Coquile River

A 50 mile long river, the main Coquille flows into the Pacific Ocean at Bandon. For its size, the river has a relatively long zone of tidal influence stretching almost 20 river miles from the south to Calloway Creek just west of the town of Coquille. Trolling the tidewater with spinners and herring for Fall Chinook starts up at the beginning of September and can continue into late November or until the start of frequent rains. Because the soils in the lower estuary are very silty and prone to disturbance from the heavy sheep and cattle grazing, the lower river is often quite muddy in the days after moderate to heavy rain. There is a small Striped Bass fishery on the Lower Coquille known best to the locals. In certain years of anticipated solid Coho returns, a carefully managed and fairly restricted harvest of Silver Salmon is permitted. Again, permitted Coho harvest can vary from year to year.

Both the North and South forks of the Coquille have relatively productive runs of Winter Steelhead from December on into April. On the South Fork, the hillsides along the river are very picturesque, thanks in part to the on-going grazing that helps preserve the pastoral quality of the vegetative mosaic where the forest is truly kept in check and the tree stands are limited to creek seeps and draws. Upriver of the town of Powers, the vegetative mosaic of the adjacent sloped ranch-lands begins to give way to a denser conifer forest. The South Fork Coquille is reputed for a strong run of hatchery Winter Steelhead that augments the wild run. All wild or non-fin-clipped steelhead must be released .Side drifting baits from a drift boat has become very popular in Coquille country, while jigs and bait suspended below a float, back-rowed plugs, and pitched spinners can all contribute to good catch numbers.