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0 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? e-edition | subscribe | newsletter | deals Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » NEWS NOW State launches Medford campaign to deter pot use among youth ... Small fire fills second-floor Ramada Inn guest rooms with smoke ... Abdill fined, put on probation for state violations ... State launches Medford campaign to deter pot use among youth ... Small fire fills second-floor Ramada Inn guest rooms with smoke ... Abdill fined, put on probation for state violations ... FISHING REPORT Fishing Report: Friday, July 8 Comment MailTribune.com Writer Posted Jul. 8, 2016 at 12:01 AM Posted Jul. 8, 2016 at 12:01 AM » Social News OCEAN OUTLOOK COASTWIDE: The forecast for the ocean off Southern Oregon today calls for winds up to 15 knots and four-foot swells to go along with showers, followed Saturday by five-knot winds, five-foot swells and showers. On Sunday, the forecast is for 10-knot winds and seven-foot swells. The ocean was pretty rough for anglers much of this past week, but good bottomfishing came Wednesday, with limits of ling cod and black rockfish common out of Coos Bay and Brookings. Jigging just off kelp beds and on rock humps is good along the South Coast. Anglers can keep one cabezon a day now. More anglers are shifting over to ocean salmon fishing now that chinook are starting to show themselves, and the coho season is in full swing. Anglers are catching plenty of coho around Brookings, but only fin-clipped coho can be kept as part of the two-salmon bag limit. The chinook are deeper in the water column than coho and are more prevalent from Brookings south to the California border. Be careful not to stray into California waters. Most of the salmon catches this week were five to seven miles out. Bottomfishers must remain inside the 30-fathom line. The halibut season out of Brookings is open south of Humbug Mountain. Catches in water around 200 feet deep and due west of the Thomas Creek bridge have been good for charters and private boaters using big jigs or large sardines bumped off the bottom. Tuna fishing was hot last week, but rough seas this week kept most tuna boats in the bays. Anglers were running about 25 miles out of Charleston to find that 58-degree water. Currents are shifting daily. The ocean and bays are open to crabbing coastwide, and ocean crabbing has improved along the South Coast. Males are molting, so meat density can be low. Razor clamming is closed south of the Siuslaw River because of domoic acid levels, but bay clams and butter clams are available coastwide. Mussels are open statewide, as well. Before digging, check the shellfish hotline at 1-800-448-2474. LAKE OUTLOOK AGATE: The lake was listed Thursday at 74 percent full, with anglers starting to lose interest. Fishing is fair for a mix of bass, crappie and perch, but mostly perch around submerged willows. Smallmouth are near the dam, as well. No trout stockings are planned this year. No gas motors are allowed, but electric trolling motors are fine. APPLEGATE: Fishing has been good for a mix of recently stocked, legal-sized rainbow trout and holdover trout running 16-plus inches. The lake hasn't received any new trout since 8,000 legal-sized trout were released in early June. That hasn't deterred anglers, particularly off points high in the reservoir and in the Seattle Bar area. All the boat ramps are open and operational. Trollers and still-fishers off the bank high up in the reservoir are doing well. Bank anglers using worms under bobbers in the Seattle Bar area are seeing consistent action, but mostly for smaller rainbows. The lake was listed at 14 feet shy of full Thursday, and that's making Seattle Bar a little less attractive every day. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers continues to release 325 cfs of water, and that led to a four-foot drop this past week. DIAMOND: The lake is fishing very well for rainbows, with PowerBait and worms out-fishing trolling. Fly-fishing chironomid patterns with long leaders is working well, especially on cloudy days. Use long leaders. The rainbows are spread out. Mornings are more productive, but fishing has been decent all day on cloudy days. Another 300,000 fingerlings were stocked recently and should be avoided until they are of legal eight-inch size. Also be careful when releasing tiger trout, all of which must be released unharmed. EMIGRANT: The lake was listed Thursday at 77 percent full. The 1,000 legal-sized trout stocked there last month have dispersed, but the cove off the ramp or the cool waters of the Emigrant Arm are the best bets. Bass are biting. Fish crankbaits, plastic worms or grubs very slowly around structure on cloudy days. Fishing plastic worms, jigs or grubs is very good in and around submerged willows in the Emigrant Arm. FISH: The lake was at 65 percent full Thursday. Another 3,000 legal-sized trout are scheduled for release next week. Fish PowerBait for a mix of holdover rainbows and landlocked chinook. Tiger trout as big as 18 inches have