Liam, right, and Azalea Lusch show off two wild chinook caught last weekend while trolling in the lower Rogue Bay at Gold Beach. 

OCEAN OUTLOOK

COASTWIDE: Thursday’s forecast calls for winds up to 20 knots with wind waves up to 4 feet. That’s followed up Friday with 10-knot winds and 2-foot swells. Saturday calms down even more with east winds kicking up to 5 knots and 2-foot swells. Sunday looks the best with 5-knot winds and swells under 2 feet.

Bottomfishing has been very good recently for those fishing close to shore. Lots of lingcod in the catch. Halibut fishing out of Brookings has been steady but not fantastic, with most of the catches in 180 feet of water or deeper north of Brookings. Bottomfish catches have been solid, with black rockfish dominating the catch.

Surfperch fishing is improving with the calming of the surf. Shrimp, mussels and Berkley Gulp sandworms or shrimp are the best baits.

Fishing for fin-clipped coho salmon has been a bit slow, largely because there has not been much effort for it. Catches are best out of Winchester Bay and Charleston, with effort nearly nonexistent out of Brookings.

Bay clamming should be good as another series of minus tides comes in. The best tide is a Wednesday morning minus-1.4 tide at 6:40 a.m. based out of Brookings. The mud flats at Charleston will be the best for butter and gaper clams. Before digging, call the shellfish hotline at 1-800-448-2474.

Mussel harvest is open statewide.

LAKE OUTLOOK

AGATE: The lake has not seen a new infusion of trout since June. Bass and perch fishing have been good in the mornings and evenings. The lake has dropped a hair to 38% full as of Wednesday, with turbid water. Fishing is slow. Electric trolling motors are OK but no gas motors. The park closes at dusk.

APPLEGATE: The Hart Tish Park boat ramp and dock are open and usable, as are the Copper and French Gulch ramps. Effort has been light. The lake was last stocked with rainbow trout in June. Fish for rainbows with PowerBait or worms from the bank or slowly troll Tasmanian Devil lures spiced with a piece of worm. Bass fishing has been solid off rocky points with crankbaits. The lake has been dropping steadily with outflows at 300 cfs and inflows a scant 24 cfs. The lake has a 10 mph speed limit.

DIAMOND: The lake has been a bit slow for rainbow trout, brown trout and tiger trout. The late August doldrums usually give way to good fishing again in September. Lots of pollen in the water that looks like algae, but it’s not. Fish worms under bobbers in the deeper sections of the upper end of the lake. The lower end is fishing OK near Silent Creek and the canal for tigers. All tiger trout must be released unharmed. Some are eclipsing 8 pounds.

EMIGRANT: The lake is dropping steadily from irrigation use and was listed Wednesday at 27% full. Not bad for late August. Bass fishing has been good with crankbaits and top-water baits early in the day off rocky points.

EXPO: State wildlife biologists stocked 1,500 legal-sized rainbow trout here more than two months ago, and their numbers are now thin. Catch them with Panther Martin lures, single salmon eggs or worms under bobbers. Parking fees are required.

FISH: The lake was down a hair this week to 44% full Wednesday, which is far better than recent late August levels. Catches are a mix of rainbow and tiger trout, mostly around the submerged springs near the resort and the bay near the Forest Service boat ramp. Worms are out-producing PowerBait. Tiger trout must be released unharmed.

HOWARD PRAIRIE: The lake is open to angling, and the new boat ramp is operable at the marina. However, no rental boats are available. Fishing for rainbow trout is a bit slow for trollers using Little Cleo and other lures. Bait fishing in deeper water is OK with PowerBait, mostly chartreuse, garlic or rainbow flavors. The lake was listed Wednesday at 38% full, which is the best August level in four years.

HYATT: The lake was listed Thursday at a whopping 43% full, making it the best reservoir water-wise on the Talent Irrigation District system. Fishing has been best for rainbow trout in the old creek channel for those trolling small spoons or dark spinners. Lots of bass are getting caught in the shallows with a variety of baits and lures, but they’re stunted and small. The limit is five trout a day, with just one over 20 inches.

