The Rogue River bay in Gold Beach. 

OCEAN OUTLOOK

SOUTH COAST: After a small-craft advisory for the South Coast ends Thursday morning, look for conditions to pull into decent shape for some near-shore bottomfish jigging out of Brookings. The forecast calls for 20-knot winds dropping to 10 knots later in the day and 6-foot swells. That’s doable for near-shore angling. Friday’s forecast is much the same, with 10-knot winds and 6-foot swells. Saturday sees a little uptake in the weather, with 15-knot winds and 7-foot swells.

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.

Chinook salmon fishing in the ocean is open out of Coos Bay and Bandon, but effort has been very light. Halibut opens in May , and early indications are that the South Coast will have an ocean chinook salmon season with a two-fish daily limit. Dates will be set by the end of this week, but expect a late-May opener with chinook fishing daily through August and the standard two-salmon limit.

The coveted St. George Lighthouse reef in Northern California opens May 1 as well.

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.

Surfperch fishing is very surf-dependent and is starting to pull into shape after a lack-luster winter. Look for some spotty catches this weekend, once the heavy winds of mid-week calm down. 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. Beaches north of Gold Beach can also yield great surfperch catches. There are a dozen varieties of surfperch along the Oregon Coast, and most are quite tasty.

The ocean is now open to recreational crabbing, but conditions have kept crabbers in bays like Coos Bay near Charleston and lower Winchester Bay. Lots of crab now sport soft shells and they should be released because their meat content is poor while they are molting.

A very nice set of morning minus tides await clammers through the weekend. The best tide is a -1.4 tide at 8:30 a.m. Thursday, followed by a -1.1 tide at 9:20 a.m. Friday and a -.7 tide at 10:15 a.m. Saturday.

Razor clamming remains closed along the South Coast from Cape Blanco to the California border, but bays are open for butter and gaper clams. Also, razor clamming has reopened between Cascade Head near Lincoln City to Seal Rock near Waldport because of reduced levels of domoic acid.

Bay clamming and mussel harvests are open statewide. Before digging, call the shellfish hotline at 1-800-448-2474.

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 been off most anglers’ charts thanks to low and muddy water conditions. But it’s time to start fishing the lake for bass and perch, either from boats or the bank. Worms and small spinners are best. The lake is full. Electric trolling motors are OK but not gas motors. The park closes at dusk.

APPLEGATE: The French Gulch and Copper ramps are open and useable for trailered boats as the lake continues to fill slightly ahead of schedule. The lake’s elevation Tuesday was at 1,966 feet above sea level, or at 72% full.

With a surface temperature now at 49 degrees and climbing, fishing for smallmouth bass has improved. Also, the holdover trout are biting fairly decently on PowerBait farther up the reservoir. Fishing pressure, however, has remained light. Look for that to change with improved weather conditions.

The lake has a 10 mph speed limit. Fishing pressure is very limited now.

DIAMOND: The lake’s ice is melting quickly, and access at the north end could open for boat anglers within the week. When it does, look for larger rainbows, browns and tiger trout to be cruising the shallows. Catch them on PowerBait or flies and lures that look like smallish baitfish. All tiger trout and brown trout must be released unharmed. Some are eclipsing 8 pounds.

EMIGRANT: The lake saw its second infusion of 1,000 rainbow trout this week at the main county boat ramp, and the trout are primarily in the main cove in front of the ramp. They will slowly work their way up the reservoir, but that’s where they are now. Catch them on PowerBait or night crawlers. The lake has held steady this past week at 57% full and look for more inflows his the area Saturday and Sunday. Bass fishing is improving as more warm and sunny days approach.

EXPO: State wildlife biologists stocked 1,500 legal-sized rainbow trout here last month, and they’re getting caught on PowerBait or small spinners. Worms under bobbers also work well, as well as single salmon eggs. Parking fees are required.

FISH: The lake has plenty of open water, and access has improved with rapid melting of lakeside snows. Fishing interest still remains quite light. Catches would be best with worms or PowerBait near submerged springs near the Forest Service ramp and out past the marina. The lake was stable this past week at 59% full Tuesday. That’s basically light inflows from underground springs and very little runoff as snow levels have been sparse.

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 45% full, which is a hair above last week.

HYATT: The lake was up slightly to 54% 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 fishing. Warm temperatures are on the immediate horizon as well, so the window for ice fishing here seems to be over.

