OCEAN OUTLOOK

SOUTH COAST: Ocean conditions are looking at a dicey weekend for offshore fishing amid heavy winds and the requisite waves. A gale warning is in effect through Thursday evening, with Thursday’s forecast calling for 30-knot winds and 10-foot wind waves. Friday’s forecast is a tad better at 25-knot winds and 9-foot wind waves. Expect the same Saturday.

The ocean chinook salmon season opens Thursday in Southern Oregon, but look for light effort and catches early on. The limit is two chinook a day through Aug. 31, with only barbless hooks allowed. Fin-clipped coho don’t get added to the mix until June 15.

Halibut fishing is now open and look for some decent catches in 180 feet of water on sandy bottoms near rock formations when the weather better cooperates. 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.

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. Tough weekend, however, with the weather.

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 had picked up at Brookings-areas beaches when the surf calmed down, but look for it to remain very spotty until two days after this latest round of windy weather abates. 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 has been good action around the rocks north of the Winchuck River mouth when weather allows — just not this weekend. 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.

A new set of morning minus tides returns Tuesday clammers. The best ones will be later next week. Like last week’s tides, these tides 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 water conditions are improving, and that’s helped for decent catches of perch, crappie and bass for boat anglers wind-drifting worms or those casting toward submerged willows and trees from the bank. Evenings are best. 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 getting a lot more use as the lake hovers just under full with plenty of inflow to come in future months. No fresh trout were scheduled for stocking this week. The Seattle Bar area has been good for bank anglers and float tubers chasing trout. Bass fishing from boats remains good off points and submerged logs and stumps. Your sonar is your friend. With a surface temperature now above 52 degrees and climbing, fishing for smallmouth bass has improved. Also, the holdover trout are biting fairly decently on PowerBait farther up the reservoir. Outflows are up to 700 cubic-feet-per-second as warmer weather has caused the inflows to jump up to 728 cfs. The lake has a 10 mph speed limit.

DIAMOND: The lake is starting to fish very well for a mix of rainbow trout, tiger trout and brown trout, particularly at the lake’s southern end. The North Ramp is open and the marina is fully stocked with rental boats. Fishing pressure is starting to pick up and some nice brown trout and tiger trout has been caught this past week on Rapala lures, worms under bobbers and some large streamer flies. Fingerling stocking likely will occur in late May. 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 last 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 79% full and look for more inflows during the upcoming warm spell. Bass fishing is improving as more warm and sunny days hit the area.

EXPO: Another 1,500 legal-sized rainbow trout were stocked last 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 received another infusion of 4,500 legal-sized trout stocked at the Forest Service ramp this past week, and fishing for them is good with worms or PowerBait in the cove immediately near the ramp as well as the resort ramp. Fishing interest will continue to rise. The lake was up a bit this past week to 67% 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 three weeks ago. More are scheduled for next week. 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 55% full, which is a hair above last week.

HYATT: The lake was up slightly to 62% full this past week as some runoff is finding its way into the reservoir. Fishing pressure remains quite light, but expect it to pick up with recent trout stockings. The first 7,500 legal-sized trout of the year were stocked two weeks ago. 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. Lots of smallish largemouth, as usual.

LAKE OF THE WOODS: The resort is in full swing, and fishing improves as the weather improves. 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 10,000 legal-sized rainbows this 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 35,000 legals stocked here so far this spring. 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 way up to 3,181 cfs Tuesday as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers grapples with high inflows and a reservoir listed at 99% full. Look for high outflows well into summerOutflows Tuesday were at 2,970 cfs, while inflows were upt o 3,283 cfs.

MEDCO: The pond received another 2,000 legal-sized trout this past week to go along with the 2,000 already stocked here so far this spring. 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 nice water conditions and a steady supply of fresh chinook daily. The upper Rogue is seeing more interest — and success — in spring chinook fishing this past week as higher water puts the springers on the move. The middle Rogue is in its annual spring doldrums while a few winter steelhead are still showing up occasionally in the catch.

That keeps the best bet as a split. While the lower Rogue fishing (chiefly with guides) is leading the success rates, it’s a long trip since Bear Camp Road is closed. That leaves the upper Rogue the best bet for anglers who don’t have the time and money to invest into a coastal trip now.

In the lower Rogue, guides are hitting fish daily while other boat anglers are also doing fairly well. Anchovies or Brad’s Cut-Plug baits are by far the best offerings. Most of the fish now are in that 18- to 22-pound range, with a good showing of hatchery fish that anglers can keep. Bank angling has fallen off dramatically. Water flows are good. Flows at Agness were at 7,792 cfs and holding steady into early next week.

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.

In the upper Rogue, 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 3,200 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-out winter 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.

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.

All wild steelhead must be released unharmed for the remainder of the year river-wide.

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.