Thursday October 10, 2024
Oregon Public Broadcasting —
It’s a great time to go fishing in Western Oregon. But recent runs of coho salmon have set a record and spawned a mystery.
Jeff Ziller is the district fish biologist for the South Willamette watershed with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. He said coho haven’t been stocked on the Willamette River since the 1990s. Yet, in the 2000s, wild coho started showing up there. Last year set a record with close to 30,000 fish, and coho were found above the Leaburg Dam for the first time ever.
“We don’t know why they started coming back, but they evidently have found some good habitat up here,” Ziller told KLCC.
So far this year, more than 40,000 coho have come over Willamette Falls, and are making their way upriver to the Eugene / Springfield area.