OCEAN OUTLOOK

SOUTH COAST: Southern Oregon waters are a bit rough early in the week but should improve enough for near-shore, early morning trips later in the week. The forecast for Wednesday is 15-knot winds with gusts up to 25 knots in the afternoon and 8-foot seas. Thursday’s forecast calls for 15-knot winds and more 8-foot seas, followed Friday by 10-knot winds and 7-foot seas. Saturday is the best so far, with 10-knot winds and 5-foot seas. Now that’s getting doable.

The ocean salmon season is over off the Southern Oregon Coast, but bottomfishing and the occasional tuna trip have done very well when conditions allow. Look for tuna fishing to be all but over soon off the South Coast, even though it continues to go well out of Newport.

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 of late.

For bottomfishers, cabezon can now be kept through the remainder of the calendar year. All quillback rockfish must be released unharmed.

Surfperch fishing will rebound again when the surf settles down. When it does, focus on open beaches near rocks around high tide. Fishing is best at the turns of tides, primarily around high tide. 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.

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. The South Coast season runs through October.

The ocean is now open to recreational crabbing, and ocean effort has improved as the crab are starting to harden.

There are no new minus tides this week.

Shellfish regulations have remained stable. Bay clamming remains. Also, mussel harvest is now open from Coos Bay south to the California border as well as from the Yachats River north to the Washington border. The rest is closed. Razor clamming is currently open coastwide, except for Clatsop County beaches that are under the annual conservation closure as well as /south Coast beaches. Those South Coast razors have some of the highest domoic acids levels ever detected in Oregon and don’t be surprised if that closure remains into next year. 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 as water levels drop. The lake was listed Tuesday at 17% full, with no change from last week. Fishing on the lake’s lower end has been good for carp of late. However, perch are dominating the catch. The 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 not gas motors. The park closes at dusk.

APPLEGATE: The lake received another 15,000 legal-sized trout a month ago, and that’s it for the year. The Copper Boat Ramp remains usable, but don’t look for Hart-Tish Park to be available to boaters and recreators. Bass fishing is best off points with crankbaits and rubber baits. The lake is down to 18% full and dropping very fast amid low inflows. Outfloows remain at 200 cubic-feet-per-second to keep water flowing over fall chinook redds. That won’t change other than during winter freshets.

DIAMOND: Fishing is still good to very good 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 bite is best early in the morning and then at dusk. Winds have been kicking up daily. Tiger trout are preying 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. Anglers are averaging about one trout per hour. Cooler weather means better catches.

All tiger trout and brown trout must be released unharmed. Some are eclipsing 8 pounds. Try to keep these fish in the water when unhooking and releasing them. Keep fingers out of their gills; that’s a death sentence upon release.

EMIGRANT: The lake won’t get any fresh trout until spring, with trout now hanging out where Emigrant Creek finally reaches the reservoir. Catch them on worms free-drifted through the slow current. Bass fishing has remained good off rocky points, particularly during the recent swarm spell. The lake has held steady at 6% full, and consider the county boat ramp unusable. Afternoons have been windy.

EXPO: Another 1,000 legal-sized rainbow trout were stocked late this summer, and they are still drawing limited 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 900 trophy-sized trout two weeks ago, all released at the Forest Service ramp near the resort. They are the current target du jour, with anglers tossing PowerBait, worms and small spinners at them. For holdover rainbows, focus on the underwater springs that are much cooler and clearer than the rest of the lake. The lake was rising somewhat to 48% full Tuesday.

HOWARD PRAIRIE: Morning trolling for trout straight off the dam has remained solid. 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. The marina boat ramp is closed, so access off the gravel approach near the dam or straight into the water where the edge isn’t muddy. Warming weather has made the morning and evening bite best. Anchor or fish for them from the bank with PowerBait or troll 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 40% full, which is the same as last week.

HYATT: The lake has leveled off now that irrigation season is mostly over, and it remained listed at 36% full. It did receive another 7,450 legal-sized trout a month ago. That will be it for the season. 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 a month ago, 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. Plenty of perch can be caught with worms off the resort.

LOST CREEK: The lake this week received another 5,000 legal-sized trout and 2,300 trophy-sized trout split between between the Stewart State Park ramp and the Takelma Ramp. These fish will bite PowerBait right out of the stocking truck, so that’s the best choice for the immediate future. Troll Wedding Ring lures spiced with a small piece of worm or a whole worm behind a flasher.

Flows out of the reservoir remain at 1,150 cfs as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers tries to corral spawning chinook salmon into mainstream channels on the Rogue. In-flows are back to just below 900 cfs. The lake, however, remains a healthy 42% full, dropping just 1% in the past week. It remains just below the typical winter low pool in preparation for winter flood control.

MEDCO: The pond received another 1,100 legal-sized trout a month ago, and fishing is holding on. They are getting caught with worms or PowerBait off the bank near the ramp.

RIVER OUTLOOK

ROGUE: The upper Rogue remains deep within the flies-only fishing season, and fishing is still just fair, while the lower Rogue Bay has remained surprisingly decent for a decent mix of late but bright fall chinook and coho. The middle Rogue is done for fall chinook upstream of the Hog Creek boat ramp, but some decent evening fishing for wild winter steelhead is available on a catch-and-release basis.

That keeps the best bet in the lower Rogue Bay again, largely by default.

Trolling the Lower Rogue Bay for fall chinook can be pretty hit and miss at this time of year, but the coho are moving in. Most of these are wild fish and must be released unharmed, but hatchery fish can be kept as part of the two-salmon daily limit. The turns of the tides are best, especially around morning high tides. Multiple fish on guide boats have been the norm of late, and the bay is starting to shed the crowds after the Labor Day weekend. Anchovies with blades are best, as are Brad’s Cut Plug baits.

The Agness area is still fishing fair to good at times for fall chinook either back-bouncing or side-drifting with roe and sandshrimp or fishing plugs with tuna-belly wraps. Fly-fishing for halfpounder steelhead also has been good during evenings in riffles around Agness as well as within the Lower Rogue Canyon.

The upper Rogue is a flies-only show for steelhead, but anglers can either use conventional fly gear or spinning rods and floats as long as no added weights or attachments are added. That includes swivels.

For spinning gear, rig a prince nymph about 2 feet below of stonefly nymph that legally acts like a weight. Vary the depth of your bobber to keep both flies at or near the bottom at all times.

For conventional fly anglers, nymphing is now best with a stonefly dropper and a single egg fly at the point. No plastic molded eggs. Those are illegal. However, catches are light because steelhead numbers are light. Summer steelhead numbers remain lower than last year in the upper Rogue, and they are expected to remain like that. Colder water releases also mean swinging streamer flies are starting to all out of fashion

Flows out of Lost Creek were steady at 1,150 cfs Tuesday, with Dodge Bridge flows back down to 1,278 cfs. Ditto for the old Gold Ray Dam site, where the flows were down to 1,334 cfs Tuesday. Grants Pass was actually up a hair to 1,332 cfs as well. Those flows are continued to remain steady deep into next week and provide great conditions for summer steelhead fishing in the evenings.

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 is not going to be stocked again until next spring. However, there are plenty of holdover and native trout in the area to catch. 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.

CHETCO: Trolling in the bay has been slow, but the fall chinook that are washing into the estuary are large. Troll anchovies.