OCEAN OUTLOOK

SOUTH COAST: This pattern of weekend storms is what affirms the Oregon Coast’s reputation as a place to winter storm-watch first and occasionally fish. After three days of gale warnings, the forecast calls for 20-knot winds and 13-foot swells, followed Friday by 20-knot winds, 13-foot swells along with 8-foot wind waves. That’s a mess. Saturday isn’t much better, with 15-knot winds but still a 16-foot swell. The weather starts mellowing out Sunday, but it will still bring 10-knot winds and 10-foot swells.

All ocean salmon fishing and halibut fishing is closed along the California coast.

The start of the new year also brings the start of the half-year closure on cabezon. Quillback and yelloweye rockfish are also on the catch-and-release ledger for all of 2024.

Bottomfishing looks like a bust this weekend thanks to very rough swells. But if things calm down next week, look for some decent lingcod and bottomfish catches for jiggers. However, Brookings-based anglers are not faring as well for lingcod as they are further up north.

Surfperch fishing is very surf-dependent but has been decent at times when the surf calms down. But this weekend’s winds and high surf make this a non-starter now. Shrimp, mussels and Berkley Gulp sandworms or shrimp are the best baits when the weather cooperates. The surf perch have moved off the Rogue River sand spit, but there’s good action around the rocks north of the Winchuck River mouth when weather allows.

The ocean is now open to recreational crabbing, but conditions have kept crabbers in bays like Charleston and Coos Bay near Charleston. Another afternoon series of minus tides is headed in starting Tuesday. Bay crabbing should be very good around high-slack tides in bays as good salinity levels will bring Dungeness in.

Razor clamming is closed along the South Coast, but bays are open for butter and gaper clams. Bay clamming is open statewide. Before digging, call the shellfish hotline at 1-800-448-2474.

LAKE OUTLOOK

AGATE: The lake has been off most anglers’ charts thanks to low and muddy water conditions. The lake has risen steadily this past week to 17% full. Electric trolling motors are OK but gas motors are not allowed. The park closes at dusk.

APPLEGATE: The French Gulch ramps now is the only one usable for trailered boats as the lake’s fall season has crept in. The lake’s surface temperature has dipped below 52 degrees now, and that’s slowing the bass bite. A dearth of fresh rainbow trout means that trout trolling has not garnered much interest, but bank fishing near the dam and along the lake’s east side can be good with worms and PowerBait. The lake up a bit to 16% full, with outflows at 225 cubic-fee-per-second, and inflows have risen to 288 cfs and will go up with upcoming rains. Though the lake’s filling schedule doesn’t begin until Feb. 1, the lake surface level has risen to just shy of 1,900 feet above level, or 87 feet from full. The lake has a 10 mph speed limit.

DIAMOND: Trout fishing has been poor amid cold weather and dustings of snow. No ice has formed yet on the lake, but that should change soon. The lake has a mix of mostly rainbow trout as well as brown and tiger trout that are stocked to prey on the lake’s small but omnipresent tui chub population. All tiger trout and brown trout must be released unharmed. Some are eclipsing 8 pounds.

EMIGRANT: The lake has settled at 13% full and likely will stay that low once the snows start up on the Dead Indian Plateau. Trout fishing is available but slow, and bass fishing remains slow and will until we get a series of warmer, sunnier days. The county launch is too low for launching trailered boats at the county ramp.

EXPO: State wildlife biologists stocked 1,500 legal-sized rainbow trout here more than three 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’s fishing for this fall’s stocked 1-pound trout has fallen off amid poor fishing conditions. However, the lake remains ice-free. Fishing with worms under bobbers is good near underwater springs off the resort when conditions allow for it. All tiger trout must be released unharmed. The lake was actually up a hair this past week to 53% full Tuesday.

HOWARD PRAIRIE: The lake is open to angling, but the marina is closed. Boat access is best at the dam. 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 Tuesday at 34% full, which is holding steady.

HYATT: The lake was up a hair to 43% full this past week as some runoff is finding its way into the reservoir. Fishing effort is very slow. Ice has yet to materialize.

LAKE OF THE WOODS: The lake slow for fishing as anglers are waiting for the ice to form.

