Paul Cataldo, of Ashland, makes a cast while fly-fishing the Holy Water section of the Rogue River. 

OCEAN OUTLOOK

SOUTH COAST: Really nice ocean conditions are forecast for this weekend, and that should bode very well for all sorts of anglers to get after bottomfish and lingcod this weekend. Thursday’s forecast calls for 20-knot winds but only 2-foot swells, which means fishing the interior waters north of Brookings will be very favorable. Friday’s forecast is for 5-knot winds and 3-foot swells, followed Saturday by 10-knot winds and 3-foot swells. Those are all very doable for even the wimpiest of sea legs.

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 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 set this week, but expect a late-May opener with chinook fishing daily through August and the standard two-salmon limit.

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

For bottomfishers, 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 and is starting to pull into shape after a lack-luster winter. Look for some spotty catches this weekend, once the heavy winds of mid-week calm down. 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 ocean effort has been light. Lots of crab now sport soft shells and they should be released because their meat content is poor while they are molting.

Another very nice set of morning minus tides await clammers beginning at 7 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 OUTLOOKAPPLEGATE: 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 got its first dose of fresh rainbow trout this week when 10,000 legals were stocked. With a surface temperature now at 49 degrees and climbing, fishing for smallmouth bass has improved. Also, the holdover trout are biting fairly decently on PowerBait farther up the reservoir. Fishing pressure, however, has remained light. Look for that to change with improved weather conditions. The lake was listed Tuesday at 81% full, a hair off from the normal filling schedule, but there’s plenty of snow set for runoff later this spring. Outflows remained at 450 cubic-feet-per-second, with 855 cfs coming in. Look for the Seattle Bar area to start taking off for rainbows. The lake has a 10 mph speed limit. Fishing pressure is very limited now.

DIAMOND: The lake is now ice-free and there is access along the lake’s north shore near the marina. Fishing pressure has been very light, but large fish are starting to cruise the shallows for early feed. Fish small spinners that look like small rainbows as well as PowerBait and worms. All tiger trout and brown trout must be released unharmed. Some are eclipsing 8 pounds.

EMIGRANT: The lake saw its second infusion of 1,000 rainbow trout last week at the main county boat ramp, and the trout are primarily in the main cove in front of the ramp. They will slowly work their way up the reservoir, but that’s where they are now. Catch them on PowerBait or night crawlers. The lake has risen nicely to 64% full and look for more inflows during the upcoming warm spell. 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 is ice-free, and there is access at the Forest Service boat ramp, where 5,000 legal-sized rainbow trout will be stocked next week for what traditionally was the trout opener. Oregon lakes, however, are almost all year-round for fishing now. Fishing interest still remains quite 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 up a bit this past week to 61% 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. The lake is now ice-free and accessible around the north area as well as near the dam. The lake is set for 7,500 legal-sized trout to be stocked next week. The lake was listed Tuesday at 48% full, which is a hair above last week.

HYATT: The lake was up slightly to 57% full this past week as some runoff is finding its way into the reservoir. The lake is ice-free, but fishing pressure still remains very light. Warm temperatures are on the immediate horizon as well, so look for trout to start getting more active. Troll worms on Wedding Ring lures through the former creek channel for larger rainbows. Bass fishing has picked up in the shallows and coves.

LAKE OF THE WOODS: The lake remains ice-free, and access at the resort has improved. Docks have been floated at the marina now, so it’s game on here. 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 received another 15,000 legal-sized rainbows this past week, split between the Stewart State Park ramps and the Takelma Ramp. These fish are hungry and ready to bite worms and PowerBait quickly. These fish are in addition to the 20,000 legals stocked in late March. 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 93% full and a hair below the regular filling schedule. 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.

RIVER OUTLOOK

ROGUE: The lower Rogue has seen a steady and good bite of spring chinook that could taper off for a few days as water levels drop and clear, while the middle Rogue is seeing a late-season surge for winter steelhead. The upper Rogue has improved for late-run winter steelhead, but numbers so far this year remain underwhelming here.

A few anglers have started chasing springers in the upper Rogue, but the pickings remain quite slim. Look for that to change by the end of the month.

That keeps the middle Rogue the best bet, but it’s probably the last window of the season. Flows at Grants Pass were under 3,000 cfs but forecast to start creeping up Thursday and peaking Sunday around 3,300 cfs. That’s still a bit below ideal for prospecting for winter steelhead from the bank and boats.

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. But look for warm air and sunny skies through early next week. 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 at 22,262 cfs Tuesday and set to sneak down through early Friday before ticking up again thanks to increased snowmelt. That makes Sunday afternoon and early next week the best likely fishing days.

For the former Gold Ray Dam area, flows are forecast to drop to about 2,600 cfs Friday before sneaking up a bit through the weekend. That’s OK for winter steelhead and perhaps for an early spring chinook moving through the Bear Creek mouth area.

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 has cooled as water conditions turned more clear and less fisher-friendly. Still, there are plenty of hatchery fish and a nice component of 30-plus pounders each day. Bank anglers will fare better than boat anglers until water conditions improve later this weekend. Boat anglers are using anchovies or Brad’s Cut Plug baits. Bankies remain loyal to larger Spin-Glo’s.

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, a handful of 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.

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 total daily limit is two, but at least one has to be a hatchery fish. Chinook and steelhead limits are in aggregate, so you can only keep two a day of any combination of legal fish.

The far upper Rogue in the Union Creek area was stocked in mid-September. 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.