LAKE OF THE WOODS: The lake remains ice-free, and access at the resort has improved. Docks have been floated at the marina now, so it’s game on here. Fishing has been decent for perch and some rainbows in shallow water just off the marina, but plan on morning trips as afternoon winds have been common.

LOST CREEK: The lake will receive another 15,000 legal-sized rainbows next week, set to be split between the Stewart State Park ramps and the Takelma Ramp. These fish will be hungry and ready to bite worms and PowerBait quickly. These fish are in addition to the 20,000 legals stocked two weeks ago. These fish are starting to fan out, but they still are fairly easy to catch off the bank with PowerBait or Panther Martin lures. Fishing remains best around the Takelma Ramp and near the north face of the dam. 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. Flows out of the reservoir were holding steady at 1,850 cubic-feet-per-second, up a hair from last week. The lake was listed at 89% full and even with the regular filling schedule now. That won’t be a problem because there is enough runoff in the forecast to fill the reservoir this spring. The lake is scheduled to hit full May 1, but look for water regulators to keep it a foot or two short of full until more snowpack runs off.

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: The lower Rogue has seen a drop-off from the torrid spring chinook bite as water levels have dropped and cleared, but that will improve again early next week. The middle Rogue has been only slightly better but still is a disappointment for winter steelhead, while the upper Rogue is starting to get decent during what has panned out as an underwhelming winter steelhead run.

A few anglers have started chasing springers in the upper Rogue, but the pickings remain quite slim. Look for that to change by the end of the month.

That keeps the middle Rogue the best bet, but it’s probably the last window of the season. Flows at Grants Pass were under 3,000 cfs but forecast to start creeping up Thursday and peaking Sunday around 4,500 cfs. That’s a good level for prospecting for winter steelhead from the bank and boats.

Steelhead bite best on the drop of water levels, so any combination of plug fishing as well as bait and fake gobs of eggs will work well in migration lanes and near the tops of deeper glides.

Bank anglers will be fishing Spin-Glo’s or plugs off side-planers at places like Chair and Rainbow riffles.

In the upper Rogue, April is when winter steelhead fishing typically is best, especially on cloudy days. Fish MagLip 3.0 lures through deeper, slower steelhead runs and drag bait or fake egg clusters through places like Frenchmen’s. Fish a larger, deeper-diving plug and you might run into an early springers. Side-drifting fake and real egg clusters is also a good bet as water levels drop and clear.

Flows at Dodge Bridge were at 2,221 cfs Tuesday and set to sneak up through the weekend before dropping down again Sunday. That makes Sunday afternoon and early next week the best likely fishing days.

For the former Gold Ray Dam area, flows are forecast to peak Sunday around 4,500 cfs. That’s good for winter steelhead and perhaps an early spring chinook moving through the Bear Creek mouth area.

Focus on the inside turns of gravel bars and the heads of pools and riffles.

Only hatchery chinook can be kept now by anglers river-wide.

In the lower Rogue, the springer bite has cooled after last weekend’s great water conditions turned more clear and less fisher-friendly. Still, there are plenty of hatchery fish and a nice component of 30-plus pounders each day. Bank anglers will fare better than boat anglers until water conditions improve later this weekend. Boat anglers are using anchovies or Brad’s Cut Plug baits. Bankies remain loyal to larger Spin-Glo’s.

All the action is in the lower 14 river miles, but a few fresh springers have been caught this past week in the Agness area.

Intercept these migrating spring chinook along the inside corners of gravel bars and other clear migration lanes. These fish are on the move and not sticking around to avoid fishing eddies and slack water.

Also, a handful of late winter steelhead are still in the mix, with more plunkers catching steelhead than chinook.

Plunkers should do OK at places like the old Champion mill site and Dunkelberger Bar as well as the Quosatana and Lobster Creek bars.

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.

Those validations are not necessary for chinook fishing.

Anglers may keep one wild winter steelhead over 24 inches a day if they have a special Rogue-South Coast wild steelhead harvest card. The total daily limit is two, but at least one has to be a hatchery fish. Chinook and steelhead limits are in aggregate, so you can only keep two a day of any combination of legal fish.

The far upper Rogue in the Union Creek area was stocked in mid-September. Fish around the Union Creek Campground and the mainstem Rogue near River Bridge, but it’s tough to get access because of high snow levels. That makes Union Creek the most likely fishing spot near Beckie’s. Worms, single salmon eggs and small pieces of worms are the traditional favorites.

APPLEGATE: The river is now closed to all angling.

CHETCO: The Chetco is closed to all angling.