OCEAN OUTLOOK

SOUTH COAST: Ocean conditions again are looking a little sketchy again this week to start things off, and they slowly get a tad better but not by much. Thursday’s forecast calls for winds starting around 15 knots but building to 25 knots later in the day, with gusts up to 35 knots. The forecast also calls for 8-foot seas and 7-foot wind waves, making for a very windy and bouncy day on the briny. Friday’s forecast is for winds up to 30 knots and 9-foot seas with 8-foot waves. Saturday’s forecast calls for winds up to 25 knots and 6-foot wind waves.

The ocean chinook salmon season is picking up off the South Coast, and early catches of fin-clipped coho season has been strong but most of the fish have been relatively small. They’re mostly getting caught in the top 40 feet of water. Some nice coho salmon are also getting caught, but usually deeper. Anchovies are best. Remember, hooks must be barbless. The limit is two salmon a day through Aug. 31, when the chinook season closes.

Halibut fishing is now open, and look for some decent catches in 180-200 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.

Central Oregon halibut fishing has been slow, largely because of weather. That means there is plenty of the spring all-depth quota left for what could be a pretty wide-open fishery through July.

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. Fishing has been very good for larger black rockfish, while lingcod fishing has been a little hit and miss.

The St. George Lighthouse reef in Northern California is open. Lingcod catches have been excellent, as are black rockfish, when boats can make the run from Brookings. 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 been slow thanks to heavy surf. When things calm down, expect good surfperch fishing off river mouths during the perch spawn, which is now on-going. Fishing is best at the turns of tides. Shrimp, mussels and Berkley Gulp sandworms or shrimp are the best baits when the weather cooperates. There are a dozen varieties of surfperch along the Oregon Coast, and most are quite tasty.

The ocean is now open to recreational crabbing, and ocean effort has improved as salmon anglers are dropping off pots to soak while they troll for salmon.

Another set of heavy morning minus tides begins Friday with a -1.2 feet at 6:17 a.m. Friday, and they peak at -1.7 feet Sunday and Monday mornings.

Shellfish regulations have changed again. As of June 14, razor clamming is open again from the mouth of the Columbia River south to the Yachats River. The rest of the state is closed to razors because of natural toxin levels recently recorded. All mussel collection remains closed statewide, as is all bay clamming. That’s troublesome because these are some of the best digging tides of the summer.

Before any digging, call the shellfish hotline at 1-800-448-2474 for the latest restrictions.

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 improved for warmwater fishing, with perch dominating the catch. The reservoir is getting drawn down for irrigation and is 89% full. However, there is much water around some of the more popular bank-fishing areas near the boat ramp. The ramp is open. Boat anglers are doing best by wind-drifting worms or casting toward submerged willows and trees from the bank. Evenings are best. Electric trolling motors are OK but no gas motors. The park closes at dusk.

APPLEGATE: The lake received another 15,000 legal-sized trout a month ago, and they are starting to fan out more throughout the lake. The Seattle Bar area has remained good for bank anglers and float tubers chasing trout. Lake levels have remained high enough to keep Seattle Bar in play. Elsewhere, bank fishing is good at the lake’s far side past Seattle Bar. Trollers are faring well with worms and flashers. Bass fishing has been very good during warmer days, like this weekend. The lake was listed Tuesday at 91% full, with out-flows about twice that of in-flows.

DIAMOND: The lake is fishing very well for a mix of rainbow trout, tiger trout and brown trout, particularly at the lake’s southern end and around the shrimp beds straight across from the resort. The ramps are open, and tiger trout are starting to prey on stocked trout fingerling. Look for some nice brown trout and tiger trout in the mix while fishing Rapala lures, worms under bobbers and some large streamer flies. All tiger trout and brown trout must be released unharmed. Some are eclipsing 8 pounds.

EMIGRANT: The lake hasn’t had any fresh trout releases in a month, and that has slowed trout fishing as well as effort. Fish off the bank near the county boat ramp and where Emigrant Creek pours into the reservoir with chartreuse or rainbow Power Bait or troll small lures. The lake has actually dropped somewhat significantly this past week to 69% full, and look for it to continue to drop as the irrigation season is in full swing. However, that’s still much higher than in recent years. Bass fishing is improving as more warm and sunny days hit the area. Afternoons have been windy.

EXPO: Another 1,000 legal-sized rainbow trout were stocked three weeks ago, and they are still drawing good interest from valley anglers without too many close fishing options. Catch them on PowerBait, worms under bobbers or small spinners. Parking fees are required.

FISH: The lake received another infusion of 2,500 legal-sized trout last week, and they were stocked at the Forest Service ramp. Fish for them with worms or PowerBait in the cove immediately near the ramp as well as off the resort. Fishing interest will continue to rise, as will the water level. The lake was up a bit this past week to 75% full Tuesday. That’s basically some snow runoff as well as inflows from underground springs and a lack of irrigation releases.

