The Rogue River bay in Gold Beach. 

OCEAN OUTLOOKCOASTWIDE: After Wednesday’s small-craft advisory off the Southern Oregon Coast, Thursday’s forecast calls for winds up to 15 knots with wind waves jumping to 3 feet in the afternoon. That’s followed up Friday with 15-knot winds and 7-foot swells. Saturday calms down even more with winds dropping to 5 knots, but the 7-foot swells remain.

All ocean salmon fishing closes Friday from Humbug Mountain near Port Orford to the California border. The coho bite, and effort, had been poor. However, waters off Charleston and other ports to the north open Friday to the only ocean chinook salmon fishing those ports will see this year. Effort and success should be good.

Bottomfishing has been very good recently for those fishing close to shore. Lots of lingcod in the catch, but black rockfish continue to dominate the catch. Halibut fishing out of Brookings has picked up this past week along with more effort. Most of the catches are in 180 feet of water or deeper north of Brookings.

Surfperch fishing is very surf-dependent but has been good at times when the surf calms down. Shrimp, mussels and Berkley Gulp sandworms or shrimp are the best baits.

Bay clamming should be good from Thursday morning through Saturday morning as the recent series of minus tides come to a close. Low tides at Brookings are at 6:33 a.m. Thursday, 7:13 a.m. Friday and 7:49 a.m. Saturday.

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 OUTLOOKAGATE: 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 33% 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 but still remains a hefty 46% full, with outflows at 300 cfs and inflows up to 65 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 mid to late 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 23% 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 40% 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 37% full, which is the best August level in four years.

HYATT: The lake was listed Thursday at a whopping 42% 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 7 feet shy of the normal low pool, with a volume of 48% full. 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 OUTLOOKROGUE: Thursday marks last day to throw bait or pull plugs for summer steelhead in the upper Rogue, and to fish for fall chinook below Dodge Bridge, as the annual Sept. 1 switcharoo begins Friday. Come Friday, chinook are closed, and the only fishing for summer steelhead is with artificial flies. That means traditional streamer flies like articulated leeches as well as nymphing with salmon fly droppers and prince nymph point flies under strike indicators. Egg flies are a good second option but they must be yarn. No molded single eggs.

It’s been tough rowing this past week thanks to brutal smoke conditions, but fishing has been good and should be good for early season fly-fishers in the upper Rogue. Conditions are very good, with flows of 1,819 cfs at Dodge Bridge, 1,888 at the old Gold Ray Dam site and 1,653 at Grants Pass.

The lower Rogue Bay remains hot for fresh fall chinook, and the crowds have arrived en masse for the best bite in several years. Lots of limits of chinook in the 14- to 24-pound range. Troll medium-sized anchovies or cut-plug herring behind flashers. 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.

The middle Rogue has been predictably slow for summer steelhead, and that usually turns around in October. Until then, casting black and yellow Panther Martin lures can be good bets at dusk. Focus on the tail-ends of rapids where the water has more oxygen.

Rogue, Applegate and other South Coast winter steelhead anglers will need their new regional steelhead validation to fish. All wild steelhead harvest on the Rogue is closed.

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.