Rainbow trout are grilled at Union Creek. 

OCEAN OUTLOOK

SOUTH COAST: The ocean has returns to its semi-surly self, and that should keep many faint-hearted anglers off the water at least until Saturday. Thursday’s forecast calls for 20-knot winds, 10-foot swells and showers. Friday’s forecast calls for a repeat of Thursday, but perhaps without rain. Saturday’s forecast is a bit better, with 10-knot winds and swells up to 8 feet. That’s very doable for those who head north out of Brookings and stay close to shore.

Jigging for rockfish and lingcod is best with lead-headed jigs with a multitude of skirt colors, with white and chartreuse great first and second options.

Chinook salmon fishing in the ocean is open out of Coos Bay and Bandon, but effort has been very light. Halibut season opens in May, and early indications are that the South Coast will have an ocean chinook salmon season with a two-fish daily limit. Dates will be late next week, but expect a late-May opener.

The coveted St. George Lighthouse reef in Northern California opens May 1, as well.

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.

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. Beaches north of Gold Beach can also yield great surfperch catches. There are a dozen varieties of surfperch along the Oregon Coast, and most are quite tasty.

The ocean is now open to recreational crabbing, but conditions have kept crabbers in bays like Coos Bay near Charleston and lower Winchester Bay. Lots of crab now sport soft shells and they should be released because their meat content is poor while they are molting.

A nice set of minus tides awaits clammers the week, with a -.4-footer hitting around 3:15 p.m. Thursday and tides getting more shallow every 50 minutes per day. The best low tides are at -1.1 feet at about 7 a.m. Thursday and -1.4 feet at about 7:45 a.m. Wednesday.

Razor clamming remains closed along the South Coast from Cape Blanco to the California border, but bays are open for butter and gaper clams. Also, razor clamming has reopened between Cascade Head near Lincoln City to Seal Rock near Waldport because of reduced levels of domoic acid.

Bay clamming and mussel harvests are open statewide. Before digging, call the shellfish hotline at 1-800-448-2474.

Scallops are available coast-wide, but they are not tested for domoic acid at this time. It’s safest to eat the adductor muscles of scallops. If you don’t know what the adductor is, you better pass on wild scallops.

LAKE OUTLOOK

AGATE: The lake has been off most anglers’ charts thanks to low and muddy water conditions. The lake has risen quickly this month, but it’s now listed as full. Electric trolling motors are OK but not gas motors. The park closes at dusk.

APPLEGATE: The French Gulch and Copper ramps are open and useable for trailered boats as the lake continues to fill slightly ahead of schedule. The lake’s elevation Tuesday was at 1,966 feet above sea level, which lists it at 72% full and up yet another 8 feet from last week. Flows in were up down a hair to 720 cubic-feet-per-second, while out-flows were up to 650 cfs as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers inches closer to a full spring reservoir. The lake has a 10 mph speed limit. Fishing pressure is very limited now. No fresh trout has yet been stocked, but bass fishing has picked up during the recent, albeit, short warm spell.

DIAMOND: The lake is covered with ice, slush and melting snow that has largely kept ice fishers off the lake — and rightly so. Also, heavy snows have made access difficult. More snow is forecast for Thursday. All tiger trout and brown trout must be released unharmed. Some are eclipsing 8 pounds.

EMIGRANT: The lake saw its first infusion of rainbow trout for this year late last month with 1,000 legals released at the county boat ramp. Another 1,000 legals are due for release at the ramp next week. Catch them on PowerBait or night crawlers throughout the ramp cove as the fish are relatively slow to fan out. The lake has jumped quickly to 57% full and look for more inflows as more rain soaks the valley this week before a warm spell hits. Bass fishing is improving as more warm and sunny days approach.

EXPO: State wildlife biologists stocked 1,500 legal-sized rainbow trout here last month, and they’re getting caught on PowerBait or small spinners. Worms under bobbers also work well, as well as single salmon eggs. Parking fees are required.

FISH: The lake has plenty of open water, but access to the water is hampered by snow and near-shore ice. That has fishing interest still very light. Catches would be best with worms or PowerBait near submerged springs near the Forest Service ramp and out past the marina. The lake was stable this past week at 59% full Tuesday. That’s basically light inflows from underground springs and very little runoff as snow levels have been sparse.

