OCEAN OUTLOOK

SOUTH COAST: Southern Oregon waters are not looking so hot for anyone but those with seasoned sea legs looking for a near-shore morning jaunt. Christmas tree hunting looks like a better prospect than lingcod hunting, but you gotta do what you gotta do.

Wednesday’s forecasts calls for 10-knot winds and 7-foot seas. That’s doable out of Brookings early until the winds catch up. Stay close to shore, where you’ll find lots of lingcod now in the early portions of the winter spawn. There are plenty of lingcod off the South Coast, so there is no reason to feel guilty about keeping male lings who are usually guarding egg nests during winter months.

Thursday’s forecast calls for 10-knot winds and 8-foot seas. Trust me, you can tell the difference between 7- and 8-foot seas. Just ask the guy watching his breakfast float away. Friday’s forecast mirrors that of Thursday, and Saturday calls for 15-knot winds and 10-foot seas.

The ocean salmon season is over off the Southern Oregon Coast.

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.

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

Surfperch fishing will rebound again when the surf settles down again. 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.

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

This week brings a few late-night minus tides, but they are too lake for clammers to take advantage of.

Shellfish regulations have remained stable. Bay clamming remains open. 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 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: Fishing effort remains very light. The lake has up this past week to 22% full, but that has done little than add turbidity to the water. Look for rising water levels after this week’s rains. Electric trolling motors are OK but not gas motors. The park closes at dusk.

APPLEGATE: The lake has steadied in water level after this week’s rain, and it was listed Tuesday at 17% full entering the annual flood-control period. Effort has been very poor, thanks largely to cold and wet weather. The Copper Boat Ramp remains usable, and the low-water ramp at French Gulch is getting some use. Bass fishing is best off points with crankbaits and rubber baits. Outflows remain at 200 cubic-fee-per-second to keep water flowing over fall chinook redds in the Applegate River. That won’t change other than during winter freshets. In-flows were up Tuesday to 490 cfs.

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 big tiger trout are on the prowl, with one reported 32-incher caught recently. 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 still averaging about one trout per hour, but fishing days have shrunk because of cold weather, wind and snow. Ice continues to form regularly along the lake edges.

All tiger trout and brown trout must be released unharmed.

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 risen a hair from recent rains and was listed Tuesday at 9% full, and consider the county boat ramp unusable. Afternoons have been windy.

EXPO: Another 1,000 legal-sized rainbow trout were stocked late last 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 late in fall, all released at the Forest Service ramp near the resort. They are the most popular target of choice, 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 59% full Tuesday. That rise is a combination of near-shore runoff and underwater springs.

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 38% 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 37% 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. The lake has plenty of open water but the docks are gone for the season.

LOST CREEK: The lake is settling into its winter flood-control mode as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has hit the 1,812-foot elevation level this week. Look for inflows to roughly match outflows other than during and after rain events.

Trolling for trout has been best near the face of the dam and in the Takelma Ramp area. Worms behind Ford fenders are retro for sure, but they survive because they work. tries to corral spawning chinook salmon into mainstream channels on the Rogue.

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 is slow for summer steelhead thanks to a low number of fish this year and more low and cold water, while the middle Rogue also is slow for late-run summer steelhead. The lower Rogue is looking for the first winter steelhead of the season, and those should come this weekend after recent rain rose and warmed the lower Rogue.

That keeps the best bet in the upper Rogue, only because the investment is smaller in both time and money to hit it now.

Upstream of the Shady Cove Ramp is open to bait, lures and flies. It also has the highest concentration of both wild and hatchery steelhead at this time, so naturally it is the most popular steelhead stretch now. But even that’s been limited this season as a low run has failed to generate the kind of interest normally seen here in late fall.

Flows out of Lost Creek were steady at 1,300 cfs Tuesday, as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers holds steady on its typical start of the winter flood-control season. Dodge Bridge flows were back up a hair to 1,514 cfs. Ditto for the old Gold Ray Dam site, where the flows were up to 1,842 cfs Tuesday. Grants Pass was actually up a hair to 1,881 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 as of this week. New $2 validations are needed each Dec. 1, even for those catch-and-release fishing. Those are valid to next 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. Access is limited because of snow.

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: The entire river is fishing fairly well for winter steelhead as fish are distributed river-wide. Anglers can keep one wild chinook a day and up to five a season. Trolling in the bay should pick up this weekend if the expected rains materialize. They will start drawing chinook into the bay and then out of tidewater to upstream holes. Troll anchovies.

ELK: The fall chinook salmon season is closed.