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48 °F Forecast | Road Cams Thursday, December 9, 2004 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Menu Guide How To Guide Wellness Connection Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Passport to the Rogue Valley EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People MARKETPLACE Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Classifieds Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend November 18, 2004 Fishing and Hunting Report River Outlook ROGUE — Low, cold water conditions are hampering catches of steelhead in the lower and upper Rogue, while the middle Rogue is rich with a mix of coho salmon and half-pounder steelhead. The Agness area remains good for half-pounders, while the lower Rogue Bay is dead. That leaves the Galice and Grants Pass areas as the best bet. Coho are stacked in most stillwater stretches, where they can be caught on red spinners or roe. Most anglers never try fishing for coho in the Rogue because they are known as poor biters. However, there are so many of them in the river now that they are being targeting in places like Rainie Falls, Finley Bend and waters downstream of Savage Rapids Dam. In the upper Rogue, catches of summer steelhead are best in the bait-fishing section upstream of the Rogue Elk Park boat ramp. Anglers also are catching coho upstream of Big Butte Creek on roe and lures. The flies-and-lures section from Gold Ray Dam upstream to the Rogue Elk Park ramp is fair to good, with crayfish lures and single-egg flies working best. No bait is allowed in that stretch until Jan. 1. As of Nov. 6, 10,283 summer steelhead had crossed the dam; that’s the most recent report available from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. The migration is less than 100 new fish a day, but that’s standard for this time of year, when summer steelhead creep into the upper Rogue daily through December. Catches of adult steelhead, coho salmon and some late-run chinook are all happening in the Agness area, while half-pounder fishing remains very good in the lower portion of the Wild and Scenic Section. All wild coho and all wild steelhead must be released unharmed. Advertisement The first few winter steelhead have moved into the lower Rogue bay, but effort and catches remain light. Outflows from Lost Creek Lake have crept down to 954 cubic feet per second, matching the in-flow. Bans on keeping more than one wild chinook are now off for the remainder of the year downstream of Gold Ray Dam when angling is allowed. Remember, all wild steelhead must be released unharmed for the remainder of the year. For daily flow reports out of Lost Creek Lake, call (800)472-2434. CHETCO — Fishing for fall chinook has slowed as the water levels have dropped and cleared. Chinook likely won’t move out of the holes until a significant rain comes. Chinook are scattered throughout the system, with good catches coming from driftboats using Kwikfish. Lots of 30-pounders in the mix, and a few 50-plus pounders caught last week in Morris Hole. ELK/SIXES — The Sixes is out-fishing the Elk, but fresh chinook salmon are in the lower ends of both systems during each high tide. However, a lack of rain has kept fish holding in freshwater pools. Effort has declined. UMPQUA — Coho and steelhead fishing is fair around Elkton, and steelhead catches are just fair in the flies-only and all-angling sections. Chinook fishing is closed on the North Umpqua. The South Umpqua is now open to steelhead fishing, but catches are slow amid low, clear water conditions. COOS/COQUILLE — Coho fishing remains good in Coos Bay and fair in the Coquille tidewater. Lake Outlook HOWARD PRAIRIE — Closed for the season. HYATT — Closed for the season. DIAMOND — Closed for the season. LOST CREEK — Trout fishing remains good with bait for shallow trollers. The lake is at its winter low for flood control. The lake is open year-round for trout and bass fishing, with trout anglers out-numbering bass anglers throughout the cold-weather months. APPLEGATE — Fishing for stocked chinook and rainbow trout around 12 inches long is good in the mornings and evenings. Bass fishing is good near the dam. Both boat ramps remain operational. Anglers can keep up to five rainbow trout, stocked salmon or recycled winter steelhead a day, but only one fish can be more than 20 inches long. No bass between 12 inches and 15 inches can be kept, and only one bass larger than 15 inches can be kept. Ocean Outlook The chinook salmon season is over off the mouth of the Chetco. Anglers, however, can fish for chinook salmon off the mouth of the Elk and Sixes rivers. Effort is light. Anglers are banned from fishing for black rockfish, lingcod, greenling and cabezon, leaving surfperch and a few other species open. Tuna fishing remains slow. Yellowtail rockfish fishing is open outside the 40-fathom line. Crabbing remains slow. Shellfish harvest is open for all species except razor clams on the south and central coast. Hunting Outlook ROGUE — Muzzleloaders and late-season archery hunters are finding black-tailed deer on the move from high-elevation areas toward winter range. A storm front would help push animals around. Blue and ruffed grouse hunting is good, as is mountain quail. Look for quail near high-elevation water sources. Pheasant hunting is slow, but some cock pheasants have been found around orchards. Local duck and goose hunting is fair, with the best waterfowl shooting along uninhabited stretches of the Rogue River. Cougar hunters can expect an average year. Cougars are abundant throughout with indicators pointing to stable or increasing numbers and distribution. Hunting cougar is a challenge because these animals are very secretive, but harvest success is greatest adjacent to private land with high deer populations using a predator call. DOUGLAS — Muzzleloaders are having a slower than average season for deer. The deer are migrating in force toward low-elevation winter range. Blue and ruffed grouse hunters can expect a better than average year thanks to above-average production county-wide. Same with mountain quail. KLAMATH — Waterfowl hunters are hunting over decoys along the marshy areas. BAKER — Counts were well above average for chukars and quail this year throughout the county except for the upper Powder River, where chukar counts were low. Numbers of Hungarian partridges also appear low. With good precipitation this summer, expect birds to be scattered. SUMMER LAKE — Relatively poor hunting conditions at the Summer Lake Wildlife Area made for low hunter success for waterfowl. Watchable Wildlife ROGUE — A covered viewing station on the Denman Wildlife Area provides a good opportunity to view waterfowl, egrets, raptors and songbirds. The structure was built by the Oregon Hunters Association and is accessed by a paved, wheelchair-accessible pathway. It is on Whetstone Pond, just north of the ODFW office. Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2004 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. 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