HOWARD PRAIRIE: The lake is open to angling, but the marina is closed. Some ice is around the lake, but it’s thin. The lake was listed Tuesday at 45% full, which is a hair above last week.

HYATT: The lake was up slightly to 54% 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. Warm temperatures are on the immediate horizon as well, so the window for ice fishing here seems to be over.

LAKE OF THE WOODS: The lake remains ice-free, and access at the resort has improved with melting snow and temperatures likely to creep back into the 50s this weekend. Fishing has been decent for perch and some rainbows in shallow water just off the marina, but plan on morning trips as afternoon winds have been common.

LOST CREEK: The lake’s first set of 20,000 legal-sized rainbow trout were stocked last week, split between the Takelma Ramp and the Stewart State Park ramp. These fish are starting to fan out, but they still are fairly easy to catch off the bank with PowerBait or Panther Martin lures. Fishing remains best around the Takelma Ramp and near the north face of the dam. 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. Flows out of the reservoir were holding steady at 1,850 cfs, up a hair from last week. The lake was listed at 89% full and even with the regular filling schedule now. That won’t be a problem because there is enough runoff in the forecast to fill the reservoir this spring. The lake is scheduled to hit full May 1, but look for water regulators to keep it a foot or two short of full until more snowpack runs off.

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: The lower Rogue is seeing a steady bite of nice early spring chinook, with about half of them hatchery fish that anglers are allowed to keep. The middle Rogue has been a bit better but still a disappointment for winter steelhead, while the upper Rogue is reaching its historic best times for winter steelhead while anglers are about to start targeting springers.

And, yes, springers have finally reached Cole Rivers Hatchery, so it’s game on … in a week or so. Don’t get too frustrated so early in the season as most anglers will wait until mid-April to start stalking them in the upper Rogue.

That keeps the middle Rogue the best bet, but it’s probably the last window of the seasons. After this week’s rain, the Rogue is forecast to peak Thursday at Grants Pass at about 4,100 cfs before dropping steadily into next week. That’s good conditions for this weekend for boat anglers over bank anglers.

Steelhead bite best on the drop of water levels, so any combination of plug fishing as well as bait and fake gobs of eggs will work well in migration lanes and near the tops of deeper glides.

Bank anglers will be fishing Spin-Glo’s or plugs off side-planers at places like Chair and Rainbow riffles.

In the upper Rogue, April is when winter steelhead fishing typically is best, especially on cloudy days. Fish MagLip 3.0 lures through deeper, slower steelhead runs and drag bait or fake egg clusters through places like Frenchmen’s. Fish a larger, deeper-diving plug and you might run into an early springers. Side-drifting fake and real egg clusters is also a good bet as water levels drop and clear.

Flows at Dodge Bridge were set to peak Thursday at about 3,600 cfs and drop all week. For the former Gold Ray Dam area, flows are forecast to peak Thursday around 4,000 before dropping all week.

Focus on the inside turns of gravel bars and the heads of pools and riffles.

Only hatchery chinook can be kept now by anglers river-wide.

In the lower Rogue, the springer bite remains quite hot with half the fish hatchery fish and a nice component of 30-plus pounders each day. Boaters and bankies have done well in the off-colored water and those conditions will likely hold well through the weekend and likely into early next week.

Some guide boats have caught as many as six fish a day, largely on anchovies or the occasional Brad’s Cut Plug. Plunkers also have done well. All the action is in the lower 14 river miles, but a few fresh springers have been caught this past week in the Agness area.

Intercept these migrating spring chinook along the inside corners of gravel bars and other clear migration lanes. These fish are on the move and not sticking around to avoid fishing eddies and slack water.

Also, late winter steelhead are still in the mix, with more plunkers catching steelhead than chinook.

Plunkers should do OK at places like the old Champion mill site and Dunkelberger Bar, as well as the Quosatana and Lobster Creek bars. But the winter steelhead season is definitely petering out there, with early spring chinook on the immediate horizon.

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.

Those validations are not necessary for chinook fishing.

Anglers may keep one wild winter steelhead over 24 inches a day if they have a special Rogue-South Coast wild steelhead harvest card.

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, but it’s tough to get access because of high snow levels. That makes Union Creek the most likely fishing spot near Beckie’s. Worms, single salmon eggs and small pieces of worms are the traditional favorites.

APPLEGATE: The river is now closed to all angling.

CHETCO: The Chetco is closed to all angling.