OCEAN OUTLOOK
COASTWIDE: Friday’s forecast calls for winds to keep down to 5 knots and wind waves to 2 feet. Saturday’s forecast call for winds to peak again at 15 knots and wind waves to rise a hair to 3 feet. Sunday’s forecast looks to become troublesome, with winds up to 30 knots and wind waves building to 10 feet.
Ocean salmon fishing has been excellent along the South Coast when weather permits boats getting out. Early catches of both coho and chinook have been solid out of Brookings. Fish chinook with downriggers 80 to 150 feet down with anchovies. Coho are getting caught higher in the water column and closer to the boat. The season is now open seven days a week.
Surfperch fishing is likely to be very good again throughout this weekend as perch move toward rivermouths to spawn and the ocean seems to be lying down.
Sandshrimp and mussels are the best baits, with plastic sand worms and shrimp as secondary choices.
Bay clamming should be good and best beginning Monday after a series of hefty morning minus tides return to the South Coast. Should be classic bay clamming time, as long as rain and winds cooperate.
Razor clam digging is now open coastwide after domoic acid levels in clams south of Cape Blanco have finally cleared to safe levels. Look for good bay clamming on the South Coast, especially around Charleston in Coos Bay. Before digging, call the shellfish hotline at 1-800-448-2474.
Recreational crabbing is open in the ocean, and catches have been excellent in the ocean and bays such as lower Coos Bay at Charleston. Many Dungeness are starting to get soft shells from molting. Make sure to cull the soft ones because meat amounts are not ideal.
LAKE OUTLOOK
AGATE: The lake got 4,000 legal-sized trout within the past month. Fishing around the ramp should be good through the weekend on PowerBait, worms or anything that smells like a hatchery food pellet. The lake was listed a 93% full Thursday, with turbid water. Electric trolling motors are OK. The park closes at dusk.
APPLEGATE: The Hart Tish Park boat ramp and dock are open, and there is plenty of water for the boat ramps. The lake was most recently stocked with rainbow trout a month ago. Fish for rainbows with PowerBait or worms from the bank or slowly troll Tasmanian Devil lures spiced with a piece of worm. Bass fishing has been good with plastic worms and grubs fished slowly off the bottom along rocky points and flats on warm days. The lake is filling quickly and is less than 11 feet below full and starting to drop significantly. Outflows have been holding steady at 225 cfs, but inflows are dropping.
DIAMOND: The lake is fishing very well for rainbow trout, with catches best on the south end or on the lake’s far side near the Scout camp. Most of the action remains in shallow water in the mornings and evenings and slower midday amid warmer temperatures. Mosquitoes are thick along the bank but thin out as you get farther from shore. PowerBait and small leech flies fished slowly will work best with worms under bobbers close to the bottom another fine bet. All tiger trout must be released unharmed.
EMIGRANT: The lake is up, but it’s still at just 43% full, buoyed largely by water siphoned from Hyatt and Howard Prairie lakes. Angling activity is growing, especially for those fishing for smallmouth and largemouth bass off rocky points with crankbaits and rubber worms worked off the bottom. Very little angling activity continues. Some bank fishing for catfish with chicken livers has been reported as well. More boat fishing for bass has occurred during warmer days. Trout fishing is slow, but it’s best higher up near where Emigrant Creek reaches the reservoir. Look for catches to improve as water conditions warm.
EXPO: State wildlife biologists stocked 1,500 legal-sized rainbow trout here again earlier this month. Catch them with Panther Martin lures, single salmon eggs or worms under bobbers. Parking fees are required.
FISH: Fishing for rainbow trout has been fair near springs with PowerBait. The water is cold and starting to drop. The lake was listed Thursday at 49% full and dropping about 2% a week. Tiger trout must be released unharmed.
HOWARD PRAIRIE: The lake is open to angling, but water conditions are very low, and no legal-sized trout were stocked this spring. There are some holdover trout that are getting caught by anglers using PowerBait off the bank near the dam. Not much other action. The lake level was down a hair to 12% as water is diverted to Emigrant Lake for irrigation use.
HYATT: The lake was down to 5% full as it is being drawn down to feed Emigrant Lake for irrigation purposes. Some fishing remains in the dam area for trout. The limit is five trout a day, with just one over 20 inches. No fingerling trout were stocked last year, so trout numbers are very low. Some warmwater fish, such as black crappie, are showing up in the catch.
LAKE OF THE WOODS: The lake continues to fish well for holdover rainbow trout in shallower water. Lots of perch are getting caught just outside of the resort ramp.
LOST CREEK: The lake got a new complement of catchable, legal-sized rainbow trout again late last month at the Takelma ramp. Inflows are dropping, and releases remain at 3,000 cfs, so the lake is dropping rather rapidly for the first time this year. Bank-fish with PowerBait near the Takelma ramp or at the Medco access point off Highway 62. Wind-drifting worms above Peyton Bridge has been good. Bass fishing has been good near rocky outcroppings of late, with crankbaits and rubber worms the top offerings. Fly-fishing with stonefly imitations has slowed for trout as the stonefly hatch has waned.
MEDCO: The lake was stocked last month with 2,000 legal-sized trout. Catch them on PowerBait or worms.
SELMAC: The lake was stocked with 1,000 legal-sized trout again about a month ago, and that’s it for the season as the lake traditionally warms in summer. Fish for them with worms or PowerBait.
WILLOW: The lake received another 2,000 legal-sized rainbow trout late last month. Catch them with worms or PowerBait near the county boat ramp, where the fish were released.
RIVER OUTLOOK
ROGUE: The upper Rogue is seeing an improved bite for both spring chinook and early summer steelhead fishing. The middle Rogue continues to be slow for everything but the occasional migrating summer steelhead, and the lower Rogue has slowed for spring chinook while all are waiting for the fall chinook salmon season to kick off.
That makes the upper Rogue the best bet as high outflows from Lost Creek Lake are helping chinook and steelhead move into the area.
Fish returns to Cole Rivers Hatchery are encouraging … finally. On Wednesday hatchery technicians collected 501 spring chinook and 285 summer steelhead from the past week. That’s the best single-week haul for both species collectively in recent years. That puts the chinook catch there to 2,416 adults, the best since 20219. As for summer steelhead, the to-date count of 660 is by far the highest in more than a decade.
Boat anglers are running into some spring chinook in the upper Rogue, mostly back-bouncing roe and sandshrimp or running plugs from driftboats. Steelheaders are using everything from worms and pink plastic worms to various plugs and an array of flies ranging from streamers to ugly bugs and prince nymphs. Early steelhead are aggressive, so open up the fly and tackle boxes for these guys.
Flows at Dodge Bridge were down to 3,069 cfs Thursday and are set to be quite stable through the weekend. Outflows from Lost Creek, however, are set to drop Tuesday.
In the middle Rogue, a few summer steelhead are getting caught on worms and corkies as they work their way to the upper Rogue. Some of these early fish can be in the 10-pound range.
The Hatchery Hole is closed to all angling from April 1 to July 31 and permanently closed to all chinook fishing.
Lower Rogue fishing for springers has tapered off, and a few early fall chinook are showing in the bay, but they’re not really biting. The bay also is loaded with perch. Water flows into the bay are at 69 degrees, and that will keep chinook from migrating upstream for a while. Springer fishing is better in the Agness area. Anchovies are the top offering.
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