LOST CREEK: The lake’s winter trout fishing has been fair to decent near the dam and off Takelma Boat Ramp. Both ramps at Takelma and Stewart State Park are usable. Effort has been very light. Good catches come when trolling worms behind flashers during calm days. Upstream of the bridge is a no-wake zone there. The reservoir was listed at 46% full this week and slightly higher than normal for the first week of January as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers begins its reservoir-filling cycle here.

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

RIVER OUTLOOK

ROGUE: Winter steelhead are showing up regularly in the lower Rogue but not in big numbers yet, while the middle Rogue has seen a smattering of winter steelhead, and the upper Rogue is still holding on for late-run summer steelhead that aren’t worth eating but still fun to catch.

That has the upper Rogue hanging on as the best bet, but only because it’s a long trip to Agness and not quite worth it yet from the Rogue Valley. Most of the action is upstream of the Shady Cove boat ramp, where fishing is allowed with bait for steelhead. But you’ll see as many fly-fishers nymphing with egg flies now as you will bait-fishers.

Water below the Shady Cove ramp is open to lures and other artificials but not bait. That means lots of plug fishing with MagLip 3.0s in various colors like chartreuses and pinks. WeeWarts like the black-and-silver ones are also good bets. Fly-fishers can then start using single artificial salmon eggs, and that’s a fine choice when nymphing downstream of salmon redds.

The last available count at Cole Rivers Hatchery is from Christmas, when another 115 summer steelhead — including 50 recycled “retread” steelhead — entered the hatchery from the previous week. That pushes the count up to 3,415 to date, and while that’s lower than last year, it’s nicely above the 10-year running average of 2,830 for this time of year. Figure that 75% to 90% of the run has reached the hatchery, based on past collections. Also, hatchery workers so far have recycled 2,143 steelhead down to the Modoc Unit on the Denman Wildlife Area, but none since Thanksgiving. No more recycles are planned.

Conditions are decent for steelhead fishing, but the water is cold and has left the fish less active. But that should change when a small but helpful spate of rain moves in this week. That should trigger some decent steelhead fishing Sunday in the upper and middle Rogue stretches and Monday near Agness.

Flows at Dodge Bridge were rising Thursday and set to peak around 1,850 cfs before dropping Friday. That drop in water levels will get steelhead moving and prime for catching in riffles and migration lanes. A similar but larger bump and drop in flows is forecast for late next week.

Flows will peak Friday at about 2,700 cfs at Gold Ray Dam before dropping.

The middle Rogue has been holding on for late-run summer steelhead, but a few early winter steelhead were reported recently caught by anglers dragging bait through deeper waters upstream of Galice. The Galice Road is still closed to Grave Creek, but you can get there through Douglas County if you want (not quite worth it yet). Flows at Grants Pass were forecast to peak Saturday at about 2,600 cfs before dropping. That will get some fish moving but not the ideal flows drift boaters want to see at all the popular haunts from Lathrop’s Landing to Hog Creek. Fish plugs in migration lanes and near creek mouths.

Flows at Agness were set to peak around 9,500 cfs Sunday, and that should make for two days of good winter steelhead fishing there for those side-drifting roe and puff balls or fishing plugs in migration lanes. Plunkers using Spin-Glo’s are joining boat anglers in catching eight to a dozen winter steelhead a day. Look for more fresh winter steelhead to move next week; heavy surf this week has likely kept many steelhead from nosing into the Rogue Bay. 

Rogue, Applegate and other South Coast winter steelhead anglers will need their new regional steelhead validation to fish. New $2 validations are needed each Dec. 1, even for those catch-and-release fishing. Those are valid for the next 12 months. All wild steelhead harvest on the Rogue is now closed.

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 mainstem Rogue near River Bridge. Worms, single salmon eggs and small pieces of worms are the traditional favorites.

APPLEGATE: The river is open to angling for steelhead, but no winter steelhead have been reported. Flows are low.

CHETCO: Good winter steelhead fishing should happen higher up in the system after the river peaks Thursday at 4,500 cfs and starts to drop rather quickly through Saturday. Those conditions are ripe for good winter steelhead fishing with roe and puff balls side-drifted from drift boats. Plugs in migration lanes should also be good. A $2 South Coast Steelhead validation along with a fishing license is needed to fish here, even if it’s all catch and release.