Salmon fishing on the Lower Rogue River in Gold Beach still is producing good numbers of coho and jack Chinook. Adult Chinook are returning to the Indian Creek area with larger numbers being caught this past week.

Most of the salmon being caught on the Coos system were at the forks and in the Daniels Creek area. The numbers of Chinook being caught has declined and there still are large numbers of wild coho which must be released.

The majority of salmon taken on the lower Coquille have been coho. Last week, trolling in the bay produced good catches of wild coho, and up river near Seven Mile Slough and Rocky Point produced both coho and Chinook. About 45 percent of the 1,500 fish quota for wild coho in the Coquille River has been caught. Recent rains should put more Chinook and coho into this system.

On the Elk and Sixes Rivers, some nice Chinook have started to move into the mouth of both rivers, but we need a lot more rain to get these fisheries started.

Fishermen on the Chetco River reported that some good kings have started to show up. Remember, fishing for any salmon is closed above the Highway 101 bridge until Nov. 11.

Last weekend, anglers reported great catches while fishing for rock cod, and they were also experiencing very productive lingcod fishing. The recent system of storms made both the Bandon and Charleston bars very treacherous and you will need to check the conditions before heading out. Be aware that crossing these bars during this time of year can be very dangerous as conditions can change rapidly.

Our recreational ocean crabbing season has closed and this season was one of the best ever recorded. The good news is that crabbing in both Bandon and Charleston bays has picked up with nice limits of crabs being taken. The crabs are in great shape with the majority having about 90 percent full meat content.

Last week, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife successfully released thousands of two-plus pound trophy trout in all of our local lakes and this made for some great fishing.

The Department of Agriculture reopened recreational and commercial razor clamming on Thursday for the entire Oregon coast, which had been closed due to paralytic shellfish poisoning. From Bastendorff Beach County Park near Charleston north to the Columbia River still is closed to mussel harvesting. Scallops and crabs are not affected by this closure.

The Coos Forest Protection Association officially ended fire season on Wednesday. Industrial fire precaution restrictions are no longer in effect and outdoor debris burning now is allowed without a permit outside incorporated cities in Coos, Curry and western Douglas counties.

Our recent rains helped the black-tailed deer hunting, and success rates were better over this past week. Many of us had hoped to have more rainfall as today is the opening of our waterfowl season. There are plenty of birds in the local bays and estuaries, but without more rain we’ll have to wait for many of the traditional hunting areas to get started. I hope you remembered to get your federal waterfowl stamp from your local post office and have your 2009 ODFW license validated for waterfowl. I received a report that the Bandon post office had run out of stamps, so you may want to call ahead before you go to your local post office as they also may have run out.

Good luck fishing and hunting.

Listen to the Oregon Outdoors Radio Show Thursdays from 3-5 p.m. on KWRO 630 AM and rebroadcast on Friday mornings from 7-9 a.m. on ESPN 1230 AM. Oregon Outdoors can now be heard on KDUN 1030 AM from Eugene to Port Orford on Friday evenings from 3-5 p.m. and on Saturday mornings from 6-8 a.m.