been caught but they must be released unharmed. Fishing around the springs is best. HOWARD PRAIRIE: The lake is fishing well for people in anchored boats using rainbow or chartreuse PowerBait off the bottom near shore or trolling Triple Teasers, Tasmanian Devils and Wedding Ring lures in the old creek channel. Lots of holdover trout in the 16- to 19-inch range are being caught, but rainbows eclipsing 20 inches continue to be caught with regularity in deeper water. The lake has dropped a hair to 62 percent full. HYATT: Trout fishing has slowed, and bass fishing has improved. Anything red works for bass, especially around the Orchard and in the bay near the BLM ramp. Not much size to these largemouth, though. The lake dropped slightly this past week to 66 percent full. LOST CREEK: The lake is dropping more slowly now that the July water-release plan is in effect. Fishing is good for the 10,000 legal-sized trout and 1,075 trophy trout stocked there last month. That's the last trout stocking scheduled for Lost Creek until October. Fishing is good with worms in the area where the Rogue flows into the lake above Peyton Bridge. Trollers should start with green Wedding Ring lures with a piece of worm. Landlocked salmon have been holding deeper than the trout. The lake's surface temperature is still around the mid-70s. Look for it to drop amid cooler, even rainy weather this weekend. Fish for largemouth in the submerged willows and for smallmouth off rocky points. The lake was listed Thursday at 24.5 feet below full pool, 2.5 feet lower than last week. LAKE OF THE WOODS: The lake is fishing very well for a mix of rainbows, brown trout and perch near the resort with worms under bobbers and PowerBait off the bottom. WILLOW: Trout fishing improved after 3,225 legal-sized rainbows and 425 pounders were stocked last month at the county boat ramp. The lake is dropping but water clarity remains very good. EXPO: The pond near the outdoor stage got 1,000 legal-sized trout last month, and that's the last stocking scheduled for this summer. Use worms under bobbers, PowerBait and small spoons slowly retrieved. RIVER OUTLOOK ROGUE: A mix of spring chinook and winter steelhead are keeping anglers somewhat busy in the upper Rogue, while a nice contingent of early fall chinook has created a surprisingly good early fishery for those trolling the bay. In the middle Rogue, a few anglers are starting to throw worms or streamer flies for summer steelhead and running into the occasional fish in the evenings. That makes the upper Rogue the best bet, but the lower Rogue's recent run on bright chinook can't be overlooked. In the upper Rogue, the water downstream of Dodge Bridge is getting a lot more attention now that anglers can keep wild chinook as part of the two-fish daily limit. More fish are upstream of Shady Cove, but it has largely been a wild-chinook show with a higher percentage of fish getting released. Those fishing smaller Kwikfish or MagLip lures like 3.5 or even 4.5 will have the best bet for catching either a springer or an early-run summer. Back-bouncing roe and sandshrimp is also a good bet. So far, the early summer steelhead run is a good one. The 183 new steelhead collected Wednesday at Cole Rivers Hatchery is almost equal to the 10-year running average of 219 steelhead to date. The run to the hatchery so far is 434 fish, and that doesn't include the 176 steelhead recycled back downstream so far this season. That's a bright start, while the chinook are hitting a rather dismal ending. Another 211 springers hit the hatchery Wednesday, but the 1,606 total is far below the 10-year running average of 4,697 adult springers by now. Flows in the upper Rogue are down to 1,650 cfs today out of Lost Creek Lake as the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife is reserving water to release once fall chinook start chugging upstream in about a month. Flows at Dodge Bridge are down to 1,854 cfs and down to 1,762 cfs at the old Gold Ray Dam site and 1,623 cfs at Grants Pass. Flows at Agness will be down to around 2,250 cfs. In the lower Rogue, about 25 boats a day are hitting the bay and they're really getting into the early-run fall chinook. Reports of three fish per boat Wednesday and Thursday were more than encouraging and almost good enough to create a best-bet scenario. Trolling anchovies with the Rogue blade rig is best. Some anglers are postulating that these are spring chinook that are simply showing up late, but they appear too bright for that. Another 2,375 legal-sized trout were stocked this week in several locations in and around Union Creek along the far upper Rogue. These releases will continue weekly through Labor Day. APPLEGATE: The river is open to trout fishing. All wild trout must be released unharmed. No fin-clipped rainbows are stocked there. CHETCO: The river is open to trout fishing. Look for some sea-run cutthroat in tidewater and far upper tributaries. MailTribune.com Writer Posted Jul. 8, 2016 at 12:01 AM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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