Rainbow trout are grilled at Union Creek. 

OCEAN OUTLOOK

SOUTH COAST: Ocean conditions are looking a little troublesome for the rest of this week. Wednesday’s forecast calls for a small-craft advisory to be in effect through Wednesday evening, with winds running from 15 knots to 25 knots and 7-foot waves. Thursday’s forecast calls for 30-knot winds and seas jup to 10 feet, while Friday’s forecast calls for winds up to 25 knots and seas up to 10 feet. 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 Coast 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 glittery light brown 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 high and low tides are very close to each other this week. That means far less tidal surge for anglers. That’s helpful for those fishing surf perch off the beach or rockfish off jetties.

Shellfish regulations have changed again. Bay clamming is now open statewide after two consecutive tests for biotoxins showed safe levels. Also, mussel harvest is now open from Coos Bay south to the California border, but it remains closed for the rest of the state. Razor clamming is now open coastwide. The coveted Clatsop Beach clam beaches will close July 15 for the annual conservation closure. 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: Fishing effort has tapered off with the high air temperatures that are also shooting water temperatures higher. Perch are dominating the catch. The reservoir is getting drawn down for irrigation and is 73% full. That constant drop leaves a ring of mud 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 continue to fan out more throughout the lake. The Seattle Bar area is losing its angling interest as water levels have sunk past the bar’s usefulness. Look for more trout fishing by trolling Wedding Rings or small lures from boats or still-fishing with worms or PowerBait along the lake’s far side past Seattle Bar. Bass fishing has been very good with crankbaits and rubber baits during the warm mornings. The lake is down to 80% full, with the elevation now toying with 17 feet from full. Outflows are almost four times the inflows, so look for the reservoir to drop quickly this month.

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 51% 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 this week, and they were stocked at the U.S. 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 an escape from heat and good water conditions. The lake was actually down a hair this week to 73% full Tuesday.

HOWARD PRAIRIE: Morning trolling for trout straight off the marina and all the way down the lake has been a hot ticket. There are plenty of holdover trout in the 16- to 18-inch range as well as legal-sized trout stocked last month at the marina. 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 55% 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 last week, and there are plenty of holdovers around the resort area. 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 three 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 to 1,850 cubic-feet-per-second 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 1180 cfs. The lake, however, remains a healthy 75% full, despite dropping 3% in the past week.

MEDCO: The pond received another 1,100 legal-sized trout three 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 some decent early-morning spring chinook salmon fishing, with most of the action 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 later this month.

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

In the upper Rogue, another 855 chinook were collected July 3 (the more recent available counts), better than the previous haul. That runs the season-to-date total to 8,068 chinook, well higher than last year and light years ahead of the past decade. Based on historic counts, figure that anywhere from one-half to two-thirds of the spring chinook numbers to make it to Cole Rivers this year have already done so. That means they’ll keep on coming.

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.

That’s why most anglers are focusing their springer effort downstream of Dodge Bridge to take advantage of this annual rule change. Early mornings have been best, and water temperatures are rising a bit. The upper Rogue flows have dropped this past week, with 1,850 cfs out of Lost Creek Lake providing the lion’s share of the water. Flows at Dodge Bridge were back up to a hair above 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 Grants Pass. Those flows should remain steady deep into next week.

Summer steelhead fishing is slowly picking up in the upper Rogue, with just 39 steelhead reaching Cole Rivers Hatchery as of July 3. That’s low, considering there were 425 adult summer steelhead at the hatchery by the same time last year. Don’t panic — it’s very early in the run.

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.

The far upper Rogue in the Union Creek area last Wednesday received 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 is open to trout fishing but off-limits to all steelhead. Bait is allowed, but there is no fishing from a floating device. Take care not to trespass.