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57 °F Forecast | Road Cams Wednesday, January 26, 2005 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 Real Estate Guide Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Passport to the Rogue Valley EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People Volunteer Opportunities Moving to Southern Oregon? 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 December 16, 2004 FISHING AND HUNTING REPORT River Outlook ROGUE — Summer steelhead fishing has really picked up in the upper Rogue, while the coho bite has been good at spots in the middle Rogue and the lower Rogue recently turned on for early winter steelhead. All these changes are due to last week’s storms, which finally pumped some water and some life in to the river. The best bet is each extreme. The lower Rogue plunkers are faring well with Spin-Glo’s and Hot Shots as they intercept fresh winter steelhead charging upstream. In the upper Rogue upstream of the Rogue Elk Park boat ramp, catches are very good with roe now that the freshet from last week has stirred up the thousands of summer steelhead staging in upper Rogue riffles. Upper Rogue driftboaters are doing best upstream of Rogue Elk in the bait section, but the recent drop in flows should help plug anglers in the rest of the upper Rogue. Wild steelhead are staging off creeks and they all must be released unharmed. Hatchery fish numbers increase the farther upstream you go. The Hatchery Hole remains fairly consistent for summer steelhead and coho on bait or egg flies. Cole Rivers Hatchery workers recycled close to 500 summer steelhead last week, and a few hundred more are expected to be recycled Friday. Look for good catches this weekend. In the lower Rogue, focus on gravel bars like Quosatana, Lobster and Dunkelberger. Fish in about 5 feet of water close to shore and along the migration lanes. These fish will be on the move, so long periods of boredom can be interspersed among short bursts of hot catches. For boaters, the white Hot Shot with the black bill, commonly called the "Cop Car," is the hottest ticket around. Work the inside of the gravel bars, and focus on the top ends where possible. Advertisement In the middle Rogue, a mix of late-run summer steelhead, halfpounders and even a few early-run winter steelhead should show up in catches from the mouth of the Applegate River all the way down to Grave Creek. Water conditions at Grants Pass were perfect Wednesday, and already a few winter steelhead have been reported. Some coho are getting caught downstream of Savage Rapids Dam. This year’s coho run is large, with almost 18,000 fish counted over Gold Ray Dam through Nov. 27, the last available count from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. All wild coho must be released unharmed. For daily flow reports out of Lost Creek Lake, call (800)472-2434. CHETCO — Early winter steelhead catches were good as the river is dropping into very good fishing shape. Roe and puffballs are out-fishing plugs. A few chinook remain in the mix. Chinook are scattered throughout the system. ELK/SIXES — Both rivers were dropping and clearing into good fishing shape, with late-run fall chinook the main target. Peak spawning time for these chinook is around Christmas, and look for fresh fish to move in daily. UMPQUA — Plunking for early winter steelhead was slow in the main-stem, but catches should improve daily as water conditions improve. Winter steelhead have already moved into the lower section of the South Umpqua, with catches best with roe. Fly-fishing for winter steelhead should improve on the South Umpqua as water levels drop. Sturgeon fishing in the lower main-stem river was slow. COOS/COQUILLE — Steelhead have popped up throughout both systems thanks to last week’s rains, with winter steelhead reported in the lower South Fork of the Coquille. Fishing is best with roe, with plug fishing better at lower water levels. Lake Outlook HOWARD PRAIRIE — The lake is closed for the season. HYATT — The lake is closed for the season. DIAMOND — The lake is closed for the season. LOST CREEK — Trout fishing remains fair, with very little effort as the reservoir rises and drops thanks to last week’s rains. The lake is at its winter low for flood control. The lake’s surface temperature has dropped hovered around 46 degrees, leaving fishing slow for smallmouth bass. Trolling for trout during the afternoons can be good on sunny days, which draws the trout toward the surface. 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 during mid-day. Bass fishing is fair near the dam. 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 Crabbing has been excellent in most Southern Oregon bays, and crabbing will improve daily as more Dungeness move into the bays as freshwater flows drop. chiefly because low freshwater in streams has increased salinity in the bays. But the crab will move out again thanks to this week’s heavy rains. Places like Charleston remain excellent good for crabbing as well. Beaches around Port Orford, Gold Beach and Brookings remain closed for razor clam. To check for updates on the closure, telephone the Oregon Department of Agriculture’s Shellfish Hotline at 800-448-2474. 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. Hunting Outlook ROGUE — 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 — 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 hunting over decoys along the marshy areas are faring best. 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. OCHOCO — Chukar populations are scattered with best opportunities on public lands along the canyon areas of the Crooked and John Day River Rivers . SUMMER LAKE — Weather conditions were generally cold, harsh and winter-like most of the week. Freezing conditions were recorded during every night of the week and high temperatures reached only 40 degrees. Ice formation was fairly extensive covering about 85 percent of open water and remained that way all week. Foggy conditions were experienced on a couple of days. Both duck and goose numbers declined compared to the previous week, and are now approaching wintering levels. The weekly waterfowl count conducted Dec. 9 found about 5,100 ducks and about 700 geese at that time. Upland game bird hunting success was poor, but hunter participation was very light. Hunters continue to report scattered quail coveys but rooster pheasants are becoming very difficult to locate. 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. SUMMER LAKE WILDLIFE AREA — The Schoolhouse Lake Wildlife Viewing Station continues to provide excellent opportunities for observing migrant and wintering waterbirds. Wintering raptors can be found scattered throughout the Area as well as on private lands along Highway 31. Northern harriers are especially numerous over march and meadow areas. 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