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

OCEAN OUTLOOK

SOUTH COAST: Ocean conditions look nicely doable through the weekend as anglers head out for spring lingcod and black rockfish catches before the start of the offshore salmon season. Thursday’s forecast calls for winds up to 20 knots winds but only 5-foot swells, which means all of the Brookings-area reefs and rock piles will be in play. Friday’s forecast is for 5-knot winds and 6-foot swells, pushing more anglers to morning trips closer to shore. Saturday’s forecast calls for 10-knot winds but swells down to 4 feet.

Halibut fishing is now open, and look for some decent catches in 180 feet of water on sandy bottoms near rock formations. Jigs and large herring drifted off the bottom will be best.

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.

The coveted St. George Lighthouse reef in Northern California is open. Early lingcod catches have been excellent, as are black rockfish. Remember that California fishing license since it’s in California waters.

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 has really picked up at Brookings-areas beaches since the surf has calmed 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.

The current set of minus morning tides continues for clammers. The best is a whopping -1.9 tide at 7:30 a.m. Thursday, followed by a -1.8 tide at 8:15 a.m. Friday. Saturday’s morning tide at 9 a.m. is a -1.4. That will expose large swaths of clam beds almost never accessible to morning clammers before the winds hit. Coos Bay around Charleston will be awesome for butter and gaper clams.

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 continues to sport muddy conditions, but anglers are catching perch, a few crappie and bass near the base of the dam and around submerged willows. Small worms or small red or black spinners are good bets. The lake is 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 got its first dose of fresh rainbow trout three weeks ago when 10,000 legals were stocked. They are starting to gain interest among bank anglers using PowerBait near French Gulch and Copper ramps. The Seattle Bar area is also getting interest from bank anglers as well as float tubers near the bridge.

With a surface temperature now above 50 degrees and climbing, fishing for smallmouth bass has improved. Also, the holdover trout are biting fairly decently on PowerBait farther up the reservoir.

The lake was listed Tuesday at 96% full. The normal filling schedule is set to see a full reservoir last Thursday, but the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is holding back at filling because of the sturdy snowpack that will create good runoff into the summer. Outflows are up to 600 cfs, with 625 cfs coming in. The lake has a 10 mph speed limit.

DIAMOND: The lake is now ice-free, and fishing is good in the shallows south of the North Ramp and off the scout camp area. Fishing pressure is starting to pick up, and some nice brown trout and tiger trout have been caught this past week on Rapala lures, worms under bobbers and some large streamer flies. The resort marina is in full swing, and boat rentals are now available.

All tiger trout and brown trout must be released unharmed. Some are eclipsing 8 pounds.

EMIGRANT: The lake will got another infusion of 1,000 rainbow trout this past week at the county boat ramp, and that should trigger some good catches in the ramp cove at the county park. Fish off the bank with chartreuse or rainbow Power Bait or troll small lures. These fish will hang out for a week or so before fanning out into the reservoir. The lake has risen nicely to 75% full and look for more inflows during the upcoming warm spell. Bass fishing is improving as more warm and sunny days approach.

EXPO: Another 1,500 legal-sized rainbow trout were stocked this week, and this should trigger more interest in one of the only fishing options on the Rogue Valley floor. Catch them on PowerBait, worms under bobbers or small spinners. 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 were be stocked two weeks ago 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 66% 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, and the marina is now open with its docks floated. Early trolling for rainbow trout has been very good, with plenty of holdover trout in the 18-plus inch range getting caught this past weekend. The lake also received its first complement of 7,500 legal-sized trout two weeks ago. That should spice things up. Anchor and fish for them with PowerBait outside the marina or troll near the shore with Tasmanian Devil lures or Wedding Rings spiced with a piece of worm. The lake was listed Tuesday at 53% full, which is a hair above last week.

HYATT: The lake was up slightly to 61% 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. The first 7,500 legal-sized trout of the year were stocked last week. 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 is excellent, though some fresh snow did hit the lake earlier this week. Docks have been floated at the marina now. 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 three weeks ago, 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 cubic-feet-per-second, up a hair from last week. The lake was listed at 99% full and a hair below the regular filling schedule, which normally sees the lake full May 1. There’s plenty of snowpack upstream of the reservoir and the water year looks wonderful here. Outflows Tuesday were at 2,970 cfs, while inflows were upt o 3,283 cfs.

MEDCO: The pond received weeks ago received its first comopliment of 2,000 fresh legal-sized trout and they are getting caught with worms or PowerBait off the bank near the ramp.

RIVER OUTLOOK

ROGUE: The lower Rogue’s spring chinook salmon bite has held on amid decent water conditions while the upper Rogue is seeing an uptick in springer interest now that more fish have made their way into the Shady Cove area. The middle Rogue is mired in its typical May doldrums since few springers ever seem to get caught there.

That keeps the best bet to the upper Rogue as anglers switch from winter steelhead to springers. Get ready to be frustrated. Early springer counts are very encouraging and the best seen in well over a decade, and these fish are on the move thanks to good water conditions.

Bank anglers are finding a few springers with corkies and beads farther up in the system, while drift boaters are doing best back-bouncing roe or using MagLip 3.5 plugs spiced with anchovy scent or tuna bellies.

All wild chinook must be released unharmed.

Pay attention to river flows when seeking upper Rogue chinook. Higher flows that start to drop are best for catches as it triggers chinook migration. Flows at Dodge Bridge were up Tuesday to a springer-friendly 4,240 cfs and set to bounce around a bit into next week. Flows at the former Gold Ray Dam site were at 4,900 cfs Tuesday and forecast to hover around there into early next week. The higher flows are in part due to the nearly 3,000 cfs release from a nearly full Lost Creek Lake. Expect outflows to stay high at least through May as more runoff finds its way into the reservoir.

In the middle Rogue, bank anglers are still finding the occasional spawned-outwinter steelhead with Spin-Glo’s or plugs off side-planers at places like Chair and Rainbow riffles.

Flows at Grants Pass were set to drop from about 5,200 cfs Thursday and bounce around a bit through next week.

In the lower Rogue, the springer bite has slowed but has still been decent thanks to pretty good water conditions. Flows at Agness were at 7,800 cfs Tuesday and will drop to around 6,500 cfs through the weekend. That’s good for boat anglers and pretty good for plunkers chasing hatchery spring chinook. Focus on anchovies or Brad’s Cut Plug baits from boats. Bankies remain loyal to larger Spin-Glo’s.

Most of the action is in the lower 14 river miles, but a few fresh springers are getting caught in the Agness area. The Bear Camp Road access from Galice to Agness remains closed. Expect it to open as typically scheduled on Memorial Day weekend.

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.

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.