HOWARD PRAIRIE: The lake got another 7,450 legal-sized rainbow trout stocked a month ago, and fishing has been very good for trollers as well as still anglers from boats and the rock jetty. 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. 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. Also troll in the channel if you can find it with your electronics. The lake was listed Tuesday at 55% full, which is down just a hair from last week.

HYATT: The lake has dropped a hair to 49% full this past week but it did receive another 7,450 legal-sized trout three weeks ago. Troll worms on Wedding Ring lures through the former creek channel for larger rainbows. Anchor and fish PowerBait off the bottom for the recently planted rainbows. Bass fishing has picked up in the shallows and coves near the Bureau of Land Management ramp. Lots of smallish largemouth, as usual.

LAKE OF THE WOODS: Fishing has been good to very good for rainbows, some brown trout and plenty of perch. Fish with worms, PowerBait or troll Rapala lures for big brown trout.

LOST CREEK: The lake received another 10,000 legal-sized rainbows this week, and they were be split between the Stewart State Park ramp and the Takelma Ramp. The most recently stocked rainbows are biting worms and PowerBait fished off the bank near the Takelma ramp. Others are fanning out toward the face of the dam and along the lake’s southwest banks. Troll Wedding Ring lures spiced with a small piece of worm or a whole worm behind a flasher. Flows out of the reservoir were down to 2,800 cubic-feet-per-second as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is drawing the reservoir down a little more intensely since the out-flows are now close to double the in-flows. The lake, however, remains a healthy 88% full, despite dropping 6% in the past week.

MEDCO: The pond received another 1,100 legal-sized trout this week, putting it in great shape for fishing for the next few weeks. They are getting caught with worms or PowerBait off the bank near the ramp.

RIVER OUTLOOK

ROGUE: The upper Rogue is still seeing a decent run of spring chinook, but fish numbers have started to taper a bit as the early-run component seems to have reached their destinations. The middle Rogue remains slow for early summer steelhead, and the lower Rogue is awaiting the fall chinook run to start sometime in July.

That keeps the best bet at the upper Rogue as spring chinook fishing continues to dominate the landscape.

In the upper Rogue, salmon collections at Cole Rivers Hatchery have been the best win well over a decade. Another 688 chinook were collected Monday (the most recent available counts) after a haul of more than 2,000 the week before. That runs the season-to-date total to 6,034 chinook, well higher than last year and light years ahead of the 10-year running average of 1,817 chinook through this week.

Bank anglers are finding a few springers with corkies and beads farther up in the system like at Casey State Park and the Slide Hole (The Hatchery Hole remains closed), while drift boaters are doing best back-bouncing roe and sandshrimp or using MagLip 3.5 plugs spiced with anchovy scent or tuna bellies.

Intercept these migrating spring chinook along the inside corners of gravel bars and other clear migration lanes. Start fishing some of the classic holes now as well, since water flows have dropped as more riverside irrigation is occurring.

All wild chinook must be released unharmed in the upper Rogue, but hatchery fish are showing up very well in the bite. Early mornings have been best, and water temperatures are rising a bit. The upper Rogue flows have increased this past week, with 2,800 cfs out of Lost Creek Lake providing the lion’s share of the water. Flows at Dodge Bridge were up to 2,989 cfs and 3,042 cfs at the old Gold Ray Dam site. Those flows are continued to remain steady deep into next week.

Rogue, Applegate and other South Coast 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 to December.

Those validations are not necessary for chinook fishing.

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

Summer steelhead haven’t joined spring chinook in early migrations, but look for that to change in the next two weeks. The early run of summers to the upper Rogue are made up of some of the largest summer steelhead of the season, with several fish eclipsing 10 pounds.

In the impoundment between Lost Creek dam and Cole Rivers Hatchery, fly-fishing for rainbows with stonefly imitations is still holding on, but fluctuating water levels have altered catches almost day-to-day. Evenings are best. Also, stonefly dries are getting cutthroat and other trout in the main-stem upper Rogue. All wild trout must be released unharmed in the main-stem river and the entire impoundment is catch-and-release.

The far upper Rogue in the Union Creek area on Thursday will receive its weekly installment of 2,500 legal-sized rainbows. Fishing is always best at the stocking sites along the upper Rogue and Union Creek. Focus around the Union Creek Campground and the main-stem Rogue near River Bridge. Worms, single salmon eggs and small pieces of worms are the traditional favorites.

APPLEGATE: The river reopens to trout fishing Saturday but is off-limits to all steelhead. No fishing from a floating device is allowed.