Spearfishing, Bait Approved Permanently For Smallmouth In Coquille; Derby Begins June 1

ODFW says anglers can now permanently use spears, spear guns and bait to help remove smallmouth bass from a coastal salmon stream where the bass were illegally introduced.

Before, the agency approved the rules unique to the Coquille River on a summer-to-summer basis starting in 2020, but they’re now in effect for good beginning June 1.

“Smallmouth bass prey on migrating wild juvenile fall Chinook salmon and are the primary reason why the Coquille system’s Chinook population continues to decline over the last seven years,” an ODFW press release out this morning states. “While the Chinook did suffer from poor ocean conditions in the recent past, smallmouth bass continue to thrive and outcompete the salmon, even with electroshocking removal by ODFW, the Coquille Indian Tribe and other partners over the last five years.”

The rule applies to the mainstem Coquille and its East, Middle, North and South Forks. In the South Fork, spearfishing and bait are allowed from the Forest Service boundary downstream to the mouth. There are no size or bag limit restrictions on smallmouth.

ODFW acknowledges the system, with its warm waters and lower, rainfall-dominated flows, is ideal for the bass, but that the nonnative predators also prey on native coho and steelhead, crawfish, culturally important Pacific lamprey, sculpin and dace.

Maps showing public access points and the distribution of bass in the Coquille system are available online, and ODFW created a four-part video series on spearfishing for bass, fileting them and building your own fishing spear.

Along with the liberalized gear rules, the 4th Annual Coquille River Smallmouth Bass Derby will kick off June 1 and run through October 1, or until waters cool off. Entry is free and you could score anywhere from $20 to $1,000 for turning in specially chipped bass.

For more on the derby, see the Coquille River STEP Association’s website.