OCEAN OUTLOOK

SOUTH COAST: The latest atmospheric river heading into the Pacific Northwest is showing a repeat of why early 2024 is about watching the ocean instead of entering it. After a hazardous-seas warning ends Thursday morning, look for continued zeal in the water. Thursday’s forecast calls for 15-knot winds and 17-foot swells, followed Friday by 15-knot winds and swells down to 15 feet. Saturday sees a bit more improvement, with 15-knot winds but swells starting around 14 feet and ending around 11 feet by evening. Clearly look-but-don’t-touch conditions.

All ocean salmon fishing and halibut fishing is closed along the California coast.

For bottomfishers when you can get out, 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.

Bottomfishing looks like a bust this weekend thanks to very rough swells. But if things calm down later next week, look for some decent lingcod and bottomfish catches for jiggers. During the short window of fishing last week before the latest set of storms, very nice lingcod catches were found by those jigging in shallow waters at area hot-spots like Mack Arch.

Surfperch fishing is very surf-dependent but has been decent at times when the surf calms down. But this weekend’s winds and high surf make this a non-starter now. 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’s good action around the rocks north of the Winchuck River mouth when weather allows.

The ocean is now open to recreational crabbing, but conditions have kept crabbers in bays like Charleston and Coos Bay near Charleston. A new series of afternoon minus tides begin Tuesday, and they will have quite an impact on tidal surges in bays. Wednesday’s afternoon tide swing, for instance, will be 8.7 feet between morning low and afternoon high. That’s enough to make bay crabbing tough with the surge. Focus on the hour before and after slack tides and stay out during the main surges.

Razor clamming is closed along the South Coast from Cape Blanco to the California border, but bays are open for butter and gaper clams. Bay clamming and mussel harvests are open statewide. Before digging, call the shellfish hotline at 1-800-448-2474.

LAKE OUTLOOK

AGATE: The lake has been off most anglers’ charts thanks to low and muddy water conditions. The lake has risen quickly this past week and has jumped again to 63% full. Electric trolling motors are OK, but gas motors are not allowed. The park closes at dusk.

APPLEGATE: The French Gulch ramps now is the only one usable for trailered boats as the lake’s mid-winter season has crept in. The lake’s on the rise and was at elevation 1,913 feet Tuesday, which is 24% full. The filling season begins Thursday, and that could lead to a shift in outflows to capture more water. However, the incoming storms suggest that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will keep inflows higher until natural flow swells the Applegate River. Fishing pressure is extremely light. Wait until some more calm inflows before taking the time to fish here. Outflows have jumped to 1,728 cubic-feet-per-second to make up for the 1,490 cfs flowing into the reservoir. The lake has a 10 mph speed limit.

DIAMOND: Warm days have thinned the ice, and open water remains in the middle sections of the lake. No one is fishing now. The lake has a mix of mostly rainbow trout as well as brown and tiger trout that are stocked to prey on the lake’s small but omnipresent tui chub population. All tiger trout and brown trout must be released unharmed. Some are eclipsing 8 pounds.

EMIGRANT: The lake has risen a hair to 25% full and likely will stay that low once the snows start up on the Dead Indian Plateau. Trout fishing is available but slow, and bass fishing remains slow and will until we get a series of warmer, sunnier days. The county launch is too low for launching trailered boats at the county ramp.

EXPO: State wildlife biologists stocked 1,500 legal-sized rainbow trout here more than three months ago, and their numbers are now thin. Catch them with Panther Martin lures, single salmon eggs or worms under bobbers. Parking fees are required.

FISH: Ice has been melting the past week, and there is some open water but little interest. The lake was actually up a hair this past week to 55% full Tuesday. That’s basically inflows from underground springs and very little runoff as snow levels climb.

HOWARD PRAIRIE: The lake is open to angling, but the marina is closed. Some ice is around the lake, but it’s thin. The lake was listed Tuesday at 37% full, which is up over the past week.

HYATT: The lake was up a hair to 47% full this past week as some runoff is finding its way into the reservoir. Ice is starting to form, but it remains too thin for safe fishing.

LAKE OF THE WOODS: The lake’s ice has melted among warm, sunny days, and there is some good fishing for perch and some rainbow trout.