LAKE OF THE WOODS: The lake was fishing very well for a mix of black crappie and bass from the resort on up. Trout fishing has been somewhat slow but should kick up as the water starts to cool in a few weeks.

LOST CREEK: The lake got its last complement of catchable, legal-sized rainbow trout in late June at the Takelma ramp. Those fish are well dispersed; inflows are dropping as outflows remain steady at 1,800 cfs. Bank-fish with PowerBait near the Takelma ramp or at the Medco access point off Highway 62. Wind-drifting worms above Peyton Bridge has been good. Bass fishing has been good near rocky outcroppings of late, with crankbaits and rubber worms the top offerings. The lake was listed Thursday at 11 feet shy of the normal low pool. That’s not bad, based on previous years.

MEDCO: The lake was stocked in June with 2,000 legal-sized trout. Catch what’s left of them on PowerBait or worms.

SELMAC: The lake was stocked with 1,000 legal-sized trout more than a month ago, and that’s it for the season. Fish for them with worms or PowerBait.

RIVER OUTLOOK

ROGUE: The upper Rogue has seen a good mix of summer steelhead and chinook salmon for boaters who are struggling to row in the smoky environs. The middle Rogue has been OK for summer steelhead, while the lower Rogue Bay has been hot for trollers fishing for fresh fall chinook coming out of an ocean closed to chinook fishing all season.

That makes the lower Rogue Bay the best bet of the weekend, thanks largely to lighter winds and plenty of fresh fall chinook. Troll medium-sized anchovies or cut-plug herring behind flashers. Lots of 3- and 4-year-old fish this year, but not so many really big chinook quite yet. Fish the incoming tides hardest, as well as the start of the outgoing tides. That’s when chinook are at their liveliest. The bay limit remains two chinook a day, with wild chinook allowed in the catch.

That makes the upper Rogue the best bet because of its mix of more predictable and fishable water conditions and a mix of steelhead that will bend rods but not necessarily lead to much anglers may want to keep.

Rogue, Applegate and other South Coast winter steelhead anglers will need their new regional steelhead validation to fish. For those looking to legally kill wild winter steelhead, a special winter steelhead tag also is needed.

In the upper Rogue, flows were down to 1,887 cfs Thursday but on the way up. More importantly, the influx of water has warmed the river, getting steelhead on the move. Technicians at Cole Rivers Hatchery captured 296 new summer steelhead and 168 recycled retread steelhead, which is the best showing since early in the run. Water conditions will be yo-yoing, but Thursday’s forecast makes early Saturday and Monday the best bets for now.

The upper Rogue has been an interesting mix of summer steelhead catches as well as a mix of late-run spring chinook and a few early-run fall chinook downstream of Dodge Bridge. That’s the only waters now open to chinook, so anglers trying to double-dip on chinook and steelhead are focused there.

Steelhead catches are best side-drifting worms, small pieces of roe or roe-soaked egg yarn. Plugging with MagLip 3.0s is often very good now, with hard-plastic salmon eggs with scents on them also excellent choices. All those are legal through August in the upper Rogue. Fly-fishing has been fair to good for steelhead with a mix of nymphing with stoneflies and prince nymphs. Swinging large dark streamer flies at dusk also has been good and will remain a viable option through mid-September. All wild steelhead must be released unharmed.

Flows out of Lost Creek Lake were holding steady at 1,800 cfs. Flows at Dodge Bridge were at 1,991 cfs Wednesday and down to 1,923 cfs at the former Gold Ray Dam site.

In the middle Rogue, steelhead fishing with worms and plugs has been fair. Casting black and yellow Panther Martin lures also is a good bet at dusk. Focus on the tail-ends of rapids where the water has more oxygen.

Flows at Grants Pass were down to 2,200 cfs Thursday and set to rise to about 5,500 cfs late Saturday before dropping. Sunday could be good for some fresh winter steelhead

APPLEGATE: The river is open to summer trout fishing but anglers cannot target or keep any steelhead. All wild trout must be released unharmed, and the river is not stocked with catchable fin-clipped rainbows. A few nice cutthroat trout have been caught recently near the Highway 199 bridge as well as all the way up toward McKee Bridge.