Local Sports PAGE UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, APRIL 6, 2011 9:08 AM PDT Bass moving downstream By Pete Heley While the spring Chinook fishery on the Umpqua River continues to putter along at a disappointing pace, virtually nobody is targeting incoming springers in the ocean despite the fact that the ocean season for Chinooks has been in effect since mid-March. A few weeks ago, anglers fishing at Tenmile Reef for bottomfish landed some Chinooks, but they did not have any tackle aboard that was legal for taking ocean Chinook. To get a good fishing report on the Umpqua for spring Chinook, a decent-sized pod of salmon has to intersect with a fair numbers of anglers, and sometimes that just doesn’t happen, even with decent numbers of salmon in the river. While the South Jetty/Triangle area continues to provide consistently good fishing for bottomfish, fair numbers of anglers last weekend targeted red-tailed surfperch in the surf. Over the next several weeks, striped bass in the Umpqua and Smith rivers should gradually drop downstream in preparation for spawning. Unfortunately, because of salinity levels, the farther they drop downstream, the less successful their spawning attempts are. Sturgeon fishing remains slow, but a very few are being landed and most of them are too large to legally keep. Crabbing at Winchester Bay remains fairly popular and has stabilized at a fairly low success ratio, but those putting in a good effort, even those crabbing off from docks, are catching some legal crab. Last weekend, most crabbers complained about catching fair numbers of large female crab, which are not legal to keep.  Any reports of steelhead being caught now involve post-spawn fish attempting to return to the ocean. Fairly consistent rain in the last several weeks will probably mean that not many steelhead will stay in Eel Lake instead of heading down the Eel Creek outlet. Hopefully, some will, and will surprise the lake’s trout anglers. Trout stocking It is that time of year where at least some of the Florence area lakes are being stocked every week. This week, Carter and Cleawox lakes will receive 2,500 and 2,000 smaller rainbow trout respectively. The smaller Coos County lakes are slated to receive a lot of trout this week. Empire Lakes is scheduled to receive 6,000 of the smaller rainbows, while Bradley and Saunders lakes and Johnson Mill Pond and Powers Pond are slated to receive 3,000 each. Loon Lake is on tap to receive 1,875 trout this week. Fishing should improve and be more consistent at a higher level the last half of this month if the long-term weather forecasts are accurate. While some big largemouth bass have been caught over the last several weeks, they are being caught by anglers fishing local waters, and the periods of fish activity have been of short duration. The more consistent, slightly warmer temperatures forecast for the last half of April should mean the more consistent fishing necessary to justify day-long fishing trips. Smallmouth bass fishing I know it may seem like I am beating this subject to death, but the next two or three weeks is absolutely the best time to catch your heaviest Umpqua River smallmouth bass. It is also the best time to use crank baits effectively. Target the slowest-moving sections of the river and pay special attention to any sizable bank indentations or backwaters, especially those that angle downstream to meet the river. Those particular backwaters will receive the least amount of cooler river water and be slightly warmer, attracting larger numbers of slightly more active bass. Washington is reducing its salmon fishing quotas, but they didn’t come close to reaching any of their quotas last year anyway. Their brightest salmon fishing is expected to be in the Columbia River, which should mean good news for Oregon salmon fishing anglers as well. ‘New Rules’ After watching more fishing shows over the last few weeks that I will ever admit to, I would like to propose a new standard of required behavior in the spirit of the “New Rules” that are shown on HBO each week by Bill Maher. My “new rules” would be that anybody on a fishing show holding up a fish for commentary or pictures should hold their breath the entire time that fish is out of the water before being released. If the person doing so is a show host or participant and has to talk, then a nearby “designated angler” should have to hold his or her breath while the fish is out of water.  I’m thinking that these “new rules” will have anglers talking faster, making their points in a more concise manner, and that many fish would be returned to the water in much better condition than they would be otherwise. Columnist Pete Heley can be contacted by e-mail at peteheley@charter.net or in person on weekends at the Stockade Market in Winchester Bay.