LOST CREEK: The lake’s winter trout fishing has been fair to decent near the dam and off Takelma Boat Ramp. 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. The reservoir was listed at 56% full this week and slightly higher than normal for the end of January as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers grapples with a filling schedule amid a series of atmospheric river events dumping rain at mid-elevations and snows at higher elevations. The inflows were up to nearly 5,000 cfs Tuesday, to counter the 4,700 cfs flowing out of the reservoir. That’s a lot of dark and muddy water upstream of Peyton Bridge. More rains are in the forecast.

MEDCO: The lake was stocked in June with 2,000 legal-sized trout. Catch what’s left of them on PowerBait or worms.

RIVER OUTLOOK

ROGUE: High waters river-wide have turned anglers into NFL viewers, and the only difference between last weekend and this weekend will be the dearth of Taylor Swift sightings.

But respite is on the horizon. Look for the next series of storms to peter out, and river flows are forecast to follow suit as soon as early next week.

That makes the best bet for now to be tying flies, cleaning gear and making sure the 2025 drift boat licenses are affixed for when the action begins next week.

When that happens, the best bet will be the middle Rogue downstream of Grants Pass, which has many good high-water winter steelhead holes from Indian Mary Park down to Galice. When flows drop and turbidity subsides to at least 13 NTUs, get the driftboats down there for side-drifting roe and puff balls along the inside seams of riffles and migration lanes. Plug fishing at tail-outs and along the edges of slower water also should be good. Fly-fishing will be tough until the flows drop decisively.

Flows Tuesday at Grants Pass were 7,900 cfs, and they are forecast to hit about 9,000 cfs Thursday before dropping. Some high-water holes in the Galice area could be fishable as early as Saturday, and bankies might start thinking about big Spin-Glo’s at Rainbow Bar as well.

The lower Rogue in the Agness area is a wash-out until later next week, and then it could be very good for plunkers are places like Dunkelberger Bar. Boaters can fish plugs in slower areas of migration lanes looking to intercept fresh winter steelhead. Flows at Agness were down Tuesday to 16,700 cfs and forecast to peak around 22,000 cfs Friday before dropping slowly.

In the upper Rogue, high and turbid waters have left anglers at home. Flows at Dodge Bridge were down Tuesday to 6,176 cfs, largely because of the release of 4,700 cfs of water from Lost Creek Lake. At least that water is clear, so while high it will give anglers a chance once flows do drop later this week. Flows are forecast to bounce around 6,700 cfs and dropping through the weekend to 3,700 cfs Monday. But beware of what happens at Lost Creek Lake. All bets are off if out-flows are increased as usual once the storm moves through. Check flows daily before launching.

Flows at the former Gold Ray Dam site were 7,900 cfs Tuesday and forecast to hit about 9,000 cfs Friday before slipping down.

The high water has late-run summer steelhead on the move, with 128 new steelhead and 60 recycled “retread” steelhead captured last Tuesday at Cole Rivers Hatchery. That boosts this year’s return to 3,868 fish, which is comfortably above the 10-year running average of 3,211 to date. Expect another 150 or so to straggle in to the hatchery collection ponds during the next two weeks. But the high flows have made fishing for these late-run steelhead where they are often caught — at the Hatchery Hole right at the base of the collection pond entrance.

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. All wild steelhead harvest on the Rogue is now closed.

The far upper Rogue in the Union Creek area was stocked in mid-September for the last time this year. Fish around the Union Creek Campground and the mainstem Rogue near River Bridge. Worms, single salmon eggs and small pieces of worms are the traditional favorites.

APPLEGATE: The river is open to angling for steelhead, but no winter steelhead have been reported. Flows are a major deterrent to fishing, with 1,490 cfs released now out of Applegate Lake. There is no fishing from a floating device, and all wild steelhead must be released unharmed.

CHETCO: The river was way up and out of shape for winter steelhead fishing and will likely remain that way for a while. Flows were forecast to shoot up Thursday to about 12,000 cfs before dropping consistently. There may be good conditions for winter steelhead fishing high up in the system as early as Sunday, but a change in rain patterns could wash that out. A $2 South Coast Steelhead validation along with a fishing license is needed to fish here, even if it’s all catch and release.