Jess A. Campagna holds a steelhead on the Rogue River.

Editor’s note: See the full fishing report for this week at rv-times.com/outdoors.

OCEAN OUTLOOK

SOUTH COAST: Thursday’s forecast calls for winds around 25 knots with 9-foot swells. Friday’s forecast is for winds up to 20 knots but swells up to 8 feet by the end of the day. Saturday’s forecast is the worst of the lot, with 15-knot winds but 11-foot swells. Sunday sees the start of a calming period with 10-knot winds and 8-foot swells. Still, that’s all a lot to ask of a stomach to undertake after Thanksgiving.

Bottomfishing continues to be on the wane on the South Coast, and that’s from a combination of light effort and pretty sketchy weather conditions. This holiday weekend looks like quite a bust. Still, when conditions have been OK, rockfish catches have been decent but not what they were earlier this year out of Brookings.

Free Fishing Weekend is Friday and Saturday this week, but not Sunday. The Free Fishing Weekend rules include crabbing and clamming, as long as all other rules and limits are abided.

LAKE OUTLOOK

DIAMOND: Trout fishing has tapered off a bit, but it remains good in the south end on calm days. Calm mornings have been best, usually until the sun hits the water. The brown trout and tiger trout bite has dropped off as rainbows are now showing up more predominantly in the daily catches. Spin-casters are doing well with small Rapala lures that look like small rainbows, but switch out the hooks to singles because the double trebles often leave the tiger trout too damaged to survive. For fly-fishers, black leeches or muddler minnow patterns are the best now as the bug hatches have waned amid colder temperatures. Worms deep under bobbers or PowerBait floated 5 feet or so off the bottom are the best bets. All tiger trout and brown trout must be released unharmed. Some are eclipsing 8 pounds.

FISH: The lake became the top new interest of the region a month ago with the stocking of 800 1-pound trout at the Forest Service ramp near the resort. These fish are biting worms under bobbers, small lures and PowerBait and they are already starting to fan out into the lake. The lake was actually up a hair this past week to 49% full Tuesday, which is far better than past autumns. Catches have included 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.

HYATT: The lake was actually up a hair to 41% full thanks to last week’s rains that are filtering into this high-mountain reservoir. Fishing has been best for rainbow trout in the old creek channel for those trolling small spoons or dark spinners. The best access is near the dam, but be careful about trailered boats. More bank fishing opportunities, and few are taking advantage of them. Lots of bass are getting caught in the shallows on warm, sunny days with a variety of baits and lures but they’re small. The limit is five trout a day, with just one over 20 inches.

LAKE OF THE WOODS: The lake was still fishing well for a mix of black crappie and bass from the resort on up, but the bass bite will start to drop off significantly as the water cools rather rapidly. Trout fishing has been somewhat slow.

LOST CREEK: The lake last month received a nice complement of legal-sized and larger rainbow trout stocked primarily at the Takelma Ramp, where fishing has been most concentrated. The trout are now pretty well spread out north of the ramp. PowerBait off the bank there remains good for those staying off the ramp while fishing. Fishing is tapering off Peyton Bridge, thanks largely due to effort. Inflows are down to 963 cfs so there is less turbid water entering the reservoir. Upstream of the bridge is a no-wake zone there. Bass fishing has been tapering down thanks to cooler days. On warm days focus on rocky outcroppings with crankbaits and rubber worms the top offerings. The lake was listed Tuesday at almost 9 feet shy of the normal late-November levels, but the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in recent years has not worried too much about dropping below the so-called minimum pool in fall. The volume was listed Tuesday at 35% full. That’s not bad compared to previous years.

RIVER OUTLOOK

ROGUE: Late summer steelhead fishing has held on fairly well despite waning interest and low water on the upper Rogue, while summer steelhead catches have improved in the middle Rogue as wild fish start to stack up near spawning tributaries. The lower Rogue is seeing its first winter steelhead of the season, but it’s not enough to warrant the gas to get there from the Rogue Valley.

But remember, it’s Free Fishing Weekend on Friday and Saturday (not Sunday) for those who wish to turn Black Friday into a steelheading day. It’s cheaper than shopping, since you don’t need licenses or tags to fish in Oregon those two days, but all other regulations and bag limits apply.

The best bet remains the upper Rogue, but it remains a last-man-standing choice right now. Most of the action is upstream of the Shady Cove boat ramp, where fishing is allowed with bait for steelhead. It’s the first eggs steelhead have seen with hooks in them since August, and the catches are typically quite high for the first week of November before cold water and effort ebbs. That window has come and gone, and so is the majority of the interest there. Still, it’s worth an afternoon float and fish. Both bait-casters and fly-fishers have reported 50-fish days of late throughout the upper Rogue, but many of the hatchery fish are starting to darken up and aren’t prime to kill for anything but the smoker.

Conditions are very good for steelhead fishing riverwide but tough for driftboating. Flows were up a bit to 1,267 cfs Tuesday at Dodge Bridge. The forecast is for flows to steadily decline slightly deep into next week as there’s no new rains on the immediate forecast. However, the slight decrease in water temperatures can be a problem. That’s why banker’s hours are best for steelhead at this time of year. Lost Creek Lake outflows are hovering at 1,000 cfs as they normally are for November. Flows were correspondingly up nicely to 1,443 cfs at the old Gold Ray Dam site and an improved 1,376 cfs at Grants Pass.

Fish continue to trickle into Cole Rivers Hatchery. Tuesday’s collection showed 24 new summer steelhead to boost the run-to-date total to 2,441 fish. That’s just off the pace from last year. Data show that about two-thirds of the hatchery run has now reached the facility. Another 244 coho showed up, pushing the count to 735 adults so far this year. That’s got anglers casting spoons in the holes upstream of Casey State Park. Purple or gun-metal blue are good choices.

Also, 13 new fall chinook showed up this week at the hatchery, pushing the total to date at 163. That’s not gang-busters, but it is the best since 2015. Regardless, there is no legal chinook fishing in the middle and upper Rogue now, so this is just eye-candy.

The middle Rogue has been improving for summer steelhead on a mix of flies and plugs fished from driftboats. However, most of the catches will be wild fish that must be released unharmed. Casting black and yellow Panther Martin lures can be good bets at dusk, as well for bank anglers. Streamer flies are best for fly-fishers as the water temperatures are ideal for swinging flies. Focus on the tail-ends of rapids where the water has more oxygen.

The far upper Rogue in the Union Creek area was stocked in mid-September for the last time this year. Fish around the Union Creek Campground and the main-stem Rogue near River Bridge. Worms, single salmon eggs and small pieces of worms are the traditional favorites.