Bob Robinson holds a chinook salmon from the Chetco River landed in November.

OCEAN OUTLOOK

SOUTH COAST: After a brief respite that led to some nice lingcod catches Monday, the ocean has growled into its familiar winter self. A two-day gale warning ended Wednesday evening, but its effects will linger through the weekend. Forecasts Thursday call for 15-knot winds and 14-foot swells, followed Friday by 25-knot winds and 13-foot swells. Saturday’s forecast calls for 20-knot winds and swells down to 8 feet, but the 4-foot wind waves is often enough to separate one from breakfast.

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

For bottomfishers when you can get out, remember that cabezon are off limits until July 1. 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. Thursday marks the last evening minus tide for this series, but it’s just 0.2 feet and in the dark, so it’s not of much use. Bay crabbing should be OK but slower now that the freshets have added more freshwater to bays, and that pushes Dungeness down toward estuary mouths or even back to sea.

Razor clamming is closed along the South Coast from Cape Blanco to the California border, but bays are open for butter and gaper clams. Bay clamming and mussel harvests are 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 quickly this past week and has doubled to 53% full. Electric trolling motors are OK, but gas motors are not allowed. The park closes at dusk.

APPLEGATE: The French Gulch ramp now is the only one usable for trailered boats as the lake’s mid-winter season has crept in. The lake is on the rise and was at elevation 1,909 feet Tuesday, which is 22% full. The filling season does not start until Feb. 1. Fishing pressure is extremely light. Wait until some more calm inflows before taking the time to fish here. Outflows halve jumped to 1,457 cubic-fee-per-second to make up for the 1,441 cfs flowing into the reservoir. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers typically uses the drier days between storms to shave off water captured during the previous freshet The lake has a 10 mph speed limit.

DIAMOND: Ice is forming now at the lake but it is too thin for ice fishing. There is still some open water near the middle and around the edges. 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 risen a hair to 21% 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: Ice is starting to form on the lake, but it remains too thin for human endeavors. The lake was actually up a hair this past week to 55% full Tuesday. That’s basically inflows from underground springs and very little runoff as snow levels climb.

HOWARD PRAIRIE: The lake is open to angling, but the marina is closed. Ice is starting to form, but it is too thin for human traffic. The lake was listed Tuesday at 36% full, which is up over the past week.

HYATT: The lake was up a hair to 47% full this past week as some runoff is finding its way into the reservoir. Ice is starting to form, but it remains too thin for fishing.

LAKE OF THE WOODS: The lake is covered with heavy snow and thin, slushy ice beneath it. It remains too iffy for fishing until it hardens.

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 55% full this week and slightly higher than normal for mid-of January as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers begins its reservoir-filling cycle here, but this week is about sloughing some of the captured inflows from recent freshets. The inflows were up to 4,400 cfs Tuesday, to counter the 4,700 cfs flowing into the reservoir. That’s a lot of dark and muddy water upstream of Peyton Bridge. More rains are in the forecast.

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: High waters river-wide have put a kibosh on winter steelhead fishing this week, but sacrifice some time on the water now and chances are good numbers of winter steelhead will be river-wide when the flows finally drop into good conditions.

When that happens, the best bet will be the middle Rogue downstream of Grants Pass, which has many good high-water winter steelhead holes from Indian Mary Park down to Galice. When flows drop and turbidity subsides to at least 13 NTUs, get the driftboats down there for side-drifting roe and puff balls along the inside seams of riffles and migration lanes. Plug fishing at tail-outs and along the edges of slower water also should be good. Fly-fishing will be tough until the flows drop decisively.

Flows Tuesday at Grants Pass were 9,300 cfs, and they are forecast to bounce around into next week at around 8,000 cfs. That’s usually too much flow, but if the turbidity is decent, the conditions are worth a float. Also, bank plunking at places like Rainbow Bar and Griffin Park could get good should the water clear some.

The lower Rogue in the Agness area is a wash-out until later next week, and then it could be very good for plunkers are places like Dunkelberger Bar. Boaters can fish plugs in slower areas of migration lanes looking to intercept fresh winter steelhead. Flows at Agness were down Tuesday to 20,200 cfs and forecast to drop to around 16,000 cfs and bounce around for several days before darting up again next week.

In the upper Rogue, high and turbid waters have left anglers at home. Flows at Dodge Bridge were down Tuesday to 7,084 cfs, largely because of the release of 4,400 cfs of water from Lost Creek Lake. At least that water is clear, so while high it will give anglers a chance once flows do drop later this week. Flows are forecast to bounce around 6,700 cfs into next week. That could make some areas downstream of TouVelle State Park attractive to boaters. It will depend upon turbidity. Flows at the former Gold Ray Dam site were 9,300 cfs Tuesday and forecast to drop to around 8,000 cfs deep into next week.

The high water has late-run summer steelhead on the move, with 128 new steelhead and 60 recycled “retread” steelhead captured Tuesday at Cole Rivers Hatchery. That boosts this year’s return to 3,868 fish, which is comfortably above the 10-year running average of 3,211 to date. Expect another 150 or so to straggle in to the hatchery collection ponds during the next two weeks. But the high flows have made fishing for these late-run steelhead where they are often caught — at the Hatchery Hole right at the base of the collection pond entrance.

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 a major deterrent to fishing, with 1,457 cfs released now out of Applegate Lake. There is no fishing from a floating device and all wild steelhead must be released unharmed.

CHETCO: The river was way up and out of shape for winter steelhead fishing and will likely remain that way for a while. Flows Tuesday were at 11,600 cfs and forecast to drop to 8,500 cfs Thursday and then to 6,500 cfs Friday before rising again. The best bets will be far up in the system where water conditions will be lower and clearer, but fast. A $2 South Coast Steelhead validation along with a fishing license is needed to fish here, even if it’s all catch and release.