OCEAN OUTLOOK

SOUTH COAST: Ocean conditions are looking decent but not great for the long Fourth of July weekend. The worst of it is Wednesday, when a hazardous seas warning runs through the evening. And here’s why: gusts of up to 40 knots and 14-foot waves are forecast. But things settle down after that. Thursday’s forecast calls for winds starting at 10 knots and building to 20 knots and 6-foot seas. Friday’s forecast calls for 15-knot winds and 7-foot seas. Saturday’s forecast is for 10-knot winds and 5-foot seas.

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 chinook salmon are also getting caught, but usually deeper and farther offshore. 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 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 while 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, cabezon can now be kept through the remainder of the calendar year.

Surfperch fishing has improved greatly with calmer morning winds and good morning low tides. Focus 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.

The latest set of heavy morning minus tides continues Wednesday. But the best begins with -1.4 tides around sunrise Thursday, Friday and Saturday, followed by a -1.3 footer at 7:40 a.m. Sunday.

Shellfish regulations have changed again. Razor clamming is now open coastwide, but all bay clamming is closed from Cascade Head to the California border after levels of paralytic shellfish poison, or PHP, have not dropped in clams sampled from bays. waned. All mussel collection remains closed statewide. 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 79% full. However, there is much action 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 not gas motors. The park closes at dusk.

APPLEGATE: The lake received another 15,000 legal-sized trout a month ago, and they continue to fan out more throughout the lake. The Seattle Bar area is starting to get not so good for trout fishing as the lake level is now down to more than 13 feet shy of full. 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 84% full, with out-flows at 300 cubic-feet-per-second and inflows down to 89 cfs.

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, Flatfish lures, worms under bobbers and some large streamer flies. Lots of brown trout over 20 inches are getting caught daily in the south end. 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 PowerBait or troll small lures. The lake has actually dropped somewhat significantly this past week to 56% 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 a month 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 three weeks ago, 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 74% 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 53% full, which is down just a hair from last week.

HYATT: The lake has steadied this past week and was listed at 56% full Tuesday. It did receive another 7,450 legal-sized trout a month 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: The lake received 1,000 legal-sized and 300 trophy-sized rainbow trout this week in time for the Fourth of July weekend crowds, which should be hefty considering the brutal heat forecast for the Rogue Valley. Fish with worms, PowerBait or troll Rapala lures for big rainbows and the occasional brown trout.

LOST CREEK: The lake received another 10,000 legal-sized rainbows two weeks ago, and they were 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 1,975 cfs as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has slowed releases in preparation for the mid-July spike of water for fall chinook salmon migration. In-flows are down to 1,267 cfs. The lake, however, remains a healthy 78% full, despite dropping 4% in the past week.

MEDCO: The pond received another 1,100 legal-sized trout two weeks ago, 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 relatively good run of spring chinook, and wild fish are now on the table downstream of Dodge Bridge. The middle Rogue remains slow for early summer steelhead, and the lower Rogue is awaiting the fall chinook run to start sometime in mid-July.

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

In the upper Rogue, another 718 chinook were collected Friday (the more recent available counts), better than the previous haul. That runs the season-to-date total to 6,752 chinook, well higher than last year and light years ahead of the 10-year running average of 2,335 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 upstream of Dodge Bridge, but wild and hatchery chinook can now be kept downstream of Dodge Bridge. This is outside of the main spring chinook spawning grounds. Early mornings have been best, and water temperatures are rising a bit. The upper Rogue flows have dropped this past week, with 1,750 cfs out of Lost Creek Lake providing the lion’s share of the water. Flows at Dodge Bridge were down under 2,000 cfs Tuesday for this first time this season, and they were also down under 2,000 cfs at the old Gold Ray Dam site as well as GrantsPass. 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 done for the season. All wild trout must be released unharmed in the main-stem river and the entire impoundment upstream of Cole Rivers Hatchery is catch-and-release.

The far upper Rogue in the Union Creek area on Wednesday will receive its weekly installment of 2,500 legal-sized rainbows in time for the Fourth of July rush. 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 for all steelhead. No fishing from a floating device is allowed.