OCEAN OUTLOOK

SOUTH COAST: Ocean conditions again are looking a little sketchy to start the weekend but look to steadily improve. Thursday starts with a continuation of this week’s gale warning, and that lasts through Thursday afternoon. Thursday’s forecast calls for winds up to 30 knots and 9-foot seas, followed with improvements Friday to 15-knot winds and 6-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 anglers are awaiting the Saturday start of the fin-clipped coho season in Southern Oregon. The coho fishery should be very good, especially during the morning before the winds kick up. Coho likely will be caught higher in the water column, with most anglers fishing in water 80 to 120 feet deep. 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 now 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 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 coveted 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, 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 had picked up at Brookings-areas beaches when the surf calmed down, and this weekend looks like a good one. Fishing is best at the turns of tides. Shrimp, mussels and Berkley Gulp sandworms or shrimp are the best baits when the weather cooperates. The Winchuck River beach also has been good. 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.

Another set of morning minus tides begins Wednesday.

Shellfish regulations have changed and are ever-changing because of natural toxin levels recently recorded. As of Tuesday, all mussel collection and clamming are closed statewide, and it now includes a ban on all bay clamming.

Coos Bay around Charleston will be awesome for butter and gaper clams.

Before digging, call the shellfish hotline at 1-800-448-2474.

Scallops are available coastwide, 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 water clarity has improved and the reservoir is getting drawn down now for irrigation and sits at 95% full. Catches of perch are best, with some bass and crappie. for boat anglers wind-drifting worms or those 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 three weeks ago and expect many holdovers to hang around for a few weeks before dispersing from the boat ramps. The Seattle Bar area has been good for bank anglers and float tubers chasing trout. Lake levels have remained high enough to keep Seattle Bar in play. Fish there with worms or PowerBait off the bottom from boats or the bank, or troll lures spiced with a small piece of worm. Bass fishing from boats remains good off points and submerged logs and stumps. The lake was listed Tuesday at 93% full, with out-flows about 800 cubic-feet-per-second more than inflows.

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, worms under bobbers and some large streamer flies. 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; use chartreuse or rainbow Power Bait or troll small lures. The lake has actually dropped somewhat significantly this past week to 69% 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 two weeks 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 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. 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.

HOWARD PRAIRIE: The lake got another 7,450 legal-sized rainbow trout stocked three weeks ago, and fishing has been very good for trollers as well as still anglers from boats. 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 56% full, which is the same as last week. The irrigation withdrawals appear to be on hold as most water is getting siphoned from Emigrant Lake.

HYATT: The lake was holding steady at 60% full this past week, but it did receive another 7,450 legal-sized trout two weeks 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: Fishing has been good to very good for rainbows, some brown trout and plenty of perch. Fish with worms, PowerBait or troll Rapala lures for big brown trout.

LOST CREEK: The lake is set to receive another 10,000 legal-sized rainbows next week, and they will be split between the Stewart State Park ramps 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 back up to 3,000 cfs as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is drawing the reservoir down slowly. Inflows were down to 1,741 cfs. The lake, however, remains a healthy 94% full, down 4% in the past week.

MEDCO: The pond received another 1,000 legal-sized trout two weeks ago. They are getting caught with worms or PowerBait off the bank near the ramp.

RIVER OUTLOOK

ROGUE: The upper Rogue has seen a nice infusion of new spring chinook salmon, and dropping water conditions have slowed their migration speed, which is good for anglers. The middle Rogue remains slow for early summer steelhead, and the lower Rogue is awaiting the early fall chinook.

That keeps the best bet at the upper Rogue as spring chinook fishing starts ramping up.

In the upper Rogue, salmon collections at Cole Rivers Hatchery have been the best in well over a decade. Another 688 chinook were collected Monday after a haul of more than 2,000 last week. That runs the season-to-date total to 6,034 chinook, well higher than last year and light years ahead of the 10-year running average of 1,817 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 in the upper Rogue, but hatchery fish are showing up very well in the bite. Early mornings have been best, and water temperatures are rising a bit. The upper Rogue flows have increased this past week, with 3,000 cfs out of Lost Creek Lake providing the lion’s share of the water. Flows at Dodge Bridge were up to 2,733 cfs and 2,907 cfs at the old Gold Ray Dam site. 

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.

In the impoundment between Lost Creek dam and Cole Rivers Hatchery, fly-fishing for rainbows with stonefly imitations is holding on, but fluctuating water levels have altered catches almost day-to-day. Evenings are best. Also, stonefly dries are getting cutthroat and other trout in the main-stem upper Rogue. All wild trout must be released unharmed in the main-stem river and the entire impoundment is catch-and-release.

The far upper Rogue in the Union Creek area on Thursday will receive 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 re-opens to trout fishing Saturday but off limits to all steelhead. No fishing from a floating device is allowed.