s hoping everyone had a safe and enjoyable New Year holiday.

Many of us had a few days off and if you’re like me, you spent it looking at the flooding that was taking place throughout Coos County. The Coquille River at Myrtle Point looked to be the size of the Sacramento River and you couldn’t determine where the banks were. It’s going to take at least a week without rain to bring this river down to anywhere near fishable conditions. I’d been receiving good reports of steelhead on almost all of our local rivers, and the recent flooding has affected all of the fishing on these systems. The good news is that this will bring in the steelhead and as rivers drop, we’ll experience an excellent opportunity. One of the local guides I’ve spoken with said you need to fish “small”; work the calmest eddies and the smaller backwaters, as steelhead that are traveling upstream will take the path of least resistance. They will not be found in the heavy flowing water, so fish around the edges. One of the things I did observe on the Coquille River was a large portion of our forest lands floating down the center of the river; trees, root wads and unidentifiable floating objects. If you plan to boat, please be very careful and keep a sharp eye out for these hazards.

I did have some good reports about trout fishing in some of our local lakes, especially Garrison Lake, which is experiencing some excellent winter trout fishing. Slow trolling using spinners tipped with night crawlers seems to be the most effective this time of year.

Feb. 7 is the “Friends of the NRA” dinner and auction fundraiser at the Coquille Community Building. Along with a great meal served by the Alder Smokehouse, there will be a live auction, silent auction, special drawings and door prizes. Some of the items will include limited edition firearms, custom knifes, NRA limited edition commissioned art and special ladies’ merchandise, plus many items that were created especially for this NRA event. If you purchase your ticket by Jan. 15 you will be entered in a special drawing. A portion of the proceeds will come back to Coos County for range development and hunter education grants. A few of the major items up for auction are a South African hunt for two and a fishing expedition in Alaska. For additional information on tickets, sponsorships, donations or to assist the committee, please call Brad Haga at 294-3677 or Al Lovie at 267-0247. I had a huge positive response to the article about our potential Coos County shooting range and now is the time to show your support. This is always a fun and informative event that I attend every year!

The Chadwick Masonic Lodge No. 68 of Coquille is still selling tickets for its fundraising raffle that will help them in their continuous work with the Shriners Hospitals for Children. The raffle winner will receive a rifle from Holland Custom Rifles. This is a blueprinted Remington 700 Action with a Krieger Select Match stainless steel barrel. The rifle is chambered in 300 Winchester Magnum with a quick discharge muzzle brake. Other features include the Holland Speed-Lock firing pin with a palm swell and high comb. This rifle has a gray “Tuff Coat” finish. I personally have shot one of these rifles for years, and believe me this rifle will shoot better than any other rifle you’ve ever owned. Suggested retail price of this rifle is $3,495 and as tickets are limited to 500 to be sold, they are going fast. At only $10 each, you can get a chance to win a rifle of your lifetime while also helping the children of Shriners Hospital. The winner also will receive $100 cash. If you are interested in tickets call 396-7096 or 396-3229. Tickets also are available at Englund Marine.

If you have a story or topic regarding our great outdoors, please e-mail 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 Fridays from 7-9 a.m. on ESPN 